Single Sign-On with Ping Identity

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 Ping Identity (PingFederate or PingOne) as the Identity Provider (IdP), and NGINX Plus as the Relying Party.

This guide applies to NGINX Plus Release 34 and later. In earlier versions, NGINX Plus relied on an njs-based solution, which required NGINX JavaScript files, key-value stores, and advanced OpenID Connect logic. In the latest NGINX Plus version, the new OpenID Connect module simplifies this process to just a few directives.

Prerequisites

PingFederate Enterprise Federation Server or PingOne Cloud deployment with a Ping Identity account.
An NGINX Plus subscription and NGINX Plus Release 34 or later. For installation instructions, see Installing NGINX Plus.
A domain name pointing to your NGINX Plus instance, for example, demo.example.com.

Configure PingFederate or PingOne for Enterprise

These steps outline an example with the cloud offering of PingOne. If you are using the on‑premises PingFederate, the user interface might slightly differ.

Create a new application for NGINX Plus:

Log in to your Ping Identity admin console.
Go to Applications > Applications.
Click the + (plus) symbol to create a new OIDC Application.
On the New Application screen:
- Enter the Name of your application, for example, nginx-demo-app.
- Select the Application Type OIDC Web App.
- Select Save.
In your OIDC application, Select the Overview tab:
- in the General section, copy your Client ID and Client Secret values. You will need then later when configuring NGINX Plus.
- In the Connection Details section, copy your Issuer ID. You will need it later when configuring NGINX Plus.
  
  For PingOne Cloud, the Issuer ID generally structured as https://auth.pingone.com/<environment_id>/as.
  
  For PingFederate, the Issuer ID generally structured as https://pingfederate.example.com:9031 appended with the realm path of your environment.
On the Configuration tab of your OIDC application:
- In the Redirect URIs field, add the NGINX Plus callback URI, for example:
https://demo.example.com/oidc_callback.
- Select Save.
Assign the application to the appropriate Groups or Users who will be allowed to log in.

You will need the values of Client ID, Client Secret, and Issuer in the next steps.

Set up NGINX Plus

With PingOne or PingFederate configured, you can enable OIDC on NGINX Plus. NGINX Plus serves as the Rely Party (RP) application — a client service that verifies user identity.

Ensure that you are using the latest version of NGINX Plus by running the nginx -v command in a terminal:
nginx -v
```
nginx -v
```
The output should match NGINX Plus Release 34 or later:
nginx version: nginx/1.27.4 (nginx-plus-r34)
```
nginx version: nginx/1.27.4 (nginx-plus-r34)
```
Ensure that you have the values of the Client ID, Client Secret, and Issuer obtained during PingOne or PingFederate Configuration.
In your preferred text editor, open the NGINX configuration file (/etc/nginx/nginx.conf for Linux or /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf for FreeBSD).
In the http {} context, make sure your public DNS resolver is specified with the resolver directive: By default, NGINX Plus re‑resolves DNS records at the frequency specified by time‑to‑live (TTL) in the record, but you can override the TTL value with the valid parameter:
nginx
http { resolver 10.0.0.1 ipv4=on valid=300s; # ... }
```
http {
    resolver 10.0.0.1 ipv4=on valid=300s;

    # ...
}
```

In the http {} context, define the PingOne or PingFederate provider named ping by specifying the oidc_provider {} context:

http {
    resolver 10.0.0.1 ipv4=on valid=300s;

    oidc_provider ping {

        # ...
    }
    # ...
}

In the oidc_provider {} context, specify:
- your actual Ping Client ID obtained in Ping Configuration with the client_id directive
- your Client Secret obtained in Ping Configuration with the client_secret directive
- the Issuer URL obtained in Ping Configuration with the issuer directive
  
  The issuer is typically your Ping Identity OIDC URL.
  
  For PingOne Cloud, the URL is https://auth.pingone.com/<environment_id>/as.
  
  For PingFederate, the URL is https://pingfederate.example.com:9031 followed by your environment’s realm path.
  
  By default, NGINX Plus creates the OpenID metadata URL by appending the /.well-known/openid-configuration part to the Issuer URL. If your metadata URL is different, you can explicitly specify the metadata document with the config_url directive.
- Important: All interaction with the IdP is secured exclusively over SSL/TLS, so NGINX must trust the certificate presented by the IdP. By default, this trust is validated against your system’s CA bundle (the default CA store for your Linux or FreeBSD distribution). If the IdP’s certificate is not included in the system CA bundle, you can explicitly specify a trusted certificate or chain with the ssl_trusted_certificate directive so that NGINX can validate and trust the IdP’s certificate.
nginx
http { resolver 10.0.0.1 ipv4=on valid=300s; oidc_provider ping { issuer https://auth.pingone.com/<environment_id>/as; client_id <client_id>; client_secret <client_secret>; } # ... }
```
http {
    resolver 10.0.0.1 ipv4=on valid=300s;

    oidc_provider ping {
        issuer        https://auth.pingone.com/<environment_id>/as;
        client_id     <client_id>;
        client_secret <client_secret>;
    }

    # ...
}
```

Make sure you have configured a server that corresponds to demo.example.com, and there is a location that points to your application (see Step 10) at http://127.0.0.1:8080 that is going to be OIDC-protected:

http {

    # ...

    server {
        listen      443 ssl;
        server_name demo.example.com;

        ssl_certificate     /etc/ssl/certs/fullchain.pem;
        ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/key.pem;

        location / {
            # ...

            proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        }
    }
    # ...
}

Protect this location with Ping Identity OIDC by specifying the auth_oidc directive that will point to the ping configuration specified in the oidc_provider {} context in Step 5:

# ...
location / {
     auth_oidc ping;

     # ...

     proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
}
# ...

Pass the OIDC claims as headers to the application (Step 10) with the proxy_set_header directive. These claims are extracted from the ID token returned by Ping:

$oidc_claim_sub - a unique Subject identifier assigned for each user by Ping Identity
$oidc_claim_email - the e-mail address of the user
$oidc_claim_name - the full name of the user
any other OIDC claim using the $oidc_claim_ variable

Ensure the openid, profile, email Scopes are enabled in Ping Identity.

# ...
location / {
     auth_oidc ping;

     proxy_set_header sub   $oidc_claim_sub;
     proxy_set_header email $oidc_claim_email;
     proxy_set_header name  $oidc_claim_name;

     proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
}
# ...

Create a simple test application referenced by the proxy_pass directive which returns the authenticated user’s full name and email upon successful authentication:

# ...
server {
    listen 8080;

    location / {
        return 200 "Hello, $http_name!\nEmail: $http_email\nSub: $http_sub\n";
        default_type text/plain;
    }
}

Save the NGINX configuration file and reload the configuration:
nginx -s reload
```
nginx -s reload
```

Complete Example

This configuration example summarizes the steps outlined above. It includes only essential settings such as specifying the DNS resolver, defining the OIDC provider, configuring SSL, and proxying requests to an internal server.

http {
    # Use a public DNS resolver for Issuer discovery, etc.
    resolver 10.0.0.1 ipv4=on valid=300s;

    oidc_provider ping {
        # The issuer is typically something like:
        # https://auth.pingone.com/<environment_id>/as
        issuer https://auth.pingone.com/<environment_id>/as;

        # Your Ping Identity Client ID and Secret
        client_id <client_id>;
        client_secret <client_secret>;
    }

    server {
        listen 443 ssl;
        server_name demo.example.com;

        ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/fullchain.pem;
        ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/key.pem;

        location / {
            # Enforce OIDC with Ping Identity
            auth_oidc ping;

            # Forward OIDC claims as headers if desired
            proxy_set_header sub $oidc_claim_sub;
            proxy_set_header email $oidc_claim_email;
            proxy_set_header name $oidc_claim_name;

            proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        }
    }

    server {
        # Simple backend application for demonstration
        listen 8080;

        location / {
            return 200 "Hello, $http_name!\nEmail: $http_email\nSub: $http_sub\n";
            default_type text/plain;
        }
    }
}

Testing

Open https://demo.example.com/ in a browser. You will be automatically redirected to the PingOne sign-in page.
Enter valid Ping Identity credentials of a user who has access the application. Upon successful sign-in, PingOne redirects you back to NGINX Plus, and you will see the proxied application content (for example, “Hello, Jane Doe!”).

Legacy njs-based Ping Identity Solution

If you are running NGINX Plus R33 and earlier or if you still need the njs-based solution, refer to the Legacy njs-based Ping Identity Guide for details. The solution uses the nginx-openid-connect GitHub repository and NGINX JavaScript files.

Revision History

Version 1 (March 2025) – Initial version for NGINX Plus Release 34

Last modified April 1, 2025