Nexus repository manager with LDAP users

ldap maven opends nexus

I wanted to use LDAP to give access to the nexus repository manager from sonatype for those users who need more access than just browsing.

Software used:

OpenDS 2.2.0
Nexus OSS 1.8.0

Directory setup

All users are directly under ou=people, dc=chrissearle, dc=net and are of type inetOrgPerson.
All role groups are under ou=groups, dc=chrissearle, dc=net
A system user is cn=nexus, ou=users, dc=chrissearle, dc=net (because I have disabled anonymous access to OpenDS).

Nexus setup

Security > LDAP Configuration

Connection

Authentication

Make sure the Check Authentication button is OK

User Element Mapping

Since the password field is blank it will actually perform a bind on ldap to test.

Group Element Mapping

Here I had to change the default Group Member Format from ${username} to${dn} because I map the full dn in my group of unique names objects.

Hit the Check User Mapping button:

You should see all your users with their groups

Security > Roles

Add an external role mapping. For example - here we map the LDAP group nexusadmin to the Nexus Administration Role

Administration > Server

Head down the page to security settings and make sure that LDAP is selected. Without this LDAP users will not be able to log in but they will look fine in the Security > Users list.

That should be enough to give your LDAP users a working login.