Centralized Authentication for Machine Learning Pipelines with Okta SAML

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To set up centralized authentication for machine learning pipelines using Okta's SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) capabilities, you'll create a SAML application within Okta. This application will serve as the SAML service provider (SP) and will be integrated into your machine learning environment, allowing users to authenticate using Okta as the identity provider (IdP).

Here is how you will accomplish this with Pulumi in Python:

1. You'll define a SAML application in Okta using the `okta.app.Saml` resource.
2. Set up a group in Okta for your machine learning users using the `okta.Group` resource.
3. Create appropriate attribute statements as needed for your machine learning platform to receive user details.

The program below is crafted to create the necessary resources for centralized authentication via Okta SAML. It first creates an Okta SAML application configured with the necessary SAML settings such as the assertion consumer service (ACS) URLs and attribute statements. Next, it creates an Okta group which will contain users that are allowed to access the machine learning pipelines.

Here's the program that sets up the Okta SAML application:

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_okta as okta

# Configure the Okta SAML application
saml_app = okta.app.Saml("machine-learning-saml-app",
    # Name your app label something meaningful
    label="Machine Learning SAML App",
    # SSO URL of the machine learning SP. Replace with actual URL
    sso_url="https://your.machinelearning.endpoint/sso/saml",
    # Audience URI (SP Entity ID) of the machine learning SP
    audience="https://your.machinelearning.endpoint/",
    # Attribute statements for user info. Adjust according to your pipeline's requirements
    attribute_statements=[
        okta.app.SamlAttributeStatementArgs(
            name="email",
            type="EXPRESSION",
            values=["user.email"],
        ),
        # Add further attributes here
    ],
    # ACS endpoints where Okta will post SAML responses
    acs_endpoints=[okta.app.SamlAcsEndpointArgs(
        binding="HTTP-POST",
        url="https://your.machinelearning.endpoint/sso/saml",
    )],
    # This might be required by your SML application to verify requests
    signature_algorithm="RSA_SHA256",
)

# Create an Okta group specifically for machine learning users
ml_group = okta.Group("machine-learning-users",
    name="MachineLearningUsers",
    description="Users with access to the machine learning pipelines",
)

# Export the ID of the SAML application and the group
pulumi.export("saml_app_id", saml_app.id)
pulumi.export("ml_group_id", ml_group.id)
```

This Pulumi program will set up the necessary Okta configurations for SAML authentication. Once the Okta resources are created, you can use the SAML application ID (`saml_app_id`) and group ID (`ml_group_id`) to configure your machine learning pipelines accordingly.

### Important Notes:

- The `sso_url`, `audience`, and `acs_endpoints` parameters must be set according to the specific requirements of your machine learning environment. Consult your environment's documentation to determine these values.
- Attribute statements in the `attribute_statements` list should be adjusted to match what attributes you want to pass to your machine learning pipelines. These are typically attributes of the user like email, name, or roles.
- The `signature_algorithm` is set to `RSA_SHA256`, which is a commonly used algorithm for SAML applications. Ensure that this matches the requirement for your machine learning platform.

In this setup, after creating the SAML app on Okta, you would configure your machine learning platform to use SAML for authentication and specify the created Okta SAML application as the identity provider.

For more information on the resources used in this program, visit the [Pulumi Okta documentation](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/okta/) for detailed API references.

Remember to consult the specific documentation for your machine learning platform to integrate SAML authentication correctly. This might involve uploading metadata from Okta to your platform or setting the Okta SAML application with specific parameters based on your platform's requirements.