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IBM Security Verify Setup Tutorial

This tutorial walks you through setting up IBM Security Verify (formerly IBM Cloud Identity) SSO authentication for MCP Gateway, enabling enterprise-grade identity management.

Prerequisites

  • MCP Gateway installed and running
  • IBM Security Verify tenant with admin access
  • Access to your gateway's environment configuration

Step 1: Configure IBM Security Verify Application

1.1 Access IBM Security Verify Admin Console

  1. Navigate to your IBM Security Verify admin console
  2. URL format: https://[tenant-name].verify.ibm.com
  3. Log in with your administrator credentials
  4. Go to Applications in the left sidebar

1.2 Create New Application

  1. Click Add application
  2. Choose Custom Application
  3. Select OpenID Connect as the sign-on method

1.3 Configure Application Settings

General Settings: - Application name: MCP Gateway - Description: Model Context Protocol Gateway SSO Authentication - Application URL: Your gateway's public URL - Example: https://gateway.yourcompany.com

Sign-on Settings: - Application type: Web - Grant types: Select Authorization Code - Redirect URIs: Critical - must be exact - Production: https://gateway.yourcompany.com/auth/sso/callback/ibm_verify - Development: http://localhost:8000/auth/sso/callback/ibm_verify

1.4 Configure Advanced Settings

Token Settings: - Access token lifetime: 3600 seconds (1 hour) - Refresh token lifetime: 86400 seconds (24 hours) - ID token lifetime: 3600 seconds (1 hour)

Scopes: - Select openid (required) - Select profile (recommended) - Select email (required)

1.5 Obtain Client Credentials

After saving the application:

  1. Go to the Sign-on tab
  2. Note the Client ID
  3. Click Generate secret to create a client secret
  4. Important: Copy the client secret immediately - you won't see it again
  5. Note the Discovery endpoint URL (usually https://[tenant].verify.ibm.com/oidc/endpoint/default/.well-known/openid_configuration)

Step 2: Configure MCP Gateway Environment

2.1 Find Your IBM Security Verify Endpoints

Before configuring, you need your tenant's OIDC endpoints:

# Replace [tenant-name] with your actual tenant name
curl https://[tenant-name].verify.ibm.com/oidc/endpoint/default/.well-known/openid-configuration

# This returns endpoint URLs you'll need

2.2 Update Environment Variables

Add these variables to your .env file:

# Enable SSO System
SSO_ENABLED=true

# IBM Security Verify OIDC Configuration
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_ENABLED=true
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id-from-ibm-verify
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret-from-ibm-verify
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_ISSUER=https://[tenant-name].verify.ibm.com/oidc/endpoint/default

# Optional: Auto-create users on first login
SSO_AUTO_CREATE_USERS=true

# Optional: Restrict to corporate email domains
SSO_TRUSTED_DOMAINS=["yourcompany.com"]

# Optional: Preserve local admin authentication
SSO_PRESERVE_ADMIN_AUTH=true

2.3 Example Production Configuration

# Production IBM Security Verify SSO Setup
SSO_ENABLED=true
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_ENABLED=true
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_CLIENT_ID=12345678-abcd-1234-efgh-123456789012
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_CLIENT_SECRET=AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz123456
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_ISSUER=https://acmecorp.verify.ibm.com/oidc/endpoint/default

# Enterprise security settings
SSO_AUTO_CREATE_USERS=true
SSO_TRUSTED_DOMAINS=["acmecorp.com"]
SSO_PRESERVE_ADMIN_AUTH=true

# Optional: Custom scopes for additional user attributes
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_SCOPE="openid profile email"

2.4 Development Configuration

# Development IBM Security Verify SSO Setup
SSO_ENABLED=true
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_ENABLED=true
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_CLIENT_ID=dev-client-id
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_CLIENT_SECRET=dev-client-secret
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_ISSUER=https://dev-tenant.verify.ibm.com/oidc/endpoint/default

# More permissive for testing
SSO_AUTO_CREATE_USERS=true
SSO_PRESERVE_ADMIN_AUTH=true

2.5 Advanced Configuration Options

# Custom OAuth scopes for enterprise features
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_SCOPE="openid profile email groups"

# Custom user attribute mappings (if needed)
IBM_VERIFY_USER_MAPPING={"preferred_username": "username", "family_name": "last_name"}

# Group/role mapping for automatic team assignment
IBM_VERIFY_GROUP_MAPPING={"CN=Developers,OU=Groups": "dev-team-uuid", "CN=Administrators,OU=Groups": "admin-team-uuid"}

Step 3: Configure User Access in IBM Security Verify

3.1 Assign Users to Application

  1. In IBM Security Verify admin console, go to Applications
  2. Find your MCP Gateway application
  3. Go to Access tab
  4. Click Assign access
  5. Choose assignment method:
  6. Users: Assign specific users
  7. Groups: Assign entire groups (recommended)
  8. Everyone: Allow all users (not recommended for production)
  1. Create or use existing groups in IBM Security Verify
  2. Assign the application to appropriate groups:
  3. MCP_Gateway_Users - Regular users
  4. MCP_Gateway_Admins - Administrative users
  5. Add users to these groups as needed

Step 4: Restart and Verify Gateway

4.1 Restart the Gateway

# Development
make dev

# Or directly with uvicorn
uvicorn mcpgateway.main:app --reload --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

# Production
make serve

4.2 Verify IBM Security Verify SSO is Enabled

Test that IBM Security Verify appears in SSO providers:

# Check if IBM Security Verify is listed
curl -X GET http://localhost:8000/auth/sso/providers

# Should return IBM Security Verify in the list:
[
  {
    "id": "ibm_verify",
    "name": "ibm_verify",
    "display_name": "IBM Security Verify"
  }
]

Step 5: Test IBM Security Verify SSO Login

5.1 Access Login Page

  1. Navigate to your gateway's login page:
  2. Development: http://localhost:8000/admin/login

  3. Production: https://gateway.yourcompany.com/admin/login

  4. You should see a "Continue with IBM Security Verify" button

5.2 Test Authentication Flow

  1. Click Continue with IBM Security Verify
  2. You'll be redirected to IBM Security Verify's login page
  3. Enter your corporate credentials
  4. Complete any multi-factor authentication if required
  5. Grant consent if prompted
  6. You'll be redirected back to the gateway admin panel
  7. You should be logged in successfully

5.3 Verify User Creation

Check that a user was created:

# Using the admin API (requires admin token)
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ADMIN_TOKEN" \
  http://localhost:8000/auth/users

# Look for your IBM Security Verify email in the user list

Step 6: Enterprise Features (Advanced)

6.1 Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

IBM Security Verify MFA is handled automatically:

  1. Configure MFA policies in IBM Security Verify admin console
  2. Go to Security → Multi-factor authentication
  3. Set up policies for your MCP Gateway application
  4. Users will be prompted for MFA during login

6.2 Conditional Access

Configure access policies based on conditions:

  1. In IBM Security Verify, go to Security → Access policies
  2. Create policies for your MCP Gateway application
  3. Configure conditions:
  4. Device compliance
  5. Location-based access
  6. Risk-based authentication
  7. Time-based restrictions

6.3 User Lifecycle Management

Configure automatic user provisioning:

  1. Set up SCIM provisioning (if supported)
  2. Configure user attribute synchronization
  3. Set up automatic de-provisioning for terminated users

6.4 Audit and Compliance

Enable comprehensive audit logging:

  1. In IBM Security Verify, configure audit settings
  2. Enable logging for:
  3. Authentication events
  4. Authorization decisions
  5. User provisioning actions
  6. Administrative changes

Step 7: Production Deployment Checklist

7.1 Security Requirements

  • HTTPS enforced for all redirect URIs
  • Client secrets stored in secure vault
  • MFA policies configured
  • Conditional access policies set
  • Audit logging enabled
  • Regular security reviews scheduled

7.2 IBM Security Verify Configuration

  • Application created with correct settings
  • Redirect URIs match exactly
  • Appropriate users/groups assigned access
  • MFA policies configured
  • Audit logging enabled

7.3 Network and Infrastructure

  • Gateway accessible from corporate network
  • IBM Security Verify endpoints reachable
  • HTTPS certificates valid
  • Load balancer configured (if needed)

Troubleshooting

Error: "SSO authentication is disabled"

Problem: SSO endpoints return 404 Solution: Set SSO_ENABLED=true and restart gateway

Error: "invalid_redirect_uri"

Problem: IBM Security Verify redirect URI doesn't match Solution: Verify exact URL match in IBM Security Verify application settings

# IBM Security Verify redirect URI must exactly match:
https://your-domain.com/auth/sso/callback/ibm_verify

# Common mistakes:
https://your-domain.com/auth/sso/callback/ibm_verify/  # Extra slash
http://your-domain.com/auth/sso/callback/ibm_verify   # HTTP instead of HTTPS
https://your-domain.com/auth/sso/callback/ibm-verify  # Wrong provider ID

Error: "invalid_client"

Problem: Wrong client ID or client secret Solution: Verify credentials from IBM Security Verify application

# Double-check these values match IBM Security Verify
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_CLIENT_ID=your-actual-client-id
SSO_IBM_VERIFY_CLIENT_SECRET=your-actual-client-secret

Error: "User not authorized"

Problem: User not assigned access to the application Solution: Assign user or their group to the MCP Gateway application

  1. In IBM Security Verify admin console, go to Applications
  2. Find MCP Gateway application → Access tab
  3. Assign access to the user or their group

Error: "Issuer mismatch"

Problem: Wrong issuer URL configured Solution: Verify issuer URL matches your IBM Security Verify tenant

# Get the correct issuer from the well-known configuration
curl https://[tenant-name].verify.ibm.com/oidc/endpoint/default/.well-known/openid-configuration

# Look for "issuer" field in response

MFA Not Working

Problem: Multi-factor authentication not triggered Solution: Check MFA policies in IBM Security Verify

  1. Go to Security → Multi-factor authentication
  2. Ensure policies are enabled for your application
  3. Check user enrollment status
  4. Verify policy conditions are met

Testing Checklist

  • IBM Security Verify application created
  • Client ID and secret generated
  • Redirect URI configured correctly
  • Users/groups assigned access to application
  • Environment variables set correctly
  • Gateway restarted with new config
  • /auth/sso/providers returns IBM Security Verify provider
  • Login page shows "Continue with IBM Security Verify" button
  • Authentication flow completes successfully
  • User appears in gateway user list
  • MFA working (if configured)

Enterprise Integration

Active Directory Integration

If IBM Security Verify is connected to Active Directory:

  1. User attributes sync automatically
  2. Group memberships are available
  3. Configure group-based access in IBM Security Verify
  4. Map AD groups to gateway teams

SAML Federation (Alternative)

For environments preferring SAML over OIDC:

  1. Configure SAML application in IBM Security Verify
  2. Use custom SAML integration (requires additional development)
  3. Configure SAML assertions and attribute mapping

Next Steps

After IBM Security Verify SSO is working:

  1. Configure MFA policies for enhanced security
  2. Set up conditional access based on risk factors
  3. Integrate with existing AD/LDAP if needed
  4. Configure audit logging for compliance
  5. Train users on the new login process
  6. Set up monitoring for authentication failures

Support

If you encounter issues:

  1. Check IBM Security Verify admin console for error messages
  2. Enable debug logging: LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
  3. Review gateway logs for IBM Security Verify errors
  4. Verify all IBM Security Verify settings match tutorial
  5. Contact IBM Security Verify support for tenant-specific issues