# JupyterHub LDAP server

**URL:** <https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyterhub-ldap-server/1876>\
**Category:** JupyterHub\
**Tags:** how-to\
**Created:** [August 9, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyterhub-ldap-server/1876 "2019-08-09T20:22:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ArlenePena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/34f0e0/32.png) [@ArlenePena](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/ArlenePena)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyterhub-ldap-server/1876/1 "2019-08-09T20:22:15Z")

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Is there a guide to setting up an LDAP server for use with JupyterHub? Almost all of the information I’ve found deals with the Jupyter side of things like plugins and assumes the LDAP server already exists. LDAP in general is such a huge firehose of information that I can’t filter out just what I need to know to set up a simple authentication system for JupyterHub.

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**Author:** ![manics](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.jupyter.org/manics/32/85_2.png) [@manics](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/manics)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyterhub-ldap-server/1876/2 "2019-08-09T22:19:00Z")

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LDAP is complicated to setup, the typical reason for using it with Jupyterhub is you already have an institutional LDAP server and want to use the same authentication mechanism used by other apps.

Could you use Jupyterhub’s built-in user management?

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**Author:** ![ArlenePena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/34f0e0/32.png) [@ArlenePena](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/ArlenePena)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 12:36am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyterhub-ldap-server/1876/3 "2019-08-10T00:36:15Z")

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I can’t, the built-in user management requires OS users, which I can’t create. As far as I can figure, LDAP seems to be the next-simplest authentication solution that JupyterHub can be made to work with.

I’ve gathered that it’s tricky, but the trick only has to be figured out once, right? If no one’s done it before, I’m willing to try it and write up instructions if I can find someone to guide me.

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**Author:** ![jacobtomlinson](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.jupyter.org/jacobtomlinson/32/591_2.png) [@jacobtomlinson](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/jacobtomlinson)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyterhub-ldap-server/1876/4 "2019-08-10T07:46:00Z")

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I recommend you take a look at FreeIPA. I’ve used it for LDAP services in Linux only environments before.