Integrate with MeshCentral

What is MeshCentral

MeshCentral is a free, open source, web-based platform for remote device management.

-- https://meshcentral.com

Preparation

The following placeholders are used in this guide:

• meshcentral.company is the FQDN of the MeshCentral installation.
• authentik.company is the FQDN of the authentik installation.

:::info This documentation lists only the settings that you need to change from their default values. Be aware that any changes other than those explicitly mentioned in this guide could cause issues accessing your application. :::

authentik configuration

To support the integration of MeshCentral with authentik, you need to create an application/provider pair in authentik.

Create an application and provider in authentik

1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.
2. Navigate to Applications > Applications and click Create with Provider to create an application and provider pair. (Alternatively you can first create a provider separately, then create the application and connect it with the provider.)

• Application: provide a descriptive name, an optional group for the type of application, the policy engine mode, and optional UI settings.
• Choose a Provider type: select OAuth2/OpenID Connect as the provider type.
• Configure the Provider: provide a name (or accept the auto-provided name), the authorization flow to use for this provider, and the following required configurations.
  • Note the Client ID, Client Secret, and slug values because they will be required later.
  • Set a Strict redirect URI to https://meshcentral.company/auth-oidc-callback.
  • Select any available signing key.
• Configure Bindings (optional): you can create a binding (policy, group, or user) to manage the listing and access to applications on a user's My applications page.

3. Click Submit to save the new application and provider.

MeshCentral configuration

Edit the config.json file for your MeshCentral deployment, and add the following code in the domains: subsection:

:::info For Docker deployments, the config.json should be located in the directory on the host machine you mapped to /opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-data. :::

:::info If you need to enable advanced OIDC configurations, please refer to the Using the OpenID Connect Strategy section in the MeshCentral documentation for detailed instructions. :::

    "domains": {
            "authStrategies": {
                "oidc": {
                    "issuer": "https://authentik.company/application/o/meshcentral/",
                    "clientid": "<Client ID>",
                    "clientsecret": "<Client Secret>",
                    "newAccounts": true
                }
            },

To ensure everything is setup correctly, restart your MeshCentral instance and visit the main page. You should be greeted with a new button to allow signing in with OIDC.