Self-Hosted Kerberos: Full Control Over Your Authentication
Kerberos is a network authentication protocol built to verify identities over insecure channels. It uses secret-key cryptography to let nodes trust each other. A Self-Hosted Kerberos setup gives you control over the Key Distribution Center (KDC), the heart of the system that issues tickets to clients. Those tickets are how Kerberos ensures secure, authenticated communication without sending passwords over the network.
Running Kerberos Self-Hosted means deploying your own KDC, not relying on external services. You choose the hardware, the OS, and the configuration. You manage the realms, principals, and ticket lifetimes. This approach limits exposure to third parties, and lets you integrate authentication deeply with your existing infrastructure.
To set it up, you first install a Kerberos implementation like MIT Kerberos or Heimdal on your chosen server. Configure the realm name—usually your domain—and create administrative principals. The KDC database stores user and service credentials, encrypted with master keys. You then set up one or more Key Distribution Centers and optionally slave KDCs for redundancy. Every client and service needs a principal in the database, and secure keytab files to authenticate automatically.
A Kerberos Self-Hosted configuration works well with LDAP, Active Directory, or custom backends. It supports mutual authentication: the server proves itself to the client, and the client proves itself to the server. Ticket Granting Tickets (TGTs) allow clients to request service tickets without re-entering credentials. Everything is time-limited to reduce risk. Log rotation, realm key rollover, and network ACLs tighten security further.
Proper deployment means careful clock synchronization, robust backup procedures for the KDC database, and strict permission controls. It also requires regular patching to protect against vulnerabilities in both the Kerberos service and the host system. Many teams script provisioning to automate creation of principals, renewal of keytabs, and distribution of configuration files across nodes.
Kerberos Self-Hosted fits scenarios where compliance, auditability, or sovereignty demand full control. It’s a proven, battle-tested protocol that still thrives in modern architectures, from internal APIs to large-scale distributed systems.
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