In the previous recipe, Integrating with LDAP for authentication only, we looked at how to integrate JIRA to an LDAP server for user and group information. Besides using LDAP, another popular option is to use Crowd, which is available at at https://www.atlassian.com/software/crowd/overview.
Crowd is a user identity management solution from Atlassian, and JIRA supports Crowd integration out of the box. With Crowd, you can also set up a single sign-on option with other Crowd-enabled applications.
For this recipe, you will need to have a Crowd server up and running. You need to make sure that the JIRA server is able to access the Crowd server without any glitches, for example, it is not blocked by firewalls.
At a minimum, you will also need to have the following information:
- The Crowd server URL
- Credentials for the registered application in Crowd for JIRA
Proceed with the following steps to integrate JIRA with Crowd for user management:
- Navigate to Administration | User Management | User Directories.
- Click on the Add Directory button and select the Atlassian Crowd option.
- Enter the Crowd server settings. Refer to the following table for details.
- Click on the Test Settings button to validate JIRA's connectivity to Crowd.
- Click on the Save and Test button if there are no issues connecting to Crowd.
Server Settings
Description
Name
This is an identifier for the Crowd server.
Server URL
This is the Crowd's server URL.
Application Name
This is the registered application name for JIRA inside Crowd.
Application Password
This is the password for the registered application.
Crowd Permissions
Read Only
Select this option if you do not want JIRA to make any changes to Crowd. This is the ideal option if everything, including the user's group membership, is managed with Crowd.
Read/Write
Select this option to let JIRA synchronize any changes back to Crowd.
Advanced Settings
Description
Enable Nested Groups
This allows groups to contain other groups as members.
Enable Incremental Synchronization
This will only synchronize deltas. Enabling this option can help improve performance.
Synchronization Interval
This determines how often (in minutes) JIRA should synchronize with Crowd for changes. Shorter intervals may cause performance issues.