Just-in-time access configuration page
Last updated
Last updated
Lithnet Access Manager supports granting access to computers using a just-in-time access model.
The JIT model used by Lithnet Access Manager involves 3 processes.
A group is created in AD to provide JIT access to a specific computer
The group is added to the local administrators group of that computer
When a user requests just-in-time access to a computer, they are added to this group, for a limited period of time.
The first process can be manged by AMS. It can be configured to automatically create groups for all computers in an OU.
The second process is managed by group policy preferences. GPP is configured to add the JIT group to the local administrators group of the computer.
Finally, the AMS service through its access request and authorization process, can add members to a group for a limited period of time.
You can use AMS to automatically create a JIT group for every computer in a given OU. Note this doesn't have to be done by AMS if you have another tool you wish to use to create groups.
Select Enable automatic JIT group creation and press the Add... button to create a new mapping. Once the mapping has been created, use the Delegate permission... button to generate a script that grants AMS the rights it needs to manage the JIT groups.
Select the container that contains the computers you want to create JIT groups for, and select if access manager should find computers that exist in all child containers, or just the container specified.
Select the container that access manager should create the group objects within. If you want to clean up groups created for computers that have been deleted, then tick the delete groups... tick box. Note, any group found in this container that doesn't match an expected JIT group will be deleted. Do NOT select this option if the OU contains groups that are NOT created by AMS.
Specify the name of the group that should be created. You must use the %computerName% placeholder somewhere in the name. If you use the template JIT-%computerName% then for a computer named PC1 AMS will create a group called JIT-PC1
Select the type of group to create. There is rarely a reason to change this from the default of domain local
The AMS service checks every 60 seconds for new computers in the domain, and will create a group for any new computers it finds. Once an hour, the service will do a full synchronization of groups and computers. Only at this time, will missing computers be detected, and groups deleted if the mapping is configured to do so.
If you intend to use JIT groups on Linux machines that are bound to Active Directory, you may require a gid attribute to be configured for your JIT groups.
In the instance where your Active Directory domain has been configured with the Identity Management for UNIX components, Access Manager can generate gidNumber attributes for JIT groups, such that they are visible by Unix machines.
If configured, Access Manager will compute a gid for the group like so:
The group will be created in Active Directory, and the security identifier (SID) is retrieved.
The domain-unique relative identifier (RID) is extracted from the SID.
The GID is computed as gid = rid + <offset>, where offset is configured to ensure the generated identifiers do not clash with existing identifiers in your environment.
The resulting gid will be placed in the AD attribute of your choosing on the group object (default: gidNumber).
When picking an offset, ensure that it is significantly large enough to prevent clashes with already-allocated gids in your environment.
This may not be required if your Linux/AD binding makes use of automatic ID mapping. For example, SSSD can be configured to automatically map Active Directory security identifiers (SIDs) to POSIX-style uid and gid identifiers.
Based on the capabilities of your Active Directory domain, Access Manager can enable JIT support through two different mechanisms. Active Directory time-based membership and the AMS scheduler-managed membership.
Time-based membership is the superior option, as it leverages the Privileged Access Management (PAM) feature in Active Directory. This allows AMS to add the user to the JIT group, with a time limit on that membership. Once that limit expires, the membership is automatically removed by AD itself.
The key feature of this mode, is that the Kerberos ticket the user obtains will only last as long as the group membership. Combined with membership in the Protected Users group, you can be assured that the user's access will expire precisely when then group membership expires. However, time-based membership requires enabling the AD Privileged Access Management feature, which is only supported on Windows Server 2016 and later forest functional levels.
AMS scheduler-managed membership is supported in all Windows Server 2003 and later domains. AMS will add the user to the group, and created a scheduled job internally to remove the user at the time the membership expires. Unlike the time-based membership option, the group expiry is not linked to the lifetime of the Kerberos ticket, so users may not lose access immediately.
This list shows each domain and forest known to the AMS server, and the type of JIT it supports based on the forest functional level.
Shows the name of the forest
Shows the name of the domain
Shows the current functional level of the forest
Shows the current functional level of the domain
Shows the availability of the AD PAM feature in this domain
Not supported: The forest functional level does not support PAM.
Supported, but not enabled: The forest functional level supports PAM, but it has not been enabled.
Enabled: The PAM feature is enabled and available in the domain.
The JIT type is always based on the availability of the PAM feature in the domain. If it is enabled, the JIT type will always be the preferred time-based membership mode. If it is not enabled, or not available at all, the JIT type will fall back to AMS scheduler
