topic Re: Alias user with a prefix in Managing Users

Alias user with a prefix

rafael10 — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 12:15:03 GMT

Hello,

We have a RADIUS application that is using Duo for MFA, but the username there has a specific prefix. Is it possible to automatically create an alias base on this prefix or ignore this prefix on Duo?

Eg:
Username: user.name@example.org
Alias 1: user.name
Alias 2: prefix- user.name

We want to authenticate the user without having to create the Alias 2, or creating it automatically. Not sure I made myself clear.

Thank you,
Rafael

Re: Alias user with a prefix

Amy2 — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 15:07:50 GMT

Hi Rafael,

I think what you’re looking for is Username Normalization.

When enabled, username normalization strips domain information from the username, so “jsmith,” “DOMAIN\jsmith,” and “jsmith@domain.com” would all resolve to a single “jsmith” Duo user. Please see this article for more information.

It’s important to note that enabling this feature will not combine any duplicate users that already exist in your Duo Admin Panel. You’ll have to manually delete those.

You may also want to check out Level Up, our new customer education platform. The courses there are free, take about 15-20 minutes to complete, and cover this along with many other topics relevant to help desk and system admins. You can sign up here if you’re interested.

Re: Alias user with a prefix

rafael10 — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 16:43:01 GMT

Hi Amy,

Not sure if it would help in this case, because the prefix is not a domain name, here the prefix could be something like vpn-, so we would have vpn-user.name in my previous example.

Re: Alias user with a prefix

Amy2 — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 17:51:26 GMT

Ah ok, interesting. I misunderstood then. Thanks for clarifying that!

In that case, Username Aliases seems like the right solution for you. Check out our configuration guide on how to set this up. You can have up to four additional usernames (aliases) for a single user, for a total of five.

We also have a migration guide that explains what to do for an environment that already has multiple usernames for a single employee. Some cleanup is required in that case, and the process varies based on how you’ve chosen to add these users to Duo.

I hope that helps! Please let me know if you have additional questions.

Re: Alias user with a prefix

AlexT2 — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 18:01:53 GMT

I’m probably missing something (or not looking at the right place) but I can’t seem to find that Username Normalization setting in our Policies…

Re: Alias user with a prefix

Amy2 — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 19:08:16 GMT

Hi @AlexT, the Username Normalization setting is actually not in Policies. You should find this option on the applications properties page. From the homepage of the Duo Admin Panel, navigate to Applications, then select the application name from the list. From there, when you scroll down, you should see the option for Username Normalization.

This setting is enabled by default for some applications. We have a list of which ones that you can check out in our knowledge base here: https://help.duo.com/s/article/3261

Re: Alias user with a prefix

AlexT2 — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 19:29:39 GMT

Oh got it ! All clear now, thanks !

Re: Alias user with a prefix

Amy2 — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 19:43:20 GMT

Awesome, I’m so glad that you were able to find it!