Search code examples
apacheazure-active-directoryopenid-connectmod-auth-openidc

Connect to Azure AD from Apache web server on windows


I am trying to use Azure AD to authenticate a website in Apache web server deployed on a windows server. A possible solution we were looking for is mod_auth_openidc, however, it is not available for windows.

Are there any other options that can be used to authenticate a website in apache on a windows server?


Solution

  • The design pattern should work in any technology since HTTP interfaces are used:

    • Reverse proxy is the public URL
    • Website uses an Internal URL
    • Reverse proxy deals with OAuth and talks to Azure AD

    Note that it is generally recommended in terms of secure hosting to put a reverse proxy in front of any of these components, so that an attacker has to breach 2 layers to get to data:

    • APIs
    • Web back ends that access data sources
    • Authorization Servers

    Here is an option that might work for you - and once you have a good reverse proxy setup it gives you some interesting architectural options:

    If it helps, at Curity we have some related resources - here is one that shows how to run NGINX on a Windows PC using Docker and how to take control over behaviour via plugins.