Building One Tap for PingFederate Part 2: Docker
Learn how to make your PingFederate environment repeatable using Docker, Terraform, and Make with OIDC and PKCE integration.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Building a One Tap environment requires a complete authentication policy, OIDC client, and reusable session.
- Dockerfiles copy the adapter JAR and components directly into the official PingFederate image.
- Terraform provisions the underlying infrastructure and interactive authentication policies.
- Part 3 will transform this working flow into a narrated video using Kokoro, Playwright, and FFmpeg.
An account chooser requires more than just a simple widget and a Java adapter. PingFederate demands a comprehensive authentication policy, a credential validator, a reusable authentication session, and an OIDC client. This technical article demonstrates how to make this complex environment completely repeatable using Docker, Terraform, and Make.
The build process begins with Maven generating the adapter JAR, followed by a PowerShell staging script that creates a server profile overlay containing templates and language packs. The Dockerfile then copies this overlay into the official PingFederate image, ensuring the runtime environment integrates local configurations seamlessly upon startup.
Proper credential management is essential, requiring developers to keep license details strictly out of source control. By utilizing environment variables or an ignored .env file, the container acquires its development license dynamically during initialization via automated Make commands.
Leveraging infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform alongside containerization platforms significantly reduces configuration drift in enterprise identity management. Separating sensitive environment variables from codebase repositories is a vital best practice for secure software delivery pipelines.
Regarding the authentication chain provisioning, Terraform establishes specific interactive policies. The identifier-first approach successfully passes the subject as the incoming username, while the HTML form handles the core authentication phase before completing the authorization flow.
Persistent session settings ensure that after the initial password authentication, subsequent OIDC requests can safely reuse the established session, completing account selection without prompting the user for credentials again.
Source: Dev.to
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