Confluence Server

With Privileged Access Service, you can choose single-sign-on (SSO) access to the Confluence web application with SP-initiated SAML SSO for SSO access directly through the Confluence web application). Enabling both methods ensures that users can log in to Confluence Server in different situations such as clicking through a notification email.

Confluence does not support SAML, but it accepts a custom plugin for individual companies to modify the authentication process to their own needs, including implement Single Sign-On. A custom plugin is a set of .jar files that are implemented using Atlassian's Seraph library, and will be deployed in the Confluence Server. A system administrator must change the Confluence configuration to use the plugin.

For more information about Single Sign-on Integration with JIRA and Confluence, see: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DEV/Single+Sign-on+Integration+with+JIRA+and+Confluence

With Centrify Confluence SAML plugin deployed in Confluence Server, any unauthenticated access to Confluence resources will be redirected to Centrify Admin Portal for authentication. After that, users will be redirected back to the requested resources.

Centrify Confluence SAML plugin has been tested in Confluence Server versions 5.6.6 and 6.1.2.

If Confluence is the first application you are configuring for SSO through Privileged Access Service, read these topics before you get started:

Confluence Server SSO requirements

Before you configure the Confluence Server web application for SSO, you need the following:

  • A Confluence Server (On-Premise).
  • A system administrator account to the Confluence Server computer to deploy and configure the plugin.

Configuring Confluence Server in Admin Portal

  1. In Admin Portal, click Apps, then click Add Web Apps.

    The Add Web Apps screen appears.

  2. On the Search tab, enter the partial or full application name in the Search field and click the search icon.

  3. Next to the application, click Add.

  4. In the Add Web App screen, click Yes to confirm.

    Admin Portal adds the application.

  5. Click Close to exit the Application Catalog.

    The application that you just added opens to the Application Settings page.

    Note:   The description of how to choose and download a signing certificate in this document might differ slightly from your experience. See Choose a certificate file for the latest information.

  6. Configure the following:

    Field

    Set it to

    What you do

    Assertion Consumer Service URL

    Your Confluence Server host and port number.

    Replace YOUR-CONFLUENCE-HOST-AND-PORT with your Confluence Server host and port number, if any. For example, if your Confluence Server URL is:

    https://confluence.acme.com:8443

    Replace YOUR-CONFLUENCE-HOST-AND-PORT with confluence.acme.com:8443.

    Note: If your Confluence Server is hosted over HTTP, change https to http.

    7. Note:   For information on optional Centrify Admin Portal configuration settings that you may wish to customize for your app, see Optional configuration settings.

Downloading the Centrify Confluence SAML plugin and signing certificate

  1. Go to the Application Settings page for the Confluence Server app in Admin Portal.
  2. Copy your IdP Issuer and save it where you can find it in the next step.
  3. Copy your IdP Post URL and save it where you can find it in the next step.
  4. Click Download Signing Certificate and save the .cer file where you can find it in the next step.
  5. Click Download this plugin to be installed into your Confluence Server instance to download a .zip file containing the SAML plugin files, and save the file where you can find it in the next step.

Deploying and configuring Confluence SAML plugin in Confluence Server

This section requires a system administrator to place new files in the Confluence Server file system and modify Confluence configuration files. Note that this is a system administrator to the server hosting Confluence, not a Confluence (application) administrator.

Note:   These instructions assume:

  • Confluence on Windows.
  • Your Confluence Server is installed at: C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence.
  1. Access the server hosting Confluence.

  2. Stop the Confluence application. For example, in Windows 7, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, then right-click Atlassian Confluence the service and select Stop.

    Note:   The following instructions assume that your Confluence Server is located in C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence. If you choose to specify a different location, substitute that location for C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence from here forward.

  3. Copy the .cer signing certificate file downloaded in the previous step and place it in:

    C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\confluence\WEB-INF.
  4. Copy the .zip file downloaded in the previous step and place it in a temporary location (any location other than where it will be moved to in the next few steps).

  5. Extract the .zip file.

    You will get a readme file and a lib directory containing several .jar files.

  6. Copy all the .jar files and paste them in:

    C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\confluence\WEB-INF\lib
  7. Go to C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\confluence\WEB-INF\classes\seraph-config.xml.
  8. Comment out the line with: <authenticator class= that is not commented out.

  9. Below that line add the following lines:

    <!-- Centrify SAML -->
    <authenticator class="com.centrify.cloud.saas.confluencesaml.SamlAuthenticator"/>
  10. Save seraph-config.xml.
  11. Open C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\confluence\WEB-INF\web.xml.
  12. Find the last <servlet> defined.

  13. Place your cursor below the last <servlet> defined, then copy/paste the following:

    <!-- Centrify SAML -->
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>samlServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>com.centrify.cloud.saas.confluencesaml.SamlServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>idpIssuerName</param-name>
            <param-value><!-- Copy IdP Issuer from Application Settings in Privileged Access Service and paste it here. --></param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>idpCertFile</param-name>
            <param-value><!-- Absolute file path to your signing certificate file --></param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>audience</param-name>
            <!-- After setting the audience value below, make sure you also set the same audience value in Admin Portal. -->
            <param-value>Confluence</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>
  14. Set the <param-value> of idpIssuerName to the IdP Issuer that you copied from your Confluence Server SAML application in the previous step.

  15. Set the <param-value> of idpCertFile to the absolute file path to your signing certificate file. If you used the recommended path name and if your certificate file is named Confluence.cer, you would set <param-value> to:

    C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\Confluence.cer.

    As shown here:

            <init-param>
                <param-name>idpCertFile</param-name>
                <param-value>C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence\confluence\WEB-INF\Confluence.cer<param-value>
            </init-param>
  16. Find the last <servlet-mapping> defined.

  17. Place your cursor below the last <servlet-mapping> and copy/paste the following:

    <!-- Centrify SAML -->
    <servlet-mapping>
            <servlet-name>samlServlet</servlet-name>
            <url-pattern>/saml</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>
  18. Find the last <filter> defined.

  19. Below the last <filter> add the following lines:

    <!-- CentrifySAML -->
    <filter>
        <filter-name>samlFilter</filter-name>
        <filter-class>com.centrify.cloud.saas.confluencesaml.SamlFilter</filter-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>idpPostUrl</param-name>
            <param-value></param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>spIssuerName</param-name>
            <param-value>Confluence</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>allowedURIs</param-name>
              <param-value>
                  /saml,
                  /plugins/servlet/applinks/*,
                  /plugins/servlet/oauth/*,
                  /rest/*
              </param-value>
    </init-param>
    </filter>
  20. Set the <param-value> of idpPostUrl by copying the IdP Post URL from your Confluence Server SAML application in Admin Portal and pasting it inside <param-value></param-value> in the code you added in Confluence Server.

  21. Above the <filter-mapping> with the <filter-name> of login, add the following lines:

    <!-- CentrifySAML -->
    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>samlFilter</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>
  22. Save web.xml.

  23. Start the Confluence application. For example, in Windows 7, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, then right-click Atlassian Confluence the service and select Start.

    Wait a few minutes for the service to start. The new settings that you just configured will be used after Confluence starts.

    Note:   After configuration for SP-initiated SSO is complete, the Confluence application is automatically ready to link to other Atlassian apps released in that have also been configured for SP-initiated SSO. For information about how to link the apps, see: https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver073/using-applinks-to-link-to-other-applications-861253079.html

    Note:   You can add additional paths to the list of <param-value> values for allowedURIs in the web.xml file for Atlassian apps released in Privileged Access Service Cloud 17.10 or later. It is important that you do not change the /saml <param-value>.

For more information about Confluence Server

Confluence Server specifications

Each SAML application is different. The following table lists features and functionality specific to Confluence Server.

Capability

Supported?

Support details

Web browser client

Yes

 

Mobile client

No

 

SAML 2.0

Yes

 

SP-initiated SSO

Yes

 

IdP-initiated SSO

Yes

 

Force user login via SSO only

Yes

 

Separate administrator login
after SSO is enabled

No

 

User or Administrator lockout risk

Yes

Because SP-initiated SSO always redirects users to Centrify and disables the function of Confluence login pages, users run the risk of being locked out of Confluence.

Automatic user provisioning

No

 

Multiple User Types

Yes

SSO works the same way for all admin and non-admin user types.

Self-service password

Yes

Users can reset their own passwords. Resetting another user’s password requires administrator rights.

Access restriction using a corporate IP range

Yes

You can specify an IP Range in the Admin Portal Policy page to restrict access to the application.