# Keystone Event Notifications

Keystone provides notifications about usage data so that 3rd party applications can use the data for billing, monitoring, or quota purposes. This document describes the current inclusions and exclusions for Keystone notifications.

Keystone currently supports two notification formats: a Basic Notification, and a Cloud Auditing Data Federation (CADF) Notification. The supported operations between the two types of notification formats are documented below.

## Common Notification Structure

Notifications generated by Keystone are generated in JSON format. An external application can format them into ATOM format and publish them as a feed. Currently, all notifications are immediate, meaning they are generated when a specific event happens. Notifications all adhere to a specific top level format:

    {
        "event_type": "identity.<resource_type>.<operation>",
        "message_id": "<message_id>",
        "payload": {},
        "priority": "INFO",
        "publisher_id": "identity.<hostname>",
        "timestamp": "<timestamp>"
    }

Where `<resource_type>` is a Keystone resource, such as user or project, and `<operation>` is a Keystone operation, such as created, deleted.

The key differences between the two notification formats (Basic and CADF), lie within the `payload` portion of the notification.

The `priority` of the notification being sent is not configurable through the Keystone configuration file. This value is defaulted to INFO for all notifications sent in Keystone’s case.

## Auditing with CADF

Keystone uses the PyCADF library to emit CADF notifications, these events adhere to the DMTF CADF specification. This standard provides auditing capabilities for compliance with security, operational, and business processes and supports normalized and categorized event data for federation and aggregation.

CADF notifications include additional context data around the `resource`, the `action` and the `initiator`.

CADF notifications may be emitted by changing the `notification_format` to `cadf` in the configuration file.

The `payload` portion of a CADF Notification is a CADF `event`, which is represented as a JSON dictionary. For example:

    {
        "typeURI": "http://schemas.dmtf.org/cloud/audit/1.0/event",
        "initiator": {
            "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
            "host": {
                "agent": "curl/7.22.0(x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                "address": "127.0.0.1"
            },
            "id": "<initiator_id>"
        },
        "target": {
            "typeURI": "<target_uri>",
            "id": "openstack:1c2fc591-facb-4479-a327-520dade1ea15"
        },
        "observer": {
            "typeURI": "service/security",
            "id": "openstack:3d4a50a9-2b59-438b-bf19-c231f9c7625a"
        },
        "eventType": "activity",
        "eventTime": "2014-02-14T01:20:47.932842+00:00",
        "action": "<action>",
        "outcome": "success",
        "id": "openstack:f5352d7b-bee6-4c22-8213-450e7b646e9f",
    }

Where the following are defined:

- `<initiator_id>`: ID of the user that performed the operation

- `<target_uri>`: CADF specific target URI, (i.e.: data/security/project)

- `<action>`: The action being performed, typically: `<operation>`. `<resource_type>`

Note

The `eventType` property of the CADF payload is different from the `event_type` property of a notifications. The former (`eventType`) is a CADF keyword which designates the type of event that is being measured, this can be: activity, monitor or control. Whereas the latter (`event_type`) is described in previous sections as: identity.<resource_type>.<operation>

Additionally there may be extra keys present depending on the operation being performed, these will be discussed below.

### Reason

There is a specific `reason` object that will be present for the following PCI-DSS related events:

PCI-DSS Section | reasonCode | reasonType
--- | --- | ---
8.1.6 Limit repeated access attempts by locking out the user after more than X failed attempts. | 401 | Maximum number of <number> login attempts exceeded.
8.2.3 Passwords must meet the established criteria. | 400 | Password does not meet expected requirements: <regex_description>
8.2.4 Password must be changed every X days. | 401 | Password for <user> expired and must be changed
8.2.5 Do not let users reuse the last X passwords. | 400 | Changed password cannot be identical to the last <number> passwords.
Other - Prevent passwords from being changed for a minimum of X days. | 401 | Cannot change password before minimum age <number> days is met

The reason object will contain the following keys:

- `reasonType`: Description of the PCI-DSS event

- `reasonCode`: HTTP response code for the event

For more information, see Security compliance and PCI-DSS for configuring PCI-DSS in keystone.

### Supported Events

The following table displays the compatibility between resource types and operations.

Resource Type | Supported Operations | typeURI
--- | --- | ---
group | create,update,delete | data/security/group
project | create,update,delete | data/security/project
role | create,update,delete | data/security/role
domain | create,update,delete | data/security/domain
user | create,update,delete | data/security/account/user
trust | create,delete | data/security/trust
region | create,update,delete | data/security/region
endpoint | create,update,delete | data/security/endpoint
service | create,update,delete | data/security/service
policy | create,update,delete | data/security/policy
role assignment | add,remove | data/security/account/user
None | authenticate | data/security/account/user

### Example Notification - Project Create

The following is an example of a notification that is sent when a project is created. This example can be applied for any `create`, `update` or `delete` event that is seen in the table above. The `<action>` and `typeURI` fields will be change.

The difference to note is the inclusion of the `resource_info` field which contains the `<resource_id>` that is undergoing the operation. Thus creating a common element between the CADF and Basic notification formats.

    {
        "event_type": "identity.project.created",
        "message_id": "0156ee79-b35f-4cef-ac37-d4a85f231c69",
        "payload": {
            "typeURI": "http://schemas.dmtf.org/cloud/audit/1.0/event",
            "initiator": {
                "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
                "host": {
                    "agent": "curl/7.22.0(x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                    "address": "127.0.0.1"
                },
                "id": "c9f76d3c31e142af9291de2935bde98a"
            },
            "target": {
                "typeURI": "data/security/project",
                "id": "openstack:1c2fc591-facb-4479-a327-520dade1ea15"
            },
            "observer": {
                "typeURI": "service/security",
                "id": "openstack:3d4a50a9-2b59-438b-bf19-c231f9c7625a"
            },
            "eventType": "activity",
            "eventTime": "2014-02-14T01:20:47.932842+00:00",
            "action": "created.project",
            "outcome": "success",
            "id": "openstack:f5352d7b-bee6-4c22-8213-450e7b646e9f",
            "resource_info": "671da331c47d4e29bb6ea1d270154ec3"
        },
        "priority": "INFO",
        "publisher_id": "identity.host1234",
        "timestamp": "2013-08-29 19:03:45.960280"
    }

### Example Notification - Authentication

The following is an example of a notification that is sent when a user authenticates with Keystone.

Note that this notification will be emitted if a user successfully authenticates, and when a user fails to authenticate.

    {
        "event_type": "identity.authenticate",
        "message_id": "1371a590-d5fd-448f-b3bb-a14dead6f4cb",
        "payload": {
            "typeURI": "http://schemas.dmtf.org/cloud/audit/1.0/event",
            "initiator": {
                "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
                "host": {
                    "agent": "curl/7.22.0(x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                    "address": "127.0.0.1"
                },
                "id": "c9f76d3c31e142af9291de2935bde98a"
            },
            "target": {
                "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
                "id": "openstack:1c2fc591-facb-4479-a327-520dade1ea15"
            },
            "observer": {
                "typeURI": "service/security",
                "id": "openstack:3d4a50a9-2b59-438b-bf19-c231f9c7625a"
            },
            "eventType": "activity",
            "eventTime": "2014-02-14T01:20:47.932842+00:00",
            "action": "authenticate",
            "outcome": "success",
            "id": "openstack:f5352d7b-bee6-4c22-8213-450e7b646e9f"
        },
        "priority": "INFO",
        "publisher_id": "identity.host1234",
        "timestamp": "2014-02-14T01:20:47.932842"
    }

### Example Notification - Federated Authentication

The following is an example of a notification that is sent when a user authenticates with Keystone via Federation.

This example is similar to the one seen above, however the `initiator` portion of the `payload` contains a new `credential` section.

    {
        "event_type": "identity.authenticate",
        "message_id": "1371a590-d5fd-448f-b3bb-a14dead6f4cb",
        "payload": {
            "typeURI": "http://schemas.dmtf.org/cloud/audit/1.0/event",
            "initiator": {
                "credential": {
                    "type": "http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0",
                    "token": "671da331c47d4e29bb6ea1d270154ec3",
                    "identity_provider": "ACME",
                    "user": "c9f76d3c31e142af9291de2935bde98a",
                    "groups": [
                        "developers"
                    ]
                },
                "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
                "host": {
                    "agent": "curl/7.22.0(x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                    "address": "127.0.0.1"
                },
                "id": "c9f76d3c31e142af9291de2935bde98a"
            },
            "target": {
                "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
                "id": "openstack:1c2fc591-facb-4479-a327-520dade1ea15"
            },
            "observer": {
                "typeURI": "service/security",
                "id": "openstack:3d4a50a9-2b59-438b-bf19-c231f9c7625a"
            },
            "eventType": "activity",
            "eventTime": "2014-02-14T01:20:47.932842+00:00",
            "action": "authenticate",
            "outcome": "success",
            "id": "openstack:f5352d7b-bee6-4c22-8213-450e7b646e9f"
        },
        "priority": "INFO",
        "publisher_id": "identity.host1234",
        "timestamp": "2014-02-14T01:20:47.932842"
    }

### Example Notification - Role Assignment

The following is an example of a notification that is sent when a role is granted or revoked to a project or domain, for a user or group.

It is important to note that this type of notification has many new keys that convey the necessary information. Expect the following in the `payload`: `role`, `inherited_to_project`, `project` or `domain`, `user` or `group`. With the exception of `inherited_to_project`, each will represent the unique identifier of the resource type.

    {
        "event_type": "identity.role_assignment.created",
        "message_id": "a5901371-d5fd-b3bb-448f-a14dead6f4cb",
        "payload": {
            "typeURI": "http://schemas.dmtf.org/cloud/audit/1.0/event",
            "initiator": {
                "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
                "host": {
                    "agent": "curl/7.22.0(x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                    "address": "127.0.0.1"
                },
                "id": "c9f76d3c31e142af9291de2935bde98a"
            },
            "target": {
                "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
                "id": "openstack:1c2fc591-facb-4479-a327-520dade1ea15"
            },
            "observer": {
                "typeURI": "service/security",
                "id": "openstack:3d4a50a9-2b59-438b-bf19-c231f9c7625a"
            },
            "eventType": "activity",
            "eventTime": "2014-08-20T01:20:47.932842+00:00",
            "role": "0e6b990380154a2599ce6b6e91548a68",
            "project": "24bdcff1aab8474895dbaac509793de1",
            "inherited_to_projects": false,
            "group": "c1e22dc67cbd469ea0e33bf428fe597a",
            "action": "created.role_assignment",
            "outcome": "success",
            "id": "openstack:f5352d7b-bee6-4c22-8213-450e7b646e9f"
        },
        "priority": "INFO",
        "publisher_id": "identity.host1234",
        "timestamp": "2014-08-20T01:20:47.932842"
    }

### Example Notification - Expired Password

The following is an example of a notification that is sent when a user attempts to authenticate but their password has expired.

In this example, the `payload` contains a `reason` portion which contains both a `reasonCode` and `reasonType`.

    {
        "priority": "INFO",
        "_unique_id": "222441bdc958423d8af6f28f9c558614",
        "event_type": "identity.authenticate",
        "timestamp": "2016-11-11 18:31:11.290821",
        "publisher_id": "identity.host1234",
        "payload": {
            "typeURI": "http://schemas.dmtf.org/cloud/audit/1.0/event",
            "initiator": {
                "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
                "host": {
                    "address": "127.0.0.1"
                },
                "id": "73a19db6-e26b-5313-a6df-58d297fa652e"
            },
            "target": {
                "typeURI": "service/security/account/user",
                "id": "c23e6cb7-abe0-5e42-b7f7-4c4104ea77b0"
            },
            "observer": {
                "typeURI": "service/security",
                "id": "9bdddeda6a0b451e9e0439646e532afd"
            },
            "eventType": "activity",
            "eventTime": "2016-11-11T18:31:11.156356+0000",
            "reason": {
                "reasonCode": 401,
                "reasonType": "The password is expired and needs to be reset for user: ed1ab0b40f284fb48fea9e25d0d157fc"
            },
            "action": "authenticate",
            "outcome": "failure",
            "id": "78cd795f-5850-532f-9ab1-5adb04e30c0f"
        },
        "message_id": "9a97e9d0-fef1-4852-8e82-bb693358bc46"
    }

## Basic Notifications

All basic notifications contain a limited amount of information, specifically, just the resource type, operation, and resource id.

The `payload` portion of a Basic Notification is a single key-value pair.

    {
        "resource_info": <resource_id>
    }

Where `<resource_id>` is the unique identifier assigned to the `resource_type` that is undergoing the `<operation>`.

### Supported Events

The following table displays the compatibility between resource types and operations.

Resource Type | Supported Operations
--- | ---
group | create,update,delete
project | create,update,delete
role | create,update,delete
domain | create,update,delete
user | create,update,delete
trust | create,delete
region | create,update,delete
endpoint | create,update,delete
service | create,update,delete
policy | create,update,delete

Note, `trusts` are an immutable resource, they do not support `update` operations.

### Example Notification

This is an example of a notification sent for a newly created user:

    {
        "event_type": "identity.user.created",
        "message_id": "0156ee79-b35f-4cef-ac37-d4a85f231c69",
        "payload": {
            "resource_info": "671da331c47d4e29bb6ea1d270154ec3"
        },
        "priority": "INFO",
        "publisher_id": "identity.host1234",
        "timestamp": "2013-08-29 19:03:45.960280"
    }

If the operation fails, the notification won’t be sent, and no special error notification will be sent. Information about the error is handled through normal exception paths.

## Recommendations for consumers

One of the most important notifications that Keystone emits is for project deletions (`event_type` = `identity.project.deleted`). This event should indicate to the rest of OpenStack that all resources (such as virtual machines) associated with the project should be deleted.

Projects can also have update events (`event_type` = `identity.project.updated`), wherein the project has been disabled. Keystone ensures this has an immediate impact on the accessibility of the project’s resources by revoking tokens with authorization on the project, but should not have a direct impact on the projects resources (in other words, virtual machines should not be deleted).

## Opting out of certain notifications

There are many notifications that Keystone emits and some deployers may only care about certain events. In Keystone there is a way to opt-out of certain notifications. In `/etc/keystone/keystone.conf` you can set `opt_out` to the event you wish to opt-out of. It is possible to opt-out of multiple events.

Example:

    [DEFAULT]
    notification_opt_out = identity.user.created
    notification_opt_out = identity.role_assignment.created
    notification_opt_out = identity.authenticate.pending

This will opt-out notifications for user creation, role assignment creation and successful authentications. For a list of event types that can be used, refer to: Telemetry Measurements.

By default, messages for the following authentication events are suppressed since they are too noisy: `identity.authenticate.success`, `identity.authenticate.pending` and `identity.authenticate.failed`.

this page last updated: 2026-06-11 21:45:03

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