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Integrate with PowerDNS-Admin

Support level: Community

What is PowerDNS-Admin?​

A PowerDNS web interface with advanced features.

-- https://github.com/ngoduykhanh/PowerDNS-Admin

Preparation​

The following placeholders are used in this guide:

  • pdns-admin.company is the FQDN of the PowerDNS-Admin installation.
  • authentik.company is the FQDN of the authentik installation.
info

This documentation lists only the settings that you need to change from their default values. Be aware that any changes other than those explicitly mentioned in this guide could cause issues accessing your application.

authentik configuration​

To support the integration of PowerDNS-Admin with authentik, you need to create an application/provider pair in authentik.

Create an application and provider​

SAML provider changes in authentik 2026.5

authentik 2026.5 introduces changes to how the SAML provider behaves. Specifically, the provider now automatically sets the Issuer value to: https://authentik.company/application/saml/<application_slug>/metadata/

Older versions of authentik set this value to authentik by default. If you're running an older version, please set Issuer to https://authentik.company/application/saml/<application_slug>/metadata/, where <application_slug> is the slug that you selected for the application.

  1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.
  2. Navigate to Applications > Applications and click New Application to open the application wizard.
    • Application: provide a descriptive name, an optional group for the type of application, the policy engine mode, and optional UI settings. Note the Slug value because it will be required later.
    • Choose a Provider type: select SAML Provider as the provider type.
    • Configure the Provider: provide a name (or accept the auto-provided name), the authorization flow to use for this provider, and the following required configurations.
      • Set the ACS URL to https://pdns-admin.company/saml/authorized.
      • Set the Audience to pdns-admin.
      • Under Advanced protocol settings, select an available Signing certificate.
      • Under Advanced protocol settings, select all managed SAML property mappings.
    • Configure Bindings (optional): you can create a binding (policy, group, or user) to manage the listing and access to applications on a user's Application Dashboard page.
  3. Click Submit to save the new application and provider.

PowerDNS-Admin configuration​

For Docker-based installations, set the following environment variables:

.env
SAML_ENABLED=True
SAML_PATH=os.path.join(os.path.dirname(file), 'saml')
SAML_METADATA_URL=https://authentik.company/application/saml/<application_slug>/metadata/
SAML_METADATA_CACHE_LIFETIME=1
SAML_LOGOUT_URL=https://authentik.company/application/saml/<application_slug>/
SAML_SP_ENTITY_ID=pdns-admin
SAML_SP_CONTACT_NAME=me
SAML_SP_CONTACT_MAIL=me
SAML_NAMEID_FORMAT=urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:persistent
SAML_ATTRIBUTE_USERNAME=http://schemas.goauthentik.io/2021/02/saml/username
SAML_ATTRIBUTE_NAME=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/name
SAML_ATTRIBUTE_EMAIL=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress
SAML_ATTRIBUTE_GROUP=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/claims/Group
SAML_GROUP_ADMIN_NAME=<admin-group-name>
SAML_SIGN_REQUEST='False'
SAML_ASSERTION_ENCRYPTED=False
SAML_WANT_MESSAGE_SIGNED=False
SAML_CERT=/saml.crt

Mount the signing certificate selected in authentik as a file in the Docker container. The path in the container must match the path configured in SAML_CERT.

For example:

docker-compose.yml
services:
    powerdns-admin:
        image: powerdnsadmin/pda-legacy:latest
        restart: always
        ports:
            - 80:80
        volumes:
            - ./saml.crt:/saml.crt:ro

Restart PowerDNS-Admin for the changes to take effect.

Configuration verification​

To confirm that authentik is properly configured with PowerDNS-Admin, log out and log back in through authentik.

Resources​