TAK Authentication Infrastructure

Modern AWS CDK v2 authentication infrastructure for Team Awareness Kit (TAK) deployments

Overview

The Team Awareness Kit (TAK) provides Fire, Emergency Management, and First Responders an operationally agnostic tool for improved situational awareness and a common operational picture.

This repository deploys the authentication layer infrastructure for a complete TAK server deployment, providing robust LDAP-based authentication using Authentik with advanced capabilities such as single sign-on via OIDC, user management, and enterprise-grade security features - all while using free and open source software.

It is specifically targeted at the deployment of TAK.NZ via a CI/CD pipeline. Nevertheless others interested in deploying a similar infrastructure can do so by adapting the configuration items.

This authentication infrastructure requires the base infrastructure and is the foundation of additional higher level layers, each deployed as a separate stack from its own repository.

For the full layer diagram and deployment order across all TAK.NZ repositories, see the TAK.NZ organization overview. That diagram is maintained in one place so it stays current as layers are added.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• AWS Account with configured credentials
• Base infrastructure stack (TAK-<name>-BaseInfra) must be deployed first
• Public Route 53 hosted zone (e.g., tak.nz)
• Node.js and npm installed
• For CI/CD deployment: See AWS & GitHub Setup Guide for AuthInfra-specific GitHub Actions configuration

Installation & Deployment

# 1. Install dependencies
npm install

# 2. Bootstrap CDK (first time only)
npx cdk bootstrap --profile your-aws-profile

# 3. Deploy development environment
npm run deploy:dev

# 4. Deploy production environment  
npm run deploy:prod

Infrastructure Resources

Database & Storage

• RDS Aurora PostgreSQL - Encrypted cluster with backup retention

• EFS File System - Persistent Authentik data and certificates

• S3 Bucket - Configuration storage with KMS encryption

Compute & Services

• ECS Services - Authentik server, worker, and LDAP outpost containers
• Auto Scaling - Dynamic scaling based on CPU and memory utilization
• Load Balancers - ALB for web interface, NLB for LDAP
• Enrollment Lambda - Device enrollment web interface for ATAK/iTAK
• OIDC Provider - OAuth2/OpenID Connect integration for device authentication

Security & DNS

• AWS Secrets Manager - Database credentials and API tokens
• Security Groups - Fine-grained network access controls
• Route 53 Records - Service endpoint DNS management
• KMS Encryption - Data encryption at rest and in transit

Docker Image Strategy

This stack uses a hybrid Docker image strategy that supports both pre-built images and local building for optimal performance and flexibility.

How It Works

• Pre-built Images: Fast deployments using images from ECR (CI/CD)
• Local Building: On-demand building for development (CDK Docker assets)
• Automatic Fallback: Uses pre-built images when available, builds locally otherwise
• Context-Driven: Controlled via CDK context parameters

Usage Modes

CI/CD Deployments (Fast):

npm run cdk deploy -- \
  --context usePreBuiltImages=true \
  --context authentikImageTag=authentik:abc123

Local Development (Flexible):

npm run deploy:local:dev    # Builds images locally
npm run deploy:local:prod   # Builds images locally

Docker Images

1. Authentik Server & Worker: Built from docker/authentik-server/Dockerfile.{branding}
2. LDAP Outpost: Built from docker/authentik-ldap/Dockerfile

Configuration

• Branding: tak-nz (default) or generic
• Version: Controlled via authentikVersion in configuration
• Strategy: See Docker Image Strategy Guide for details

"authentik": {
  "authentikVersion": "2026.8.2",
  "branding": "tak-nz"
}

Available Environments

Environment	Stack Name	Description	Domain
dev-test	TAK-Dev-AuthInfra	Development and testing	auth.dev.tak.nz
prod	TAK-Prod-AuthInfra	High-availability production	auth.tak.nz

Development Workflow

New NPM Scripts (Enhanced Developer Experience)

# Development and Testing
npm run dev                    # Build and test
npm run test:watch            # Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:coverage         # Generate coverage report

# Environment-Specific Deployment
npm run deploy:dev            # Deploy to dev-test
npm run deploy:prod           # Deploy to production
npm run synth:dev             # Preview dev infrastructure
npm run synth:prod            # Preview prod infrastructure

# Infrastructure Management
npm run cdk:diff:dev          # Show what would change in dev
npm run cdk:diff:prod         # Show what would change in prod
npm run cdk:bootstrap         # Bootstrap CDK in account

Configuration System

The project uses AWS CDK context-based configuration for consistent deployments:

• All settings stored in cdk.json under context section
• Version controlled - consistent deployments across team members
• Runtime overrides - use --context flag for one-off changes
• Environment-specific - separate configs for dev-test and production

Configuration Override Examples

# Override admin email for deployment
npm run deploy:dev -- --context adminUserEmail=admin@custom.tak.nz

# Deploy with different Authentik version
npm run deploy:prod -- --context authentikVersion=2026.8.2

# Use different branding
npm run deploy:dev -- --context branding=generic

# Disable enrollment feature
npm run deploy:dev -- --context enrollmentEnabled=false

# Enable enrollment feature (if disabled in config)
npm run deploy:prod -- --context enrollmentEnabled=true

📚 Documentation

• 🚀 Deployment Guide - Comprehensive deployment instructions and configuration options
• 🏗️ Architecture Guide - Technical architecture and design decisions
• ⚡ Quick Reference - Fast deployment commands and environment comparison
• ⚙️ Configuration Guide - Complete configuration management reference
• 📱 Device Enrollment Guide - ATAK/iTAK device enrollment and OIDC authentication
• 🔑 Scoped Service Accounts - Least-privilege Authentik service accounts for consumer apps (TAKTeamManager, CloudTAK)
• 🐳 Docker Image Strategy - Hybrid image strategy for fast CI/CD and flexible development
• 🧪 Test Organization - Test structure and coverage information

Security Features

Enterprise-Grade Security

• 🔑 KMS Encryption - All data encrypted with customer-managed keys
• 🛡️ Network Security - Private subnets with controlled internet access
• 🔒 IAM Policies - Least-privilege access patterns throughout
• 📋 LDAP Security - Secure LDAP authentication with TLS encryption
• 🔐 SSO Integration - Single sign-on via OIDC and SAML protocolsontext

Getting Help

Common Issues

• Base Infrastructure - Ensure base infrastructure stack is deployed first
• Route53 Hosted Zone - Ensure your domain's hosted zone exists before deployment
• AWS Permissions - CDK requires broad permissions for CloudFormation operations
• Docker Images - CDK automatically handles Docker image building and ECR management
• Stack Name Matching - Ensure stackName parameter matches your base infrastructure deployment

Support Resources

• AWS CDK Documentation - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/
• Authentik Documentation - https://goauthentik.io/docs/
• TAK-NZ Project - https://github.com/TAK-NZ/
• Issue Tracking - Use GitHub Issues for bug reports and feature requests

License

TAK.NZ is distributed under AGPL-3.0-only Copyright (C) 2026 - Christian Elsen, Team Awareness Kit New Zealand (TAK.NZ)