Authentication backends (LDAP, OAuth) in RabbitMQ - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Configure RabbitMQ Authentication Backends with LDAP and OAuth

📖 Scenario: You are setting up RabbitMQ on a company server. The company wants to secure access by using two authentication methods: LDAP for employees and OAuth for external apps.This project will guide you step-by-step to configure RabbitMQ to use LDAP and OAuth authentication backends.

🎯 Goal: By the end, you will have a RabbitMQ configuration file that enables LDAP and OAuth authentication backends with the correct settings.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a RabbitMQ configuration file with LDAP backend settings

Add OAuth backend configuration to the same file

Use correct syntax for RabbitMQ config in Erlang terms format

Print the final configuration content

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Companies often use RabbitMQ for messaging and want to secure it by integrating with existing user directories (LDAP) and modern identity providers (OAuth).

💼 Career

Knowing how to configure RabbitMQ authentication backends is important for DevOps engineers managing secure messaging infrastructure.

1

Create the initial RabbitMQ configuration with LDAP backend

Create a variable called rabbitmq_config as a string containing the RabbitMQ configuration. Include the auth_backends list with rabbit_auth_backend_ldap as the only backend. Also add the ldap settings with servers set to ["ldap.company.com"] and user_dn_pattern set to "uid=${username},ou=users,dc=company,dc=com".

RabbitMQ

# Create the rabbitmq_config string with LDAP backend and settings
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Remember to use triple quotes for multi-line string and Erlang terms syntax for RabbitMQ config.

2

Add OAuth backend to the authentication backends list

Add rabbit_auth_backend_oauth2 to the auth_backends list in the rabbitmq_config string, so it contains both rabbit_auth_backend_ldap and rabbit_auth_backend_oauth2.

RabbitMQ

rabbitmq_config = """
[{rabbit, [
  {auth_backends, [rabbit_auth_backend_ldap, rabbit_auth_backend_oauth2]},
  {ldap, [
    {servers, ["ldap.company.com"]},
    {user_dn_pattern, "uid=${username},ou=users,dc=company,dc=com"}
  ]}
]}].
"""
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Make sure both backends are inside the auth_backends list separated by a comma.

3

Add OAuth2 backend configuration settings

Add an auth_oauth2 section inside the rabbit config in rabbitmq_config. Set issuer to "https://auth.company.com", client_id to "rabbitmq-client", and client_secret to "supersecret".

RabbitMQ

rabbitmq_config = """
[{rabbit, [
  {auth_backends, [rabbit_auth_backend_ldap, rabbit_auth_backend_oauth2]},
  {ldap, [
    {servers, ["ldap.company.com"]},
    {user_dn_pattern, "uid=${username},ou=users,dc=company,dc=com"}
  ]},
  {auth_oauth2, [
    {issuer, "https://auth.company.com"},
    {client_id, "rabbitmq-client"},
    {client_secret, "supersecret"}
  ]}
]}].
"""
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Follow the Erlang config format carefully. The auth_oauth2 section is a list of key-value tuples inside the rabbit config.

4

Print the final RabbitMQ configuration

Write a print statement to display the content of the rabbitmq_config variable.

RabbitMQ

rabbitmq_config = """
[{rabbit, [
  {auth_backends, [rabbit_auth_backend_ldap, rabbit_auth_backend_oauth2]},
  {ldap, [
    {servers, ["ldap.company.com"]},
    {user_dn_pattern, "uid=${username},ou=users,dc=company,dc=com"}
  ]},
  {auth_oauth2, [
    {issuer, "https://auth.company.com"},
    {client_id, "rabbitmq-client"},
    {client_secret, "supersecret"}
  ]}
]}].
"""

# Print the configuration
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(rabbitmq_config) to show the full configuration string.