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Bug 1939527

Summary: RFE: Permanently Persistent Local (on-system) SSS Overrides both automating importation (such as after the SSS DB is cleared and SSSD restarted) and a standard location for the override export files
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Reporter: Maria <mescanfe>
Component: sssdAssignee: Andre Boscatto <aboscatt>
Status: CLOSED DEFERRED QA Contact: sssd-qe
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: 8.5CC: aboscatt, b.j.smith, chaithco, grajaiya, jhrozek, lslebodn, mzidek, pbrezina, thalman, tscherf
Target Milestone: rcKeywords: FutureFeature, Triaged
Target Release: ---Flags: pm-rhel: mirror+
Hardware: Unspecified   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: If docs needed, set a value
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2023-04-25 10:19:56 UTC Type: Bug
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description Maria 2021-03-16 15:10:37 UTC
1. Proposed title of this feature request



Permanently Persistent Local (on-system) SSS Overrides - both automating importation (such as after the SSS DB is cleared and SSSD restarted) and a standard location for the override export files



        2. What is the nature and description of the request?



Nominally SSS Overrides, ID Views and other, system-specific SSSD differences are stored in Enterprise IdM (FreeIPA).  But for customers who have not yet implemented IdM/IPA, or are using another solution (e.g., AD-LDAP, RHDS/389 Server or possibly another LDAP source), Local SSS Overrides can still be used.  This solution should be automated and the local (on-system) location for storing SSS Override Export files should be standardized.

Currently, Local SSS Overrides (e.g., users and groups) require 3 steps in sequence. 
 A) SSSD to be started to load
 B) SSS Overrides to be loaded (e.g., sss_override import-users and/or import-groups)
 C) SSSD to be restarted after load to become effective

The 'A-C aspect is a chicken-egg issue whereby SSSD has to be started, loaded, then restarted, for the loaded SSS Overrides to take effect. 
I.e., there is no way to create a systemd sssd service unit file override (e.g., /etc/systemd/system/sssd.service.d/override.conf) with execStartPre=/execStartPost= lines to load SSS Overrides (e.g., via sss_override import-user file or sss_override import-group file) as SSSD has to be restarted after.

And although the SSS Overrides are stored in the DB going forward, if the local DB is ever cleared (a common troubleshooting solution), they are lost.
This is the major issue for customers without Red Hat Enterprise IdM (FreeIPA) implemented, and using another LDAP or POSIX attribute authority with SSSD.

This solution provides a Permanently Persistent means to always re-load SSS Overrides from local export files, even when the SSS DB has been cleared, and any prior SSS Overrides lost.



        3. Why do you need this? (List the business requirements here)



Any customer that uses SSS Overrides, but does not use Red Hat Enterprise IdM (IPA), but another LDAP or other POSIX attribute store.
Currently all loaded SSS Overrides do not 'survive' a SSS DB clear, unless one has Enterprise IdM (IPA), and many Enterprises do not.



        4. How would you like to achieve this? (List the functional requirements here)



Final design is left to Red Hat.  However, one suggestion would be ... 
 A)  Solve Chicken-Egg:  Modify SSSD to it does not need to be restarted after User, Group, etc... SSS Override Importation (e.g., after a sss_override import-user file or sss_override import-group file is executed)
 B)  Standardize/Automate - Have SSSD look for override files in a standard location, and one that is not commonly 'blown away' in troubleshooting as well (i.e., under /var).  E.g., possibly /etc/sssd/user.d/ and /etc/sssd/group.d/ for Users and Group SSS Override export files, respectively -- under /etc instead of /var, since they are static/user configuration files, and not variable.



        5. Would you be able to assist in testing this functionality if implemented?



Absolutely.  In fact, we currently have an Ansible Playbook we use to manually 'push out' SSS Overrides, but this is not automated/standardized, and does not solve the issue of knowing when troubleshooters clear the DB.  It has to be manually identified and re-executed.  This RFE is to put this functionality into the local (on-system) SSSD implementation.  We would absolutely be able to test any RFE on our Dev/Test systems for Red Hat.

Comment 4 Andre Boscatto 2023-04-25 10:19:56 UTC
Please know that we carefully considered and evaluated your request and its potential impact on our product roadmap, market demand, and overall strategy.

While we understand that addressing enhancements, bugs, and issues is critical for ensuring the quality and reliability of our product, we need to balance these priorities with our long-term goals and resource constraints. Unfortunately, we cannot address this request at this time as it does not align with our product vision and strategy, and keeping it in the backlog would be misleading and give the false impression that we will address it in the future, thus we are closing it.

Although we cannot address this specific request, we encourage anyone to collaborate and contribute to the upstream communities, as this approach enhances the flexibility, scalability, and customization of our solution while maintaining its security and stability.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and we understand that it can be frustrating when requests/expectations are not met. However, we hope that you can appreciate that we must balance our priorities with our long-term goals and resource constraints.

Please be aware that while you are welcome to open a new support case or reopen this request, we cannot guarantee that it will be addressed due to resource constraints and the prioritization of other requests.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to share feedback with us, and we look forward to continuing to work together to deliver the best possible solution, supporting in any way we can.

Thank you for understanding,

André Boscatto
Product Owner - Identity and Access Management Department

*As a side note, there is sudo sssctl client-data-backup and sudo sssctl client-data-restore that can be used to back up and restore the override data. And sssctl cache-remove -r that does backup/restore automatically.