Project 1: Identity and Access Management Lab with Keycloak

Objective

To build a hands-on Identity and Access Management (IAM) lab environment to understand and experiment with modern authentication and authorization workflows.

Tools & Technologies

• Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04 (running in VirtualBox VM)
• IAM Platform: Keycloak 24.0.5
• Web Technologies: HTTP/HTTPS, REST APIs, Admin Console

Project Description

In this lab, I deployed Keycloak in a development environment to explore IAM concepts including user authentication, role-based access control, and admin management. The project involved:

• VM Setup: Installed Ubuntu 24.04 on VirtualBox to create an isolated lab environment.
• Keycloak Installation: Downloaded and extracted the latest Keycloak server, configured it to run in development mode.
• User Management: Created an admin user and experimented with creating users, roles, and groups to simulate enterprise IAM structures.
• Authentication Testing: Verified login workflows via the Keycloak admin console and local web interface.
• Dev Mode Automation: Learned how to start Keycloak automatically in dev mode for repeatable testing.

Skills Developed

• Understanding of IAM concepts and best practices
• Hands-on experience with a popular IAM platform
• Linux terminal and shell scripting skills
• Virtualization using VirtualBox for isolated lab environments
• Configuration and testing of secure authentication workflows

Outcome

Successfully deployed a fully functional Keycloak IAM lab environment, allowing exploration of authentication, authorization, and user management features. This setup serves as a foundation for more advanced IAM integration projects, including SAML, OAuth2, and OIDC workflows.

Last updated: November 2025