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You can authenticate users of some self-hosted video conferencing platforms against an LDAP directory, including Microsoft Active Directory, but only through each product’s own documented route. Jitsi Meet has an explicit LDAP path: Prosody hands credentials to Cyrus SASL and saslauthd, which check them against the directory. In Docker deployments, Jitsi exposes LDAP settings as environment variables instead. BigBlueButton’s Greenlight front end includes an LDAP authentication provider. LDAP is not a switch you can flip across every self-hosted conferencing product, and the exact attribute names, search filter, TLS settings, and software version all change whether the setup works.
Which self-hosted platforms have a documented LDAP path
The table below separates the three configuration routes that official documentation describes. They solve the same business problem, but they are wired differently and are not interchangeable.
| Route | Where LDAP is applied | What you configure | Documented caveat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jitsi Meet on Debian packages | Prosody validates passwords through Cyrus SASL and saslauthd, not Prosody’s local user database | saslauthd LDAP settings, the Cyrus SASL application file for Prosody, and Prosody’s authentication option set to cyrus |
The Jitsi Meet Handbook describes this guide as a first draft |
| Jitsi Meet in Docker | The Jitsi Docker image is configured with ENABLE_AUTH and AUTH_TYPE=ldap |
Environment variables for the LDAP URL, base, optional bind credentials, filter, protocol version, and TLS | Variable names and defaults belong to the image version you run |
| BigBlueButton Greenlight | Greenlight’s LDAP authentication provider | Server, port, method, UID field, base, authentication method, bind DN and password, role field, and filter | LDAP takes precedence over other configured providers |
Prosody also ships a separate mod_auth_ldap module for standalone Prosody servers. It is a different mechanism from the Cyrus SASL route described for Jitsi, and it is covered in its own section below so the two are not confused.
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Before you start
- Confirm the platform and deployment method first. A Jitsi package install, a Jitsi Docker stack, and a Greenlight installation each need different steps and different file locations.
- Get a bind account in the directory with read access to the user search base. Know the base DN where your users live.
- Decide which login name users type: a short account name, a
user@domainstyle name, or both. This decides the search filter. - Obtain the certificate chain that signs your domain controllers’ LDAPS certificates. You will need it for verified TLS.
- Plan a rollback. Keep the existing local authentication working until a test account authenticates through LDAP.
Jitsi Meet on Debian packages: Prosody with Cyrus SASL and saslauthd
Jitsi’s LDAP authentication guide uses Cyrus SASL to validate user-supplied credentials against LDAP. The example directory settings use an LDAPS server, a bind identity with password, a search base, and bind authentication. The guide reports successful testing against Active Directory in one environment (Ubuntu 24.04 with Prosody 0.12). It also lists a separate test environment with Debian 11, Prosody 0.11, and OpenLDAP. Both are described as the environments in which the guide was exercised, not as a support matrix for your version.
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Step 1: Install the required packages
The documented Debian package set includes saslauthd, the LDAP module for Cyrus SASL, the Lua Cyrus SASL bindings, and the Prosody modules. Cyrus SASL support was removed from mainline Prosody and moved to the community module repository, so you also need mod_auth_cyrus from that repository. Confirm the package names against your distribution’s repository, since they vary between releases.
Step 2: Point saslauthd at the directory
Configure saslauthd’s LDAP mechanism with the LDAPS URL, bind identity, bind password, and search base for your directory. The location of this file depends on your distribution, so use the path your packaging documents. Keep the bind account read-only.
Step 3: Set the username search filter
The guide’s default filter is uid=%u. For Samba or Microsoft AD, the guide says you may need (sAMAccountName=%U) because the uid attribute is often unset in those environments. It also notes a possible issue with usernames that contain an @ sign and documents %U as the user portion of a username. Treat these as starting points and verify them against your own directory.
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Step 4: Test saslauthd on its own
Before touching Prosody, check the directory layer directly with testsaslauthd. Use a known-good account and a deliberately wrong password, and confirm you get a success and a failure respectively:
testsaslauthd -u jsmith -p 'correct-password'
testsaslauthd -u jsmith -p 'wrong-password'Replace jsmith with a real account name in your directory. The first command should report success and the second should fail. If it does not, fix the directory layer first; changing Prosody will not repair it.
Step 5: Enable saslauthd at boot and grant Prosody socket access
Enable the saslauthd service so it starts at boot. Prosody must be able to reach the saslauthd socket, so check that the Prosody service user is permitted to use it. Permission errors here usually show up in logs as authentication failures even when testsaslauthd succeeds from an administrator shell.
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Step 6: Point Prosody at Cyrus SASL and restart
Configure the Cyrus SASL application file that Prosody reads, then switch Prosody’s authentication option to cyrus for the virtual host that serves your conferences. Only make this switch after the test in Step 4 passes. Restart Prosody, then test a Jitsi login with a directory account.
VirtualHost "meet.example.com"
authentication = "cyrus"Substitute your own domain. Keep other virtual host settings unchanged while you test.
Do not use the plaintext fallback to get past an error
The guide says allow_unencrypted_plain_auth may appear to help in some troubleshooting cases, but it is not recommended because it weakens the setup. Try to authenticate without it, and fix the transport instead, using the TLS guidance later in this article.
Jitsi Meet in Docker
The Jitsi Docker documentation uses a different configuration model. Set ENABLE_AUTH and AUTH_TYPE=ldap, then supply the LDAP settings as environment variables. Do not mix these variable names with the Debian and saslauthd procedure above; the two deployments configure the directory in different places.
- LDAP endpoint:
LDAP_URLfor the directory server. - Search base:
LDAP_BASE. - Bind identity: optional bind DN and password, for directories that do not allow anonymous lookups.
- Filter: the documented example is
(sAMAccountName=%u). Use the placeholder that your image’s documentation specifies for your version. - Authentication method and protocol version: the authentication method and LDAP protocol version settings.
- TLS: TLS controls, peer-certificate verification, the CA certificate file or directory, and the StartTLS option.
Look up the exact variable names for your image version in Jitsi’s Docker documentation. Names differ between releases, and an unrecognised variable is silently ignored in many setups.
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A real deployment needs a correct PUBLIC_URL. Accessing the service over plain HTTP rather than HTTPS can cause browser WebRTC microphone and camera errors. Fix this before you debug LDAP, because a login problem and a media problem can look similar to users.
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After changing environment variables, recreate the containers so the new values take effect. With Docker Compose, that usually means editing the environment file and running docker compose up -d again.
BigBlueButton Greenlight
Greenlight’s configuration guide provides LDAP variables for the server, port, method, UID field, base, authentication method, bind DN and password, role field, and filter. For Active Directory, the guide says you must determine the correct user ID parameter. The two candidates it names are sAMAccountName and UserPrincipalName.
Greenlight’s LDAP provider takes precedence over other providers you have configured. If you enable a local login alongside LDAP, test which provider handles a given login before you rely on both. As with Docker, a running Greenlight container must be recreated for environment changes to take effect.
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The attribute you match against determines which login name users must type. Do not copy a sample filter without checking your directory.
| Attribute or filter | Typical login form | Where it appears in the documentation | Practical note |
|---|---|---|---|
sAMAccountName |
Short account name, such as jsmith |
Jitsi guide for Samba or Microsoft AD; Jitsi Docker filter example; Greenlight candidate | Usually the safest match for AD-style short logins; confirm it exists and is populated for your accounts |
UserPrincipalName |
Full sign-in name, such as jsmith@example.com |
Greenlight candidate | Contains an @; see the troubleshooting note on @ below |
uid |
Account name in POSIX-style schemas | Jitsi guide default filter uid=%u |
Often unset in Samba and Microsoft AD, so it may match nothing there |
Pick one login convention and tell users which one to type. If you accept both short and full names, confirm that your filter handles both, because a filter that matches only one form will reject the other.
Standalone Prosody with mod_auth_ldap
Prosody’s mod_auth_ldap documentation describes its own options for the server, base, bind identity, search filter, scope, TLS, and password-validation mode. The validation mode matters:
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- bind mode checks the user’s password by binding to the directory, so the directory password does not need to be readable as plaintext. Authentication in this mode is limited to the PLAIN mechanism.
- getpasswd mode needs the directory to provide the plaintext password, which Prosody then feeds into its own authentication system.
Use this route only when you are running Prosody with its LDAP module directly, and do not assume that Jitsi’s Cyrus SASL steps apply to it.
Transport and certificate verification
Credentials must travel over an encrypted connection. The Jitsi package guide uses an LDAPS example, and the Docker settings expose TLS, peer-certificate verification, and CA configuration. Use these settings to build a verified trust chain:
- Use LDAPS or StartTLS, not a plaintext LDAP URL, for any production login.
- Keep peer-certificate verification on, and point the CA file or directory at the chain that signed your domain controllers’ certificates.
- Make sure the certificate name matches the hostname in the LDAP URL. A mismatch is one of the most common causes of failed binds.
- Do not disable certificate checks to make a test pass. Fix the trust chain instead.
Testing before and after you switch
- Confirm directory reachability and the bind account with a simple search from the conferencing host.
- Test a valid account and a rejected password at the directory or SASL layer, as shown with
testsaslauthdfor the Jitsi package route. - Apply the platform setting, then restart or recreate the affected service or container.
- Log in to the conferencing platform with an authorized account and with a wrong password. Both results should match expectations.
- Verify guest access and room-creation rules separately. A successful LDAP credential check does not by itself settle who may create rooms or join as a guest.
Troubleshooting
Wrong search base or bind identity
If the test fails for every account, the bind may be failing before any user is checked. Confirm the bind DN, its password, and that the search base contains your users.
Wrong login attribute or filter
If correct credentials are rejected but the bind works, the filter is likely matching nothing. Check sAMAccountName or UserPrincipalName against a real account in your directory, and confirm the placeholder in your filter matches your configuration path.
Usernames that contain @
The Jitsi guide flags a possible problem with usernames containing @. If full sign-in names fail while short names succeed, the mismatch is in how the name is split and matched, not in the password. Test with both forms and choose one login convention.
Untrusted or mismatched certificates
Errors about certificate trust or hostname mismatch point to the CA file or directory, or to a hostname that does not match the certificate. Correct those values rather than turning verification off.
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Inaccessible saslauthd socket
If testsaslauthd succeeds from an administrator account but Prosody still fails, check that saslauthd is running and that the Prosody service user can reach its socket.
Changes not applied
If behaviour does not change after editing configuration, the service or container was probably not restarted or recreated. Greenlight’s documentation states this requirement explicitly, and the same principle applies to Docker-based Jitsi.
What the evidence establishes, and what it does not
The official Jitsi Meet Handbook LDAP Authentication page, last updated October 5, 2026, states: “This is a first draft and might not work on your system.” Read it as a warning about maturity. The guide shows a working configuration path, but it does not guarantee that the same steps will pass on your release, directory schema, or login convention.
The available official material establishes configuration paths for Jitsi Meet and BigBlueButton Greenlight, plus Prosody’s module behaviour. It does not establish a controlled comparison of features, a support matrix for every release, or an interoperability test across all Active Directory schemas. No published statistics on reliability or adoption were found for this topic, so do not treat any such figure as settled. Confirm the release documentation for your exact version and your organisation’s directory settings before you copy any command or filter into production.
Platform choice should rest on your own requirements. Compare how each route handles your login names, your certificate infrastructure, and your operational tolerance for a first-draft guide, rather than on any general claim that one product is better.
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