JupyterHub First Use Authenticator

A JupyterHub authenticator that helps new users set their password on their first login to JupyterHub.

Are you running a workshop from a single physical location, such as a university seminar or a user group?

JupyterHub First Use Authenticator can simplify the user set up for you. It's very useful when using transient JupyterHub instances in a single physical location. It allows multiple users to log in, but you do not have install a pre-existing authentication setup. With this authenticator, users can just pick a username and password and get to work!

Installation

You can install this authenticator with:

pip install jupyterhub-firstuseauthenticator

Once installed, configure JupyterHub to use it by adding the following to your jupyterhub_config.py file:

c.JupyterHub.authenticator_class = 'firstuseauthenticator.FirstUseAuthenticator'

Configuration

FirstUseAuthenticator.dbm_path

Path to the dbm file, or a UNIX database file such as passwords.dbm, used to store usernames and passwords. The dbm file should be put where regular users do not have read/write access to it.

This authenticator's default setting for the path to the passwords.dbm is the current directory from which JupyterHub is spawned.

FirstUseAuthenticator.create_users

Create users if they do not exist already.

When set to False, users would have to be explicitly created before they can log in. Users can be created via the admin panel or by setting whitelist / admin list.

Defaults to True.

FAQ

Why have a password DB and not use PAM ?

For security Reasons. Users are likely to set an, insecure password at login time, and you do not want a brute-force/dictionary attack to manage to login by attacking via ssh or another mean.

How can I change my password?

To change your password, you should login in your jupyterhub account, go to <your_server_ip>/hub/auth/change-password and change the password.

I'm getting an error when creating my username

Usernames cannot contain spaces or commas. Please check if your username is free of these characters.

Security

When using FirstUseAuthenticator it is advised to automatically prepend the name of the user with a known-prefix (for example jupyter). This would prevent for example, someone to log-in as root, as the created user would be jupyter-root.