User/Group Services

The REST API allows you to list, create, update, and delete user/group services in GeoServer. These endpoints manage the configuration objects (e.g., XMLUserGroupService, JDBC, LDAP), not the users/groups themselves.

Note

Read the API reference for security/userGroupServices.

View a User/Group Service

Request

curl

curl –location ‘http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/security/usergroupservices/default’ –header ‘Accept: application/xml’

Response (XML)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupServiceConfig>
  <name>default</name>
  <className>org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupService</className>
  <fileName>default.xml</fileName>
  <passwordEncoderName>plainTextPasswordEncoder</passwordEncoderName>
  <passwordPolicyName>default</passwordPolicyName>
</org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupServiceConfig>

Request

curl

curl –location ‘http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/security/usergroupservices/default’ –header ‘Accept: application/json’

Response (JSON)

{
  "org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupServiceConfig": {
    "name": "default",
    "className": "org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupService",
    "fileName": "default.xml",
    "passwordEncoderName": "plainTextPasswordEncoder",
    "passwordPolicyName": "default"
  }
}

List User/Group Services

Request

curl

curl –location ‘http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/security/usergroupservices’ –header ‘Accept: application/xml’

Response (XML)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<userGroupService>
  <userGroupService>
    <name>default</name>
    <className>org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupService</className>
  </userGroupService>
  <!-- ... possibly more entries ... -->
</userGroupService>

Request

curl

curl –location ‘http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/security/usergroupservices’ –header ‘Accept: application/json’

Response (JSON)

{
  "userGroupService": [
    { "name": "default", "className": "org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupService" }
  ]
}

Create a User/Group Service

To create an XML-backed user/group service you must provide a fileName and the usual password encoder/policy.

Request (XML)

curl

curl –location ‘http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/security/usergroupservices’ –header ‘Content-Type: application/xml’ –header ‘Accept: application/xml’ –data-binary @- <<’XML’ <org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupServiceConfig> <name>users1</name> <className>org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupService</className> <fileName>users1.xml</fileName> <passwordEncoderName>plainTextPasswordEncoder</passwordEncoderName> <passwordPolicyName>default</passwordPolicyName> </org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupServiceConfig> XML

Response

  • 201 Created (some builds may return 200 OK).

Request (JSON)

curl

curl –location ‘http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/security/usergroupservices’ –header ‘Content-Type: application/json’ –header ‘Accept: application/json’ –data-raw ‘{ “org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupServiceConfig”: { “name”: “users2”, “className”: “org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupService”, “fileName”: “users2.xml”, “passwordEncoderName”: “plainTextPasswordEncoder”, “passwordPolicyName”: “default” } }’

Response

  • 201 Created (some builds may return 200 OK).

Update a User/Group Service

The payload name must match the path parameter. A mismatch is a 400 Bad Request.

Request (XML)

curl

curl –location –request PUT ‘http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/security/usergroupservices/users1’ –header ‘Content-Type: application/xml’ –header ‘Accept: application/xml’ –data-binary @- <<’XML’ <org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupServiceConfig> <name>users1</name> <className>org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupService</className> <fileName>users1.xml</fileName> <passwordEncoderName>digestPasswordEncoder</passwordEncoderName> <passwordPolicyName>default</passwordPolicyName> </org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupServiceConfig> XML

Response

  • 200 OK (updated).

Request (JSON)

curl

curl –location –request PUT ‘http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/security/usergroupservices/users2’ –header ‘Content-Type: application/json’ –header ‘Accept: application/json’ –data-raw ‘{ “org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupServiceConfig”: { “name”: “users2”, “className”: “org.geoserver.security.xml.XMLUserGroupService”, “fileName”: “users2.xml”, “passwordEncoderName”: “plainTextPasswordEncoder”, “passwordPolicyName”: “default” } }’

Response

  • 200 OK (updated).

Delete a User/Group Service

Request

curl

curl –location –request DELETE ‘http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/security/usergroupservices/users1’ –header ‘Accept: application/xml’

Response

  • 200 OK when deleted, 404 Not Found if unknown, 410 Gone for a previously deleted name.

Error Handling

  • 400 Bad Request for duplicate names, name mismatch on update, or missing required fields (e.g., fileName for XMLUserGroupService).

  • 404 Not Found when the named service does not exist.

  • 405 Method Not Allowed if an unsupported method is attempted.

  • 500 Internal Server Error may be returned by older builds when validation errors bubble up.

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