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Setting up Group Sync with the Installer

What is Group Sync?

Group Sync allows you to use the ACLs from your identity infrastructure in order to set up permissions on Spaces and Rooms in the Element Ecosystem. Please note that the initial version we are providing only supports a single node, non-federated configuration.

General settings

  • Copy sample file from config-sample/groupsync/gsync.yml in the installer directory to ~/.element-onpremise-config/groupsync
  • Edit the file with the following values :
    • group_power_levels : A list of groups that'll determine people's Matrix power levels. This affects only the space that the Group belongs to – doesn't leak up or down. For MSGraph source, groups should be identified by their ids. On LDAP, they should be identified by their names.
    • provisioner.dn_default_prefix: Display names starting with this prefix will get corrected according to the names we found for their users in LDAP. Optional. Useful if you're using an OIDC provider that doesn't give you users' display names.
    • provisioner.default_rooms : Optional. A list of rooms that'll get automatically created in in managed space. The ID is required to enable GPS to track whether they were already created or not. You can change it, but it'll cause new rooms to be generated.
    • provisioner.whitelisted_users : Optional. A list of userid patterns that will not get kicked from rooms even if they don't belong to them according to LDAP. This is useful for things like the auditbot. Patterns listed here will be wrapped in ^ and $ before matching.
    • verify_tls : Optional. If doing a POC with self-signed certs, set this to 0. The default value is 1.

Configuring the source

LDAP Servers

  • You should create a ldap account with read access to the OUs containing the users
  • This account should use password authentication
  • To use LDAP source, copy the file config-sample/groupsync/ldap.yml in the installer directory to ~/.element-onpremise-config/groupsync and edit the following variables :
    • ldap_check_interval_seconds: The interval check in seconds
    • ldap_uri: The LDAP Uri to connect to the ldap server
    • ldap_base: The LDAP base used to build the space hierarchy. This OU will become the root space. Every OU below this base will be a child-space.
    • ldap_bind_dn: The user bind dn to use to read the space hierarchy.
    • ldap_bind_password: The user password
    • ldap_attrs_uid: The attribute to use to map to users mxids
    • ldap_attrs_name: The attribute to use to map to spaces names
  • Restart the install script

MS Graph (Azure AD)

  • You need to create an App registration. You'll need the Tenant ID of the organization, the Application (client ID) and a secret generated from Certificates & secrets on the app.

  • For the bridge to be able to operate correctly, navigate to API permissions and ensure it has access to Group.Read.All, GroupMember.Read.All and User.Read.AllAll. Ensure that these are Application permissions (rather than Delegated).

  • Remember to grant the admin consent for those.

  • To use MSGraph source, copy the file config-sample/groupsync/msgraph.yml in the installer directory to ~/.element-onpremise-config/groupsync and edit the following variables :

    • msgraph_tenant_id: This is the "Tenant ID" from your Azure Active Directory Overview
    • msgraph_client_id: Register your app in "App registrations". This will be its "Application (client) ID"
    • msgraph_client_secret : Go to "Certificates & secrets", and click on "New client secret". This will be the "Value" of the created secret (not the "Secret ID").

  • Restart the install script

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