Setting up the Kerberos client

The Kerberos client machine should be time synced with KDC. Ensure to sync the KDC and clients by using NTP. Time difference of five minutes or more leads to Kerberos authentication failure and throws a clock skew error.

About this task

This step is a prerequisite on all the systems which are going to participate in Kerberos authentication like NFS clients, hosts where NFS service containers are going to run.

Follow these steps to set up the Kerberos client.

Procedure

  1. Check the required RPMs
    [root@host ~]# rpm -qa | grep krb5
    
    krb5-libs-1.20.1-9.el9_2.x86_64
    krb5-pkinit-1.20.1-9.el9_2.x86_64
    krb5-workstation-1.20.1-9.el9_2.x86_64
  2. Update the krb5.conf file similar to the one on KDC server:
    [root@host ~]# cat /etc/krb5.conf
    
    # To opt out of the system crypto-policies configuration of krb5, remove the
    # symlink at /etc/krb5.conf.d/crypto-policies which will not be recreated.
    
    includedir /etc/krb5.conf.d/
    [logging]
        default = [FILE:/var/log/krb5libs.log](file:///var/log/krb5libs.log)
        kdc = [FILE:/var/log/krb5kdc.log](file:///var/log/krb5kdc.log)
        admin_server = [FILE:/var/log/kadmind.log](file:///var/log/kadmind.log)
    [libdefaults]
        dns_lookup_realm = false
        ticket_lifetime = 24h
        renew_lifetime = 7d
        forwardable = true
        rdns = false
        pkinit_anchors = [FILE:/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt](file:///etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt)
        spake_preauth_groups = edwards25519
        dns_canonicalize_hostname = fallback
        qualify_shortname = ""
        default_realm = PUNE.IBM.COM
       default_ccache_name = KEYRING:persistent:%{uid}
    [realms]
      PUNE.IBM.COM = {
         kdc = 10.0.210.222:88
         admin_server = 10.0.210.222:749
      }
    [domain_realm]
      .IBM.com = PUNE.IBM.COM
      IBM.com = PUNE.IBM.COM
  3. Verification: Validate the client settings:
    [root@host ~]# kinit admin/admin
    
    Password for admin/admin@PUNE.IBM.COM:
    [root@ceph-mani-o7fdxp-node5 ~]# klist
    Ticket cache: KCM:0
    Default principal: admin/admin@PUNE.IBM.COM
    
    Valid starting     Expires            Service principal
    10/25/23 08:49:12  10/26/23 08:49:08  krbtgt/PUNE.IBM.COM@PUNE.IBM.COM
      renew until 10/25/23 08:49:12