> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.catalyx.solutions/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.catalyx.solutions/catalyx-blockchain-manager/canton-network/version-2.0/installation-instructions-canton/identity-provider-configuration.md).

# Identity Provider Configuration

Every validator authenticates its users and components through an OIDC identity provider. CAT-BM supports two modes, chosen per validator with a single field.

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Managed Keycloak</strong></td><td><code>managedKeycloak: true</code> — CAT-BM creates the clients, scopes, and users for you.</td><td><a href="/pages/T4HLYMREfP8NmgWFHEev">/pages/T4HLYMREfP8NmgWFHEev</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>External Identity Provider</strong></td><td><code>managedKeycloak: false</code> — you create everything and reference it by ID.</td><td><a href="/pages/CUTClYCsRLz8pCyBsAqS">/pages/CUTClYCsRLz8pCyBsAqS</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

## Which should I use?

<table><thead><tr><th width="230">Use managed Keycloak when</th><th>Use an external provider when</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>You run Keycloak and are happy for CAT-BM to hold an admin client in the validator realm.</td><td>Your identity provider is not Keycloak — for example Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Auth0, or Ping Identity.</td></tr><tr><td>You want to add validators without a manual identity provider change for each one.</td><td>Client creation is centrally governed and cannot be automated by a platform component.</td></tr><tr><td>You want per-validator client isolation without designing the naming yourself.</td><td>You already have OIDC clients you must reuse.</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
The mode is per validator, so you can mix both in one cluster.
{% endhint %}

## Two separate identity concerns

It is worth being precise about this, because the two are easy to conflate.

<table><thead><tr><th width="250">Concern</th><th>Configured where</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>The management plane</strong> — who can log in to the CatalyX console and call the CatalyX API.</td><td>Helm values at install time: <code>ui.oidc.*</code> and <code>api.auth.jwksUri</code>. Not per validator.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>The validator</strong> — how the participant, validator app, Wallet UI, and CNS UI authenticate.</td><td><code>spec.auth</code> on each <code>Validator</code> resource.</td></tr></tbody></table>

This page and its children cover the second. For the first, see [Platform Installation](/catalyx-blockchain-manager/canton-network/version-2.0/installation-instructions-canton/platform-installation.md).


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