Hi there,
Does anybody experience with ldap plugin? How does it works and how to set it up and use it correctly?
Would you recommand ldap or loca database authentication?
Thanks,
Hi @coldsummer,
Most people considering the LDAP plugin expect it to provide single-sign-on authentication. It doesn’t – it potentially will allow you to log in based on an external user database, but you’ll still need to log in specifically to OJS.
Can you describe what your goal is?
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Hi @asmecher,
Thank you for your reply. Yes me too. I expect to use ldap plugin to be able to login with ldap account without creating ojs local account manually.
You said that “It doesn’t” what do you mean by that? If we cannot login with ldap account after this plugin is enable, what is this plugin for exactly?
What do you mean when you said “it potentially will allow you to log in based on an external user database”?
I am very confuse in using this ldap plugin. Could you please guide me more?
Regards,
1 Like
Hi @coldsummer,
Single sign-on means that users can log into e.g. their institutional portal, and OJS will automatically know who they are without requiring them to log in again.
With LDAP, it’s possible to use the same backing database, but because OJS and your institutional portal don’t use the same session management tools, the user will have to log into each separately (even though they may share the same credentials).
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
When ldap plugin is enable and configured, can we log into OJS system with active directory account without having to create local account manually in advance?
I understand what is Single Sign-on and i don’t mean to use ldap as SSO.
My goal is to set up ldap plugin to be able to log into OJS with Active directory account without having to create ojs local account manually.
Is that the purpose of ldap plugin?
Hi @coldsummer,
Have a look at the Frequently Asked Questions part of the LDAP documentation.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Thank you Alex. Yes. I went through this documentation to setup ldap plugin. When i saw this line “ldap … is a common choice for centralizing authentication on a server. A popular LDAP implementation is OpenLDAP (http://www.openldap.org/) an open source implementation of the protocol.” I understand that we can use ldap plugin to be able to log into OJS with account on central authentication server. Am i wrong?
I just want to make sure if i understand the purpose of this plugin correctly. It’s ok if ldap doesn’t do what i expect it to do.
What is your own understanding of this plugin purpose?
Regards,
Hi @coldsummer,
As noted, OJS will always need to keep its own user records for auditing and integrity purposes. Configuring LDAP will allow some measure of synchronization of two databases, but OJS will still need to maintain its own, and it’s currently necessary to manually create users in the OJS database before they’ll be able to log in.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Thank you Alex,
If understand it well, first we need to create user in OJS database by choosing ldap authentication source. Then we should be able to log into OJS with that user.
Am I right ? Or do i miss something?
Reards,
Hi @coldsummer,
See the FAQ area of the LDAP documentation:
That said, there are several ways to get your LDAP users into your OxS database. If you wish to do a one time dump of users into OxS, you could build an XML file with user information to import into OxS (see the Users XML plugin). Further, code could be written to automatically insert users into the database when registered in another application. The execute function in classes/manager/form/UserManagementForm.inc.php shows how users are registered into OJS, and can be modeled in user registration functions in another application. Likely a variety of other solutions can be implemented to overcome this.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Thank you Alex for your time !!!
Hi Alex,
I have one question related to installation OJS system from scratch, i would like to know which version you recommand 2.4.8.1 or 3.0.0.
I have installed both juste for testing, it seem to me that the version 2.4.8.1 has less issue.
Thanks,
Hi @coldsummer,
I would suggest working with OJS 3.x if possible. OJS 3.0.1 is quite stable and OJS 3.0.2 (due for release shortly) will be stabler still; we’ll be working hard on the OJS 3.x platform in the coming months to add the few features that are not yet available on that line, such as subscriptions and payments. We’ll continue to support and maintain OJS 2.x for a while, but only for stability and security purposes.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Can you give me the link to download the most stable version of 3.x?
Hi @coldsummer,
The most recent releases are always listed on the OJS download page.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
That’s the page i use to download this version and I need to modify the code to get ride of error message. I am not sure if it’s stable.
Hi @coldsummer,
That’s the page where stable download packages will be made available. If you’re handy with git, you could also use the stable branches there, which will receive minor updates and fixes between releases.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Do i still need to apply patches like in this link https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/README when i download from github?
Hi @coldsummer,
If you want to use the stable branches from github, I’d suggest learning how to use the git toolset on your server. It can have a steep learning curve but is very useful if you want to regularly refresh the latest code. Working with git and regularly refreshing from the stable branch is roughly equivalent to applying the recommended patches.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team