About Agama SMTP Project

This repo is home to the Gluu Agama-SMTP project. This Agama project provides email-based authentication for user registration and verification.

Where To Deploy

The project can be deployed to any IAM server that runs an implementation of the Agama Framework like Janssen Server and Gluu Flex.

How To Deploy

Different IAM servers may provide different methods and user interfaces from where an Agama project can be deployed on that server. The steps below show how the Agama-SMTP project can be deployed on the Janssen Server.

Deployment of an Agama project involves three steps.

• Downloading the .gama package from the project repository
• Adding the .gama package to the IAM server
• Configure the project

Pre-Requisites

To send email messages, ensure you have the Jans Auth Server with SMTP service configured

Download the Project

Tip

Skip this step if you use the Janssen Server TUI tool to configure this project. The TUI tool enables the download and adding of this project directly from the tool, as part of the community projects listing.

The project is bundled as .gama package. Visit the Assets section of the Releases to download the .gama package.

Add The Project To The Server

The Janssen Server provides multiple ways an Agama project can be deployed and configured. Either use the command-line tool, REST API, or a To send email messages, ensure you have the Jans Auth Server set up. It includes an SMTP service for sending emails, but you need to configure it before use. TUI (text-based UI). Refer to Agama project configuration page in the Janssen Server documentation for more details.

Configure The Project

The Agama project accepts configuration parameters in the JSON format. Every Agama project comes with a basic sample configuration file for reference.

Below is a typical configuration of the Agama-SMTP project. As shown, it contains configuration parameters for the flows contained in it:

{
  "org.gluu.agama.smtp.main": {
    "minCredsRequired": 2,
    "captureLocation": true
  },
  "org.gluu.agama.smtp.emailVerification": {},
  "org.gluu.agama.smtp.registration": {}
}

Test The Flow

Use any relying party implementation (like jans-tarp) to send an authentication request that triggers the flow.

From the incoming authentication request, the Janssen Server reads the ACR parameter value to identify which authentication method should be used. To invoke the org.gluu.agama.smtp.main flow contained in the Agama-SMTP project, specify the ACR value as agama_<qualified-name-of-the-top-level-flow>, i.e agama_org.gluu.agama.smtp.main.

Customize and Make It Your Own

Fork this repo to start customizing the Agama-SMTP project. It is possible to customize the user interface provided by the flow to suit your organization's branding guidelines. Or customize the overall flow behavior. Follow the best practices and steps listed here to achieve these customizations in the best possible way. This project can be reused in other Agama projects to create more complex authentication journeys. To reuse, trigger the org.gluu.agama.smtp.main flow from other Agama projects.

To make it easier to visualize and customize the Agama Project, use Agama Lab.

Flows In The Project

List of the flows:

• org.gluu.agama.smtp.main

org.gluu.agama.smtp.main

The main flow of this project is org.gluu.agama.smtp.main . In step one, the person enters their email address, to which the IDP sends an OTP code. After OTP verification, if the email address is known, the flow is successful. If the email address is new, the IDP displays a registration form.

Sequence Diagram

A basic diagram to understand how the agama-SMTP works.

sequenceDiagram

title Agama-SMTP Sequence Diagram
actor User
participant Browser
participant jans-auth
participant SMTP Server
participant Email Client

User->>Browser: Authz url with acr_values=agama & agama_flow=io.jans.agamaSmtp.main
Browser->>jans-auth: Connect
jans-auth->>Browser: Submit email form
User->>Browser: Enter and submit email
Browser->>jans-auth: Submit inputs 
jans-auth->>jans-auth: check if user with same email already exists

alt user exists - authenticate user
    jans-auth->>jans-auth: Generate OTP
    jans-auth->>jans-auth: Sign OTP email using keys in SMTP keystore
    jans-auth->>SMTP Server: Send email
    SMTP Server->>Email Client: Forward email
    Email Client->>User: OTP
    User->>Browser: Enter OTP
    Browser->>jans-auth: Sending OTP (POST form)
    jans-auth->>jans-auth: Validate OTP

    alt OTP correct
        jans-auth->>Browser: Continue with OpenID code flow
    else OTP incorrect
        jans-auth->>Browser: Ask for OTP until reaching the maximum attempts
        jans-auth->>Browser: Terminate the flow with message - You have reached max allowed attempts
    end

else user does not exist - Register new User
    jans-auth->>jans-auth: Generate OTP
    jans-auth->>jans-auth: Sign OTP email using keys in SMTP keystore
    jans-auth->>SMTP Server: Send email
    SMTP Server->>Email Client: Forward email
    Email Client->>User: OTP
    User->>Browser: Enter OTP
    Browser->>jans-auth: Sending OTP (POST form)
    jans-auth->>jans-auth: Validate OTP

    alt OTP correct
        jans-auth->>Browser: Display registration form
        User->>Browser: Submit FN, MN, LN, email, password
        Browser->>jans-auth: POST user details
        jans-auth->>jans-auth: Create user
        jans-auth->>Browser: Continue with OpenID code flow
    else OTP incorrect
        jans-auth->>Browser: Ask for OTP until reaching the maximum attempts
        jans-auth->>Browser: Terminate the flow with message - You have reached max allowed attempts
    end
end

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Demo

Check out this video to see the agama-SMTP authentication flow in action. Also check the Agama Project Of The Week video series for a quick demo on this flow.

Note: While the video shows how the flow works overall, it may be dated. Do check the Test the Flow section to understand the current method of passing the ACR parameter when invoking the flow.