Configure Hue User Interface Authentication

You can configure the following user authentication methods for the Hue interface:

Authentication Method Description
Hue User Administration Use the Hue interface to create and manage user accounts for each Hue user. Prior to Hue 3.7-1505, this was the default.
LDAP Import LDAP users into Hue and then use LDAP to authenticate users with their LDAP credentials. For more information, see Configure Hue with LDAP.
PAM

Use multiple PAM modules to authenticate users. As of Hue 3.7-1505, PAM authentication is supported and it is configured by default. When you use this method, you cannot edit users in the Hue interface.

Using a Non-Default Authentication Method

As of Hue 3.7-1505, the default authentication method is PAM. Prior to Hue 3.7-1505, the default authentication method was Hue's user authentication.

To edit the authentication method used for the Hue interface, complete the following steps:

  1. Set the backend property equal to your selected authentication method. For example, to use Hue's user authentication, select desktop.auth.backend.AllowFirstUserDjangoBackend.
  2. If you choose not to use PAM, comment the pam_service property.

Example hue.ini configued to use PAM Authentication

[[auth]]
# Authentication backend. Common settings are:
# - django.contrib.auth.backends.ModelBackend (entirely Django backend)
# - desktop.auth.backend.AllowAllBackend (allows everyone)
# - desktop.auth.backend.AllowFirstUserDjangoBackend
# (Default. Relies on Django and user manager, after the first login)
# - desktop.auth.backend.LdapBackend
# - desktop.auth.backend.PamBackend - WARNING: existing users in Hue may be unaccessible if they not exist in OS
# - desktop.auth.backend.SpnegoDjangoBackend
# - desktop.auth.backend.RemoteUserDjangoBackend
# - libsaml.backend.SAML2Backend
# - libopenid.backend.OpenIDBackend
# - liboauth.backend.OAuthBackend
# (Support Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Linkedin
backend=desktop.auth.backend.PamBackend
 
# The service to use when querying PAM.
pam_service=sudo sshd login