Partly Cloudy IPA: Joining Cloud VMs to FreeIPA

This 32-minute conference talk from DevConf.IN 2025 explores how to securely join cloud virtual machines to FreeIPA identity management domains. Learn about the Podengo project, which enables automatic and secure enrollment of VMs into FreeIPA domains through live demonstrations. Discover how FreeIPA provides open-source identity management with authentication, access control, and security features for Linux systems, helping organizations meet security and compliance requirements for cloud workloads. The speaker, Akshay, explains how the Podengo service registers FreeIPA deployments, authenticates cloud VMs, and enables secure domain enrollment—a significant improvement over traditional SSH key access methods. The presentation covers the protocol's functionality, requirements, and how it's implemented in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console's Domain Join feature. Particularly valuable for system administrators, cloud administrators, infosec professionals, and those interested in cryptography and secure identity management, this talk also addresses feature gaps and potential support for additional identity management solutions.