Identity Server is intended to serve as an Identity Provider, if you need to talk with your AD you should see the Federation Gateway architecture they propose using the IAuthenticationSchemeProvider. Where Identity Server acts as an endpoint and talks with your AD.
This is the link:
http://docs.identityserver.io/en/latest/topics/federation_gateway.html
You have the control to programmatically reach your AD and pass the correct credentials to get the authentication. That step should be done in your Identity Server. After you get authenticated you should get redirected to your application again.
About your last question, the answer is yes, if you have your website hosted on an intranet and you have the access to your AD, you don't need to capture your credentials as user input, you can programmatically reach the AD as I said.
Bellow is the code I use to connect with my active directory
On the ExternalController class, you get when you use IdentityServer, you have this:(I don't remember at the top of my head how much I changed from the original code, but you should get the idea)
/// <summary>
/// initiate roundtrip to external authentication provider
/// </summary>
[HttpGet]
public async Task<IActionResult> Challenge(string provider, string returnUrl)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(returnUrl)) returnUrl = "~/";
// validate returnUrl - either it is a valid OIDC URL or back to a local page
if (Url.IsLocalUrl(returnUrl) == false && _interaction.IsValidReturnUrl(returnUrl) == false)
{
// user might have clicked on a malicious link - should be logged
throw new Exception("invalid return URL");
}
if (AccountOptions.WindowsAuthenticationSchemeName == provider)
{
// windows authentication needs special handling
return await ProcessWindowsLoginAsync(returnUrl);
}
else
{
// start challenge and roundtrip the return URL and scheme
var props = new AuthenticationProperties
{
RedirectUri = Url.Action(nameof(Callback)),
Items =
{
{ "returnUrl", returnUrl },
{ "scheme", provider },
}
};
return Challenge(props, provider);
}
}
private async Task<IActionResult> ProcessWindowsLoginAsync(string returnUrl)
{
// see if windows auth has already been requested and succeeded
var result = await HttpContext.AuthenticateAsync(AccountOptions.WindowsAuthenticationSchemeName);
if (result?.Principal is WindowsPrincipal wp)
{
// we will issue the external cookie and then redirect the
// user back to the external callback, in essence, testing windows
// auth the same as any other external authentication mechanism
var props = new AuthenticationProperties()
{
RedirectUri = Url.Action("Callback"),
Items =
{
{ "returnUrl", returnUrl },
{ "scheme", AccountOptions.WindowsAuthenticationSchemeName },
}
};
var id = new ClaimsIdentity(AccountOptions.WindowsAuthenticationSchemeName);
id.AddClaim(new Claim(JwtClaimTypes.Subject, wp.Identity.Name));
id.AddClaim(new Claim(JwtClaimTypes.Name, wp.Identity.Name));
// add the groups as claims -- be careful if the number of groups is too large
if (AccountOptions.IncludeWindowsGroups)
{
var wi = wp.Identity as WindowsIdentity;
var groups = wi.Groups.Translate(typeof(NTAccount));
var roles = groups.Select(x => new Claim(JwtClaimTypes.Role, x.Value));
id.AddClaims(roles);
}
await HttpContext.SignInAsync(
IdentityServer4.IdentityServerConstants.ExternalCookieAuthenticationScheme,
new ClaimsPrincipal(id),
props);
return Redirect(props.RedirectUri);
}
else
{
// trigger windows auth
// since windows auth don't support the redirect uri,
// this URL is re-triggered when we call challenge
return Challenge(AccountOptions.WindowsAuthenticationSchemeName);
}
}
If you want to use Azure AD, I would recommend you to read this article:
https://damienbod.com/2019/05/17/updating-microsoft-account-logins-in-asp-net-core-with-openid-connect-and-azure-active-directory/
