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Configure access for Active Directory with scripts

This guide demonstrates how to use scripts available in the Teleport Web UI to configure Teleport and Active Directory for passwordless access to Windows computers.

You should note that Teleport requires the Kerberos authentication protocol to support certificate-based authentication for Active Directory. Because Azure Active Directory doesn't use Kerberos, you can't use the Teleport Windows Desktop Service for Azure Active Directory.

Prerequisites​

  • Access to a running Teleport cluster, tctl admin tool, and tsh client tool version >= 15.4.22.

    You can verify the tools you have installed by running the following commands:

    $ tctl version
    # Teleport Enterprise v15.4.22 go1.21

    $ tsh version
    # Teleport v15.4.22 go1.21

    You can download these tools by following the appropriate Installation instructions for the Teleport edition you use.

  • A server or virtual machine running the Windows Server operating system on which you can install Active Directory services.

  • A Linux host to run the Teleport Windows Desktop Service. You can use an existing server that runs the Teleport agent for other resources.

Step 1/3. Install and configure Active Directory​

The Teleport Web UI provides scripts to automate the configuration of Active Directory for the Teleport Windows Desktop Service. From the Teleport Web UI, you can download the following scripts to convert a Windows Server into an Active Directory domain controller:

  • The Active Directory installation script adds basic Active Directory services and tools to the Windows Server.
  • The Active Directory Certificate Services installation script adds a certificate authority and certificate management services to the domain controller.
  • The Active Directory configuration script generates Teleport configuration settings for your specific cluster.

Installing Active Directory Certificate Services is optional. However, Teleport requires secure LDAP connections for certificate-based authentication, and LDAP traffic is not encrypted by default. To provide secure LDAP connections (LDAPS), you must have a certificate authority that issues properly formatted and encrypted certificates. You can install Active Directory Certificate Services on the domain controller to ensure that the domain issues certificates configured for LDAPS.

If you already have Active Directory installed and the domain is configured for encrypted LDAPS communication, you can skip running the first two scripts.

To install Active Directory services:

  1. Sign in to the Teleport Web UI using your Teleport cluster address.

  2. Select Resources.

  3. Click Enroll New Resource.

  4. Click Active Directory to start the guided enrollment.

  5. Copy the first command from the Teleport Web UI and paste it into the Windows PowerShell console on your Windows Server host.

    Install Active Directory

    Follow the prompts displayed to set the domain name and password for the administrative account. Wait for the script to complete and the Windows computer to restart before continuing.

  6. Copy the second command from the Teleport Web UI and paste it into the Windows PowerShell console on your Windows Server host.

    Wait for the script to complete and the Windows computer to restart before continuing.

  7. Click Next, then click Copy to copy the Active Directory configuration script from the Teleport Web UI and paste it into the Windows PowerShell console on your Windows Server host.

    The script generates Teleport configuration settings, including an authentication token for joining the Teleport cluster.

  8. Click Next in the Teleport Web UI to view the Teleport configuration settings.

  9. Copy the PowerShell script output from the PowerShell console to a temporary file, and save the file in a location you can access from your administrative workstation.

    After you have saved the configuration settings, click Next in the Teleport Web UI.

Step 2/3. Install the Teleport Windows Desktop Service​

To install the Windows Desktop Service:

  1. Open a terminal shell on the Linux host where you want to run the Windows Desktop Service.

  2. Create a file called /etc/teleport.yaml and paste the configuration output generated by the PowerShell script you ran previously.

    If you would like to run the Windows Desktop Service from a Teleport instance that is already running other services, copy and paste only the windows_desktop_service section.

    You should have a configuration file similar to the following:

    version: v3
    teleport:
      auth_token: abcd123-insecure-do-not-use-this
      proxy_server: teleport.example.com:443

    auth_service:
      enabled: no
    ssh_service:
      enabled: no
    proxy_service:
      enabled: no

    windows_desktop_service:
      enabled: yes
      ldap:
        addr: '10.10.1.50:636'
        domain: 'windows.teleport.example.com'
        username: 'WIN\svc-teleport'
        sid:  'S-1-5-21-1234567890-1234567890-1234567890-1111'
        server_name: 'windows-server-hostname'
        # insecure_skip_verify prevents Teleport from authenticating the LDAP CA
        # against the systems trust store.
        insecure_skip_verify: false
        ldap_ca_cert: |
          -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
          MIIDnzCCAoegAwIBAgIQT/UIn+MT4aZC9ix/QuiV9zANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADBi
          ...
          31qA4dO3if7RdikD9hVbiIF9jQ==
          -----END CERTIFICATE-----

      discovery:
        base_dn: '*'
      labels:
        teleport.internal/resource-id: 42d8859c-60d0-4d7f-9767-bdd66b63fce6

  3. Install the Teleport Windows Desktop Service on your Linux host.

    Install Teleport on your Linux server:

    1. Assign edition to one of the following, depending on your Teleport edition:

      EditionValue
      Teleport Enterprise Cloudcloud
      Teleport Enterprise (Self-Hosted)enterprise
      Teleport Community Editionoss

    2. Get the version of Teleport to install. If you have automatic agent updates enabled in your cluster, query the latest Teleport version that is compatible with the updater:

      $ TELEPORT_DOMAIN=example.teleport.com
      $ TELEPORT_VERSION="$(curl https://$TELEPORT_DOMAIN/v1/webapi/automaticupgrades/channel/default/version | sed 's/v//')"

      Otherwise, get the version of your Teleport cluster:

      $ TELEPORT_DOMAIN=example.teleport.com
      $ TELEPORT_VERSION="$(curl https://$TELEPORT_DOMAIN/v1/webapi/ping | jq -r '.server_version')"

    3. Install Teleport on your Linux server:

      $ curl https://cdn.teleport.dev/install-v15.4.22.sh | bash -s ${TELEPORT_VERSION} edition

      The installation script detects the package manager on your Linux server and uses it to install Teleport binaries. To customize your installation, learn about the Teleport package repositories in the installation guide.

Step 3/3. Start Teleport​

After you've saved the /etc/teleport.yaml configuration file, you can start Teleport on the Linux host.

To start Teleport:

  1. Configure the Teleport Desktop Service to start automatically when the host boots up by creating a systemd service for it. The instructions depend on how you installed the Teleport Desktop Service.

    On the host where you will run the Teleport Desktop Service, enable and start Teleport:

    $ sudo systemctl enable teleport
    $ sudo systemctl start teleport
    You can check the status of the Teleport Desktop Service with systemctl status teleport and view its logs with journalctl -fu teleport.
  2. Wait for Teleport to discover the new instance and enroll it in the cluster, then click Next in the Teleport Web UI.
  3. Click Finish, then click Resources to see your domain computers.

Next steps​

If you encounter any issues, see Troubleshooting for common problems and solutions. For information about configuring Windows-specific role permissions, see Role-Based Access Control for Desktops.