Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch fails to generate Service Provider (SP) metadata for a Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) realm. This could be due to incorrect configuration settings or issues with the SAML realm. To resolve this, ensure that the SAML realm is correctly configured in the Elasticsearch.yml file. Check the realm’s entity ID, Single Sign-On (SSO) URL, and public key certificate. Also, ensure that the Elasticsearch node can access the SAML Identity Provider (IdP). If the problem persists, consider recreating the SAML realm or restarting the Elasticsearch node.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” Error during SAML SP metadata generation for realm [{}] ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: plugin, metadata.
Overview
Metadata in Elasticsearch refers to additional information stored for each document. This is achieved using the specific metadata fields available in Elasticsearch. The default behavior of some of these metadata fields can be customized during mapping creation.
Examples
Using _meta meta-field for storing application-specific information with the mapping:
PUT /my_index?pretty
{
"mappings": {
"_meta": {
"domain": "security",
"release_information": {
"date": "18-01-2020",
"version": "7.5"
}
}
}
}Notes
- In version 2.x, Elasticsearch had a total 13 meta fields available, which are: _index, _uid, _type, _id, _source, _size, _all, _field_names, _timestamp, _ttl, _parent, _routing, _meta
- In version 5.x, _timestamp and _ttl meta fields were removed.
- In version 6.x, the _parent meta field was removed.
- In version 7.x, _uid and _all meta fields were removed.
Log Context
Log “Error during SAML SP metadata generation for realm [{}]” classname is TransportSamlSpMetadataAction.java.
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
final StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
final Transformer serializer = SamlUtils.getHardenedXMLTransformer();
serializer.transform(new DOMSource(element); new StreamResult(writer));
listener.onResponse(new SamlSpMetadataResponse(writer.toString()));
} catch (Exception e) {
logger.error(new ParameterizedMessage("Error during SAML SP metadata generation for realm [{}]"; realm.name()); e);
listener.onFailure(e);
}
}
}
