Kafka Ticket Registry

The Kafka ticket registry is very much an extension of the default ticket registry. The difference is that ticket operations applied to the registry are broadcasted using Kafka topics to other listening CAS nodes. Each node keeps copies of ticket state on its own and only instructs others to keep their copy accurate by broadcasting messages and data associated with each. Each message and ticket registry instance running inside a CAS node in the cluster is tagged with a unique identifier in order to avoid endless looping behavior and recursive needless inbound operations.

The broadcast and pub/sub mechanism is backed by Apache Kafka. Apache Kafka is a distributed event streaming platform designed for handling real-time data feeds. Kafka is highly scalable and fault-tolerant, making it ideal for building real-time data pipelines and streaming applications.

Key features of Apache Kafka include:

  • Message Broker: Kafka acts as a distributed messaging system that enables the publishing, storing, and processing of streams of data in real-time.
  • Producers and Consumers: Data is produced by producers and consumed by consumers in Kafka. Producers send messages to Kafka topics, and consumers read messages from these topics.
  • Topics: A topic is a category or stream name to which records are sent. Data is partitioned across multiple Kafka brokers based on topics.

Support is enabled by including the following dependency in the overlay:

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<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apereo.cas</groupId>
    <artifactId>cas-server-support-kafka-ticket-registry</artifactId>
    <version>${cas.version}</version>
</dependency>
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implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-kafka-ticket-registry:${project.'cas.version'}"
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dependencyManagement {
    imports {
        mavenBom "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-bom:${project.'cas.version'}"
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-kafka-ticket-registry"
}
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dependencies {
    /*
        The following platform references should be included automatically and are listed here for reference only.

        implementation enforcedPlatform("org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-bom:${project.'cas.version'}")
        implementation platform(org.springframework.boot.gradle.plugin.SpringBootPlugin.BOM_COORDINATES)
        
    */
    implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-kafka-ticket-registry"
}

CAS Configuration

The following settings and properties are available from the CAS configuration catalog:

The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Required in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting may be needed to activate or affect the behavior of the CAS feature and generally should be reviewed, possibly owned and adjusted. If the setting is assigned a default value, you do not need to strictly put the setting in your copy of the configuration, but should review it nonetheless to make sure it matches your deployment expectations.

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.encryption.key=
  • The encryption key. The encryption key by default and unless specified otherwise must be randomly-generated string whose length is defined by the encryption key size setting.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.signing.key=
  • The signing key is a JWT whose length is defined by the signing key size setting.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.encryption.key=
  • The encryption key. The encryption key by default and unless specified otherwise must be randomly-generated string whose length is defined by the encryption key size setting.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.signing.key=
  • The signing key is a JWT whose length is defined by the signing key size setting.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

    The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Optional in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting is not immediately necessary in the end-user CAS configuration, because a default value is assigned or the activation of the feature is not conditionally controlled by the setting value. In other words, you should only include this field in your configuration if you need to modify the default value or if you need to turn on the feature controlled by the setting.

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.concurrency=20
  • The estimated number of concurrently updating threads. The implementation performs internal sizing to try to accommodate this many threads.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.ticket.registry.InMemoryTicketRegistryProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.initial-capacity=1000
  • The initial capacity of the underlying memory store. The implementation performs internal sizing to accommodate this many elements.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.ticket.registry.InMemoryTicketRegistryProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.load-factor=1
  • The load factor threshold, used to control resizing. Resizing may be performed when the average number of elements per bin exceeds this threshold.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.ticket.registry.InMemoryTicketRegistryProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.alg=AES
  • The signing/encryption algorithm to use.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.enabled=true
  • Whether crypto operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.encryption.key-size=16
  • Encryption key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.signing-enabled=true
  • Whether signing encryption operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.signing.key-size=512
  • The signing key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.alg=AES
  • The signing/encryption algorithm to use.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.enabled=true
  • Whether crypto operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.encryption.key-size=16
  • Encryption key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.signing-enabled=true
  • Whether signing encryption operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.signing.key-size=512
  • The signing key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.auto-create-topics=true
  • Whether the registry should auto-create topics.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.kafka.KafkaTicketRegistryProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.bootstrap-address=
  • Kafka bootstrapping server address (i.e. localhost:9092).

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.kafka.KafkaTicketRegistryProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.concurrency=0
  • The concurrency level in ConcurrentMessageListenerContainer determines the number of concurrent threads that will be used to process messages. This allows you to parallelize message consumption, which can improve throughput and performance. By default, this is the number of available processors (CPU cores) to the Java virtual machine.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.kafka.KafkaTicketRegistryProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.group-id=cas-ticket-registry
  • In Kafka, a group ID is a unique identifier for a group of consumers. Consumers within the same group share the same group ID. The group ID is used to coordinate the consumption of messages from Kafka topics. Here are some key points about group IDs

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.kafka.KafkaTicketRegistryProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.encryption.key=
  • The encryption key. The encryption key by default and unless specified otherwise must be randomly-generated string whose length is defined by the encryption key size setting.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.signing.key=
  • The signing key is a JWT whose length is defined by the signing key size setting.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.encryption.key=
  • The encryption key. The encryption key by default and unless specified otherwise must be randomly-generated string whose length is defined by the encryption key size setting.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.signing.key=
  • The signing key is a JWT whose length is defined by the signing key size setting.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.alg=AES
  • The signing/encryption algorithm to use.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.enabled=true
  • Whether crypto operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.encryption.key-size=16
  • Encryption key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.signing-enabled=true
  • Whether signing encryption operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.in-memory.crypto.signing.key-size=512
  • The signing key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.alg=AES
  • The signing/encryption algorithm to use.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.enabled=true
  • Whether crypto operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.encryption.key-size=16
  • Encryption key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.signing-enabled=true
  • Whether signing encryption operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionRandomizedSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.ticket.registry.kafka.crypto.signing.key-size=512
  • The signing key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

    This CAS feature is able to accept signing and encryption crypto keys. In most scenarios if keys are not provided, CAS will auto-generate them. The following instructions apply if you wish to manually and beforehand create the signing and encryption keys.

    Note that if you are asked to create a JWK of a certain size for the key, you are to use the following set of commands to generate the token:

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    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apereo/cas/master/etc/jwk-gen.jar
    java -jar jwk-gen.jar -t oct -s [size]
    

    The outcome would be similar to:

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    {
      "kty": "oct",
      "kid": "...",
      "k": "..."
    }
    

    The generated value for k needs to be assigned to the relevant CAS settings. Note that keys generated via the above algorithm are processed by CAS using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm which is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.


    Configuration Metadata

    The collection of configuration properties listed in this section are automatically generated from the CAS source and components that contain the actual field definitions, types, descriptions, modules, etc. This metadata may not always be 100% accurate, or could be lacking details and sufficient explanations.

    Be Selective

    This section is meant as a guide only. Do NOT copy/paste the entire collection of settings into your CAS configuration; rather pick only the properties that you need. Do NOT enable settings unless you are certain of their purpose and do NOT copy settings into your configuration only to keep them as reference. All these ideas lead to upgrade headaches, maintenance nightmares and premature aging.

    YAGNI

    Note that for nearly ALL use cases, declaring and configuring properties listed here is sufficient. You should NOT have to explicitly massage a CAS XML/Java/etc configuration file to design an authentication handler, create attribute release policies, etc. CAS at runtime will auto-configure all required changes for you. If you are unsure about the meaning of a given CAS setting, do NOT turn it on without hesitation. Review the codebase or better yet, ask questions to clarify the intended behavior.

    Naming Convention

    Property names can be specified in very relaxed terms. For instance cas.someProperty, cas.some-property, cas.some_property are all valid names. While all forms are accepted by CAS, there are certain components (in CAS and other frameworks used) whose activation at runtime is conditional on a property value, where this property is required to have been specified in CAS configuration using kebab case. This is both true for properties that are owned by CAS as well as those that might be presented to the system via an external library or framework such as Spring Boot, etc.

    :information_source: Note

    When possible, properties should be stored in lower-case kebab format, such as cas.property-name=value. The only possible exception to this rule is when naming actuator endpoints; The name of the actuator endpoints (i.e. ssoSessions) MUST remain in camelCase mode.

    Settings and properties that are controlled by the CAS platform directly always begin with the prefix cas. All other settings are controlled and provided to CAS via other underlying frameworks and may have their own schemas and syntax. BE CAREFUL with the distinction. Unrecognized properties are rejected by CAS and/or frameworks upon which CAS depends. This means if you somehow misspell a property definition or fail to adhere to the dot-notation syntax and such, your setting is entirely refused by CAS and likely the feature it controls will never be activated in the way you intend.

    Validation

    Configuration properties are automatically validated on CAS startup to report issues with configuration binding, specially if defined CAS settings cannot be recognized or validated by the configuration schema. Additional validation processes are also handled via Configuration Metadata and property migrations applied automatically on startup by Spring Boot and family.

    Indexed Settings

    CAS settings able to accept multiple values are typically documented with an index, such as cas.some.setting[0]=value. The index [0] is meant to be incremented by the adopter to allow for distinct multiple configuration blocks.

    Troubleshooting

    To enable additional logging, configure the log4j configuration file to add the following levels:

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    ...
    <Logger name="org.apache.kafka" level="debug" additivity="false">
        <AppenderRef ref="casConsole"/>
        <AppenderRef ref="casFile"/>
    </Logger>
    ...