Grafana LDAP Configuration Troubleshooting in 10 Minutes with AI-assistant

This article presents a real-world case study demonstrating how Chaterm solved a Grafana LDAP configuration issue in 10 minutes that had stumped an operations engineer for 3 hours. It details how AI systematically troubleshoots: from problem identification, configuration analysis, LDAP connection testing, to precise configuration error fixes, ultimately achieving an optimized solution that supports multiple login formats. By comparing traditional manual troubleshooting with AI-assisted troubleshooting, it showcases Chaterm’s technical advantages in improving operational efficiency, reducing troubleshooting costs, and enhancing problem-solving capabilities.

“It’s 2 AM, and you’re still staring at a screen full of error logs…”

Configuration changed, service restarted, logs checked, still can’t log in… Tried solutions from the first 10 pages of search results, but the problem persists.

I believe every operations engineer has experienced this “desperate moment of being dominated by configuration.” Especially when it comes to LDAP integration, which often feels like black magic, it can easily consume an entire night.

Today, I’ll share a real case that happened a few days ago. A friend of mine who has been doing operations for almost eight years was stuck on a Grafana LDAP integration issue for 3 hours. Finally, he tried an AI-assisted troubleshooting tool we use internally, and in 10 minutes, the root cause was identified!

We’re not here to sell products, just to share troubleshooting approaches and technical insights.

Case Study: Xiaofeng
Task: Configure Grafana to integrate with company LDAP for unified login

Followed the documentation step by step, checked 3 times, confirmed everything was correct. Entered username and password, clicked login…

❌ Login failed!

Error logs showed:
[password-auth.failed] failed to authenticate identity:
[identity.not-found] no user found: did not find a user

The logs indicated that the LDAP user couldn’t be found. Xiaofeng immediately started the **standard troubleshooting process:

1. Configuration self-check: File paths, LDAP address, port number — all verified. The ldap.toml file looked fine.
2. Network testing: Used telnet, nc, and other tools. Port was accessible, network was fine.
3. Deep log analysis: Found that Grafana’s default logs were too brief, couldn’t see which fields it was using to search for users.
4. Various searches: Found that most solutions revolved around bind_dn or search_filter, but changes didn’t help.

Time passed, and Xiaofeng’s morale gradually crumbled… As the night deepened, he decided to give up for now.

The next day, Xiaofeng decided to try a different approach. He used Chaterm, an internal troubleshooting tool, and threw in last night’s error logs, Grafana configuration path, and a simple “help me check this.”

10 minutes later, AI provided a perfect fix.

Next, let’s see how this AI Agent systematically identified the problem step by step. This approach is very worth learning.

Let’s Get Started

🎯 Step 1: Core Problem Identification
Copy the error logs and paste them to Chaterm

logger=authn.service ... error="[password-auth.failed] failed to authenticate identity:
[identity.not-found] no user found: did not find a user"

Chaterm’s response:
“…The authentication failure is due to ‘user not found’. Let me check the configuration file first.”

This locked in the core issue: The authentication failure wasn’t due to a wrong password, but because Grafana couldn’t find the user at all.

🔍 Step 2: Systematic Troubleshooting
Like a detective solving a case, Chaterm proceeded step by step, with each step clearly visible:

2.1 Confirm Configuration File Location:
ls -la /etc/grafana/
Found the ldap.toml configuration file

2.2 Read and Analyze Core Configuration:
`sudo cat /etc/grafana/ldap.toml

AI identified 3 suspicious points (this is where the problem lies!):

Error 1: search_filter = “(sAMAccountName=%s)”

Problem: This attribute may not exist (this is Windows AD-specific, standard LDAP doesn’t have it)
Impact: The system uses this attribute to find users, of course it can’t find them!

Error 2: username = “sn”

Problem: Using surname as username? That’s odd
Impact: May cause username format mismatch

Error 3: bind_dn = “cn=[e-mail],ou=user,dc=email,dc=com”
Problem: The format doesn’t look standard
Impact: Connection may fail

This is where AI shines: It can instantly spot potential issues in configuration, just like an experienced operations expert! Manual checking might take 30 minutes, but AI understands in seconds!

2.3 Test Connection
AI automatically tests network connection:
timeout 5 bash -c "echo > /dev/tcp/192.168.1.1/3893"

Result: Network connection is normal, port 3893 is accessible

Conclusion: Network is fine, the problem is in the configuration!

2.4 Check “Case Records” (Log Information)
AI automatically checks detailed logs:

sudo tail -100 /var/log/grafana/grafana.log | grep -i "ldap\|authn"

Finding: Logs are too simple, can’t see the specific search process, need more detailed debug information.

AI’s judgment: Need deeper investigation, directly test LDAP connection!

🧰 Step 3：Deep Investigation, Launch Professional Tools

3.1 Automatically Install LDAP Client Tools:
sudo yum install -y openldap-clients --disable repo=grafana


3.2 Test Different Connection Methods
AI automatically tries different connection formats to see which one works:

Attempt 1: Standard Format (Failed)

ldapsearch -x -H ldap://192.168.1.1:3893 \
-D "cn=ldap,ou=user,dc=email,dc=com" \
-w password -b "dc=email,dc=com" \
"(objectClass=person)" dn

Result: ❌ ldap_bind: Invalid credentials (49) - Authentication failed`

Attempt 2: Original Format (Success!)

ldapsearch -x -H ldap://192.168.1.1:3893 \
-D "cn=[e-mail],ou=user,dc=email,dc=com" \
-w password -b "dc=email,dc=com" \
"(objectClass=*)" dn

Result: Found user list! Discovered user format is cn=[e-mail]

AI Discovery: Connection format needs the @email.com suffix!

3.3 Check “User Profile” (Actual Attributes)
AI checks a specific user’s complete information:

ldapsearch -x -H ldap://192.168.1.1:3893 \
-D "cn=[e-mail],ou=user,dc=email,dc=com" \
-w password -b "dc=email,dc=com" \
"(cn=[e-mail])"

Key Discovery (this is where the problem lies!):
AI viewed a user’s complete attributes through the ldapsearch command:

dn: cn=[e-mail],ou=user,dc=email,dc=com
cn: [e-mail]
uid: [e-mail] ← 🔴 Note: uid is in full email format!
sn: zhang_san ← This is the username prefix
Press enter or click to view image in full size

Mystery solved! Problem found:

| Actual Situation | Configuration Setting | Result |
| ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| uid in LDAP:[e-mail]| Search filter uses:(sAMAccountName=%s)| ❌ This attribute doesn't exist! |
| User login input:zhang_san| Configuration uses:username = "sn"| ❌ Format mismatch! |

In simple terms:

• Xiaofeng entered 'zhang_san' to log in
• System searches using sAMAccountName attribute (but this attribute doesn't exist)
• LDAP actually stores uid=[e-mail] (full email format)
• So the user can't be found!

It's like looking for "Zhang San", but the system is searching for "Zhang sAMAccountName", of course it can't find it!

🛠️ Step 4: One-Click Fix
After identifying the root cause, AI begins executing the fix.

Good Operations Practice: Backup before modifying to avoid mistakes (this is very important!)

4.1 Backup (Safety First)
Automatically backup configuration file:

sudo cp /etc/grafana/ldap.toml /etc/grafana/ldap.toml.backup

💡 If you forget, Chaterm will automatically backup. If something goes wrong, you can still recover!

4.2 Fix Core Problem
Problem: Used non-existent attribute sAMAccountName (this is Windows AD-specific)

Solution: Change to the actual existing uid

AI automatically modifies configuration:

Before: search_filter = "(sAMAccountName=%s)" ❌

After: search_filter = "(uid=%s)" ✅

sudo sed -i 's/^search_filter = "(sAMAccountName=%s)"/search_filter = "(uid=%s)"/' /etc/grafana/ldap.toml

4.3 Fix Username Mapping
Problem: Using surname sn as username (wrong format)

Solution: Change to user ID uid

AI automatically modifies:

Before: username = "sn" ❌

After: username = "uid" ✅

sudo sed -i 's/^username = "sn"/username = "uid"/' /etc/grafana/ldap.toml

4.4 Enable Debug Logging
AI automatically enables detailed logging:

sudo sed -i '/^\[log\]/a filters = ldap:debug' /etc/grafana/grafana.ini

Benefit: If problems occur in the future, logs will be more detailed and easier to locate issues.

4.5 Restart Service
AI automatically restarts service:

sudo systemctl restart grafana-server

Done! All modifications were automatically completed by Chaterm, you just need to confirm the results.

🔄 Step 5: Continues Deep Investigation
After restart, you try logging in again, still fails.

You tell Chaterm: “Still can’t log in”

Chaterm immediately checks debug logs (now with detailed logs):

sudo tail -50 /var/log/grafana/grafana.log | grep -i "ldap"
New Discovery:

logger=ldap ... msg="LDAP SearchRequest"
searchRequest="Filter:(|(uid=zhang_san)) ..." ← 🔴 Searching for zhang_san
logger=ldap ... msg="unable to login with LDAP"
error="can't find user in LDAP" ← ❌ Still can't find

Problem Found:

• System searches for: uid=zhang_san (the username you entered)
• But LDAP actually stores: uid=[e-mail] (full email format)
• Format mismatch!

It’s like looking for “Zhang San”, but the system is searching for “Zhang San” (without suffix), while the actual storage is “Zhang [e-mail]”

5.1 Verify Again (Confirm Problem)
Chaterm verifies again, confirming that the user’s uid is indeed in full email format:

ldapsearch ... "(uid=[e-mail])" dn uid
Result: Confirmed that the user’s uid is indeed in full email format

5.2 Ultimate Solution: Support Multiple Login Formats
Chaterm’s approach: Make the search filter support multiple formats, so users can be found regardless of how they input!

`# Modify to support three login methods:

1. Enter full email: [e-mail] → direct match

2. Enter username: zhang_san → match sn attribute

3. Auto-append domain: zhang_san → match uid=[e-mail]

sudo sed -i 's#^search_filter = "(uid=%s)"#search_filter = "(|(uid=%s)(uid=[e-mail])(sn=%s))"#' /etc/grafana/ldap.toml

Final Configuration (Universal Search):

search_filter = "(|(uid=%s)(uid=[e-mail])(sn=%s))"`

This is the most impressive step. To solve the problem of inconsistent user input formats, Chaterm didn’t ask Xiaofeng to change login habits, but optimized the search logic instead.

How powerful is this configuration?

• User enters [e-mail] → directly matches uid=[e-mail]
• User enters zhang_san → matches sn=zhang_san or uid=[e-mail]

At this point, no matter how users input, they can be found.

Final Configuration

`# LDAP Server Configuration
host = "192.168.1.1"
port = 3893
bind_dn = "cn=[e-mail],ou=user,dc=email,dc=com"
bind_password = 'password'

Search Filter - Supports Multiple Formats

search_filter = "(|(uid=%s)(uid=[e-mail])(sn=%s))"
search_base_dns = ["ou=user,dc=email,dc=com"]

Attribute Mapping

[servers.attributes]
name = "givenName"
surname = "sn"
username = "uid" # Key: Use uid instead of sn
member_of = "memberOf"
email = "mail"`

Summary: Technical Improvements by Chaterm
The entire troubleshooting and fixing process took Chaterm 10 minutes. Compared to Xiaofeng’s 3 hours of manual exploration, this efficiency improvement is revolutionary.

| Step | Operation | Result | Time |
| ---- | --------------------- | ------------------------------------- | ----- |
| 1 | Check configuration | Found incorrect attribute used | 1 min |
| 2 | Test LDAP connection | Confirmed bind_dn format correct | 1 min |
| 3 | Check user attributes | Found uid is in full email format | 2 min |
| 4 | Modify search filter | Support multiple login formats | 1 min |
| 5 | Enable debug logging | Convenient for future troubleshooting | 1 min |
| 6 | Verify fix | Problem solved ✅ | 4 min |

What we see from this case is not just the tool’s speed, but its systematic thinking approach:

1. Avoid knowledge gaps: It can instantly identify configuration differences between different tech stacks (AD vs. LDAP), which is where people most often get stuck.
2. Verify data first, then modify configuration: It doesn’t blindly try configurations, but first verifies the actual data format stored in the LDAP server using ldapsearch, then modifies the configuration. This is the most efficient troubleshooting logic.
3. Not just fixing, but optimizing: The universal filter Chaterm ultimately provided considers user experience, avoiding future failures caused by different login habits.

Related Resources
`- Grafana LDAP Configuration Official Documentation

• LDAP Search Filter Syntax
• Chaterm Usage Guide`

Final Notes
Friendly Reminder: Before modifying production environment configuration, please be sure to backup first! Usually Chaterm will automatically backup for you, but developing good habits is always right 😊

Core Viewpoint: AI tools are not meant to replace operations engineers, but to make us more efficient and professional. Let AI handle repetitive work, and spend time on more valuable things.

If you’ve tried Chaterm, feel free to share your experience!

Related Links:

• Chaterm Official Website: https://chaterm.ai/
• GitHub: https://github.com/chaterm/Chaterm