Step by step guide to enable Two Factor Authentication on SSH access (Linux):
Step 1: Choose Your User Directory
1.1: Setup AD as User Directory
- Login to miniOrange dashboard from the Admin Console.
- From the left side menu, click on User Stores >> Add User Store.

- Select User Store type as AD/LDAP.

- STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION IN MINIORANGE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in miniOrange. If active directory is behind a firewall, you will need to open the firewall to allow incoming requests to your AD.
- STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION ON PREMISE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in your premise and only allow access to AD inside premises. You will have to download and install miniOrange gateway in your premise.

- Enter LDAP Display Name and LDAP Identifier name.
- Select Directory Type as Active Directory.
- Enter the LDAP Server URL or IP Address against LDAP Server URL field.
- Click on Test Connection button to verify if you have made a successful connection with your LDAP server.

- In Active Directory, go to the properties of user containers/OU's and search for Distinguished Name attribute.

- Enter the valid Bind account Password.
- Click on Test Bind Account Credentials button to verify your LDAP Bind credentials for LDAP connection.

- Search Base is the location in the directory where the search for a user begins. You will get this from the same place you got your Distinguished name.

- Select a suitable Search filter from the drop down menu. To use custom Search Filter select "Custom Search Filter" option and customize it accordingly.

- You can also configure following options while setting up AD. Enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP. Click on the Save button to add user store.

Here's the list of the attributes and what it does when we enable it. You can enable/disable accordingly.
Attribute |
Description |
Activate LDAP |
All user authentications will be done with LDAP credentials if you Activate it |
Sync users in miniOrange |
Users will be created in miniOrange after authentication with LDAP |
Backup Authentication |
If LDAP credentials fail then user will be authenticated through miniOrange |
Allow users to change password |
This allows your users to change their password. It updates the new credentials in your LDAP server |
Enable administrator login |
On enabling this, your miniOrange Administrator login authenticates using your LDAP server |
Show IdP to users |
If you enable this option, this IdP will be visible to users |
Send Configured Attributes |
If you enable this option, then only the attributes configured below will be sent in attributes at the time of login |
- Click on Save. After this, it will show you the list of User stores. Click on Test Configuration to check whether you have enter valid details. For that, it will ask for username and password.

- On Successful connection with LDAP Server, a success message is shown.
- Click on Test Attribute Mapping.

- Enter a valid Username. Then, click on Test. Mapped Attributes corresponding to the user are fetched.

- After successful Attribute Mapping Configuration, go back to the ldap configuration and enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP.
Refer our guide to setup LDAPS on windows server.
1.2: Setup miniOrange as a User Store
- Log in to miniOrange Admin Console.
- There are 3 ways to setup miniOrange as an Identity Source
Step 2: Configuring Two Factor Authentication (2fa)
- Login into your End-User Dashboard using Active Directory Credentials.
- Select Configure 2FA from left panel.

- Browse through the Second factor options and choose an appropriate method to be used by the particular End-User during login.
- In this guide, we have selected the method "OTP OVER SMS". You can explore the guide to setup other methods here.

- Click on configure/reconfigure "OTP OVER SMS".
- Enter you phone number along with the necessary country code and click on SAVE below. After the Phone details are saved successfully, click on the Save button on the top bar to set this as your 2FA method.

- To use a particular method of 2FA, we configure that method first and then select the method and click on SAVE.
- Currently used method is denoted by green color.

- Click Here to configure the 2FA method from miniOrange Admin dashboard.
- Click here for step by step guide to configure 2FA methods for end-users .
Step 3: Configure MO-SSH Module
- Install the following extensions which are required to proceed for further configuration.
curl, jq & python
- Download the “mo-ssh” file.
- Open your Linux terminal and make sure you are the root user.
- Execute the following command to install “mo-ssh” module.
# bash mo-ssh install < path >
e.g. # bash mo-ssh install /usr/local/bin

- Enter the miniOrange account credentials.

- Proceed for the following steps once you have successfully logged in.

- Execute the below command to enable the Two Factor Authentication (2FA) for the users.
‹path of mo-ssh file› enable ‹local_username› ‹miniOrange_email›
e.g. # /usr/local/bin enable ec2-user ec2user@xecurify.com

- Two Factor Authentication (2fa) is now enabled for the user. You can now test your 2fa setup.

- In case you have set OTP over SMS 2FA method. Enter the otp that you will recieve on your phone number. Please enter the otp.

- After entering the correct otp the test authentication will be successful.

- In case you have set Google Authenticator 2FA method. You will need to enter the token number.

- Enter the token number from google authenticator app. The test authentication will be successful.

- Execute the below command to restart the sshd service.
$ service sshd restart
Step 4: Test your setup
- Initiate SSH into your system and enter your username. It will prompt for the two factor authentication (2fa) verification.
- If you have set OTP over SMS 2FA method. Enter the otp will recieve on your phone number.

- After entering the correct otp the authentication will be successful.

- If you have set Google Authenticator 2FA method. You will need to enter the token number.

- Enter the token number from google authenticator app. The authentication will be successful.

- Execute the below command to uninstall the module.
# < path > mo-ssh uninstall
e.g. # /usr/local/bin/mo-ssh uninstall

- The module is uninstalled successfully.

For further details refer :
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-setup-two-factor-authentication-in-linux/