# Single Sign-On with Amazon Cognito and njs
Type of document: How-to guide
Product: NGINX Plus
> Enable OpenID Connect-based single-sign for applications proxied by NGINX Plus, using Amazon Cognito as the identity provider (IdP).
---
**Note:** This guide applies to NGINX Plus [Release 15](nginx/releases.md#r15) and later, based on the [`nginx-openid-connect`](https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-openid-connect) GitHub repo. Starting with NGINX Plus [Release 34](nginx/releases.md#r34), use the simpler solution with the [native OpenID connect module](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_oidc_module.html).
See [Single Sign-On With Amazon Cognito](nginx/deployment-guides/single-sign-on/cognito.md) for details.
This guide explains how to enable single sign‑on (SSO) for applications being proxied by F5 NGINX Plus. The solution uses OpenID Connect as the authentication mechanism, with [Amazon Cognito](https://aws.amazon.com/cognito/) as the identity provider (IdP), and NGINX Plus as the relying party.
**Note:** You can find more information about the NGINX Plus OpenID Connect integration in the project's [GitHub repo](https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-openid-connect#nginx-openid-connect).
## Prerequisites
The instructions assume you have the following:
- An [AWS account](https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/create-and-activate-aws-account/).
- An NGINX Plus subscription and NGINX Plus R15 or later. For installation instructions, see the [NGINX Plus Admin Guide](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/installing-nginx/installing-nginx-plus/).
- The [NGINX JavaScript module](https://nginx.org/en/docs/njs/index.html) (njs), required for handling the interaction between NGINX Plus and the IdP. After installing NGINX Plus, install the module with the command for your operating system.
For Debian and Ubuntu:
```none
sudo apt install nginx-plus-module-njs
```
For CentOS, RHEL, and Oracle Linux:
```shell
sudo yum install nginx-plus-module-njs
```
- The following directive included in the top-level ("main") configuration context in **/etc/nginx/nginx.conf**, to load the NGINX JavaScript module:
```nginx
load_module modules/ngx_http_js_module.so;
```
## Configuring Amazon Cognito
**Note:** The following procedure reflects the Cognito GUI at the time of publication, but the GUI is subject to change. Use this guide as a reference and adapt to the current Cognito GUI as necessary.
Create a new application for NGINX Plus in the Cognito GUI:
1. Log in to your AWS account, open the AWS Management Console ([console.aws.amazon.com](https://console.aws.amazon.com)), and navigate to the Cognito dashboard (you can, for example, click **Cognito** in the **Security, Identity, & Compliance** section of the **Services** drop‑down menu).
2. On the Cognito dashboard, click **Manage User Pools** to open the **Your User Pools** window. Click the Create a user pool button or the highlighted phrase.
3. In the **Create a user pool** window that opens, type a value in the **Pool name** field (in this guide, it's **nginx-plus-pool**), then click the Review defaults button.
4. On the **Review** tab which opens, click Add app client... in the **App clients** field near the bottom.
5. On the **App clients** tab which opens, click Add an app client.
6. On the **Which app clients will have access to this user pool?** window which opens, enter a value (in this guide, **nginx-plus-app**) in the **App client name** field. Make sure the **Generate client secret** box is checked, then click the Create app client button.
7. On the confirmation page which opens, click **Return to pool details** to return to the **Review** tab. On that tab click the Create pool button at the bottom. (The screenshot in [Step 4](#cognito-review-tab) shows the button.)
8. On the details page which opens to confirm the new user pool was successfully created, make note of the value in the **Pool Id** field; you will add it to the NGINX Plus configuration in [Step 3 of _Configuring NGINX Plus_](#nginx-plus-variables).
9. Click **Users and groups** in the left navigation column. In the interface that opens, designate the users (or group of users, on the **Groups** tab) who will be able to use SSO for the app being proxied by NGINX Plus. For instructions, see the Cognito documentation about [creating users](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cognito/latest/developerguide/how-to-create-user-accounts.html), [importing users](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cognito/latest/developerguide/cognito-user-pools-using-import-tool.html), or [adding a group](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cognito/latest/developerguide/cognito-user-pools-user-groups.html).
10. Click **App clients** in the left navigation bar. On the tab that opens, click the Show Details button in the box labeled with the app client name (in this guide, **nginx-plus-app**).
11. On the details page that opens, make note of the values in the **App client id** and **App client secret** fields. You will add them to the NGINX Plus configuration in [Step 3 of _Configuring NGINX Plus_](#nginx-plus-variables).
12. Click **App client settings** in the left navigation column. In the tab that opens, perform the following steps:
1. In the **Enabled Identity Providers** section, click the **Cognito User Pool** checkbox (the **Select all** box gets checked automatically).
2. In the **Callback URL(s)** field of the **Sign in and sign out URLs** section, type the URI of the NGINX Plus instance including the port number, and ending in **/\_codexch**. Here we’re using **https://my-nginx-plus.example.com:443/_codexch**.
**Notes:**
- For production, we strongly recommend that you use SSL/TLS (port 443).
- The port number is mandatory even when you're using the default port for HTTP (80) or HTTPS (443).
3. In the **OAuth 2.0** section, click the **Authorization code grant** checkbox under **Allowed OAuth Flows** and the **email**, **openid**, and **profile** checkboxes under **Allowed OAuth Scopes**.
4. Click the Save changes button.
13. Click **Domain name** in the left navigation column. In the tab that opens, type a domain prefix in the **Domain prefix** field under **Amazon Cognito domain** (in this guide, **my-nginx-plus**). Click the Save changes button.
## Configuring NGINX Plus
Configure NGINX Plus as the OpenID Connect relying party:
1. Create a clone of the [**nginx-openid-connect**](https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-openid-connect) GitHub repository.
```shell
git clone https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-openid-connect
```
2. Copy these files from the clone to **/etc/nginx/conf.d**:
- **frontend.conf**
- **openid_connect.js**
- **openid_connect.server\_conf**
3. In your preferred text editor, open **/etc/nginx/conf.d/frontend.conf**. Change the second parameter of each of the following [set](http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_rewrite_module.html#set) directives to the specified value.
The `` variable is the full value in the **Domain prefix** field in [Step 13 of _Configuring Amazon Cognito_](#cognito-domain-name). In this guide it is **https://my-nginx-plus.auth.us-east-2.amazoncognito.com**.
- `set $oidc_authz_endpoint` – `/oauth2/authorize`
- `set $oidc_token_endpoint` – `/oauth2/token`
- `set $oidc_client` – Value in the **App client id** field from [Step 11 of _Configuring Amazon Cognito_](#cognito-app-client-id-secret) (in this guide, `2or4cs8bjo1lkbq6143tqp6ist`)
- `set $oidc_client_secret` – Value in the **App client secret** field from [Step 11 of _Configuring Amazon Cognito_](#cognito-app-client-id-secret) (in this guide, `1k63m3nrcnu...`)
- `set $oidc_hmac_key` – A unique, long, and secure phrase
4. Configure the JWK file. The file's URL is
**https://cognito-idp.**_region_**.amazonaws.com/**_User-Pool-ID_**/.well-known/jwks.json**
where
- _region_ is the same AWS region name as in the `` variable used in [Step 3](#nginx-plus-variables)
- _User-Pool-ID_ is the value in the **Pool Id** field in [Step 8 of _Configuring Amazon Cognito_](#cognito-pool-id)
In this guide, the URL is
**https://cognito-idp.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/us-east-2_mLoGHJpOs/.well-known/jwks.json**.
The method for configuring the JWK file depends on which version of NGINX Plus you are using:
- In NGINX Plus R17 and later, NGINX Plus can read the JWK file directly. Change **/etc/nginx/conf.d/frontend.conf** as follows:
1. Comment out (or remove) the [auth_jwt_key_file](http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_auth_jwt_module.html#auth_jwt_key_file) directive.
2. Uncomment the [auth_jwt_key_request](http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_auth_jwt_module.html#auth_jwt_key_request) directive. (Its parameter, `/_jwks_uri`, refers to the value of the `$oidc_jwt_keyfile` variable, which you set in the next step.)
3. Change the second parameter of the `set $oidc_jwt_keyfile` directive to the URL of the JWK file (`https://cognito-idp.../.well-known/jwks.json`).
- In NGINX Plus R16 and earlier, the JWK file must be on the local disk. (You can also use this method with NGINX Plus R17 and later if you wish.)
1. Copy the JSON contents from the JWK file (****) to a local file (for example, **/etc/nginx/my\_cognito\_jwk.json**).
2. In **/etc/nginx/conf.d/frontend.conf**, change the second parameter of the `set $oidc_jwt_keyfile` directive to the local file path.
5. At the time of publication, Cognito does not support the OpenID **offline_access** scope. Open **/etc/nginx/conf.d/openid\_connect.server\_conf** in a text editor and remove `+offline_access` from the list of scopes on line 10, so that it looks like this:
```nginx
return 302 "$oidc_authz_endpoint?response_type=code&scope=openid+profile+email&client_id=$oidc_clientaws...;
```
6. Confirm that the user named by the [user](http://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_core_module.html#user) directive in the NGINX Plus configuration (in **/etc/nginx/nginx.conf** by convention) has read permission on the JWK file.
## Testing
In a browser, enter the address of your NGINX Plus instance and try to log in using the credentials of a user assigned to the application (see [Step 9 in _Configuring Amazon Cognito_](#cognito-users)). The NGINX logo that appears in the screenshot was added on Cognito's **UI customization** tab (not shown in this guide).
## Troubleshooting
See the [**Troubleshooting**](https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-openid-connect#troubleshooting) section at the **nginx-openid-connect** repository on GitHub.
### Revision History
- Version 1 (March 2020) – Initial version (NGINX Plus Release 20)