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IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3 Help

Kerberos

Kerberos is a network authentication protocol that provides a secure way to authenticate clients and servers over an insecure network.

You can use Kerberos to authenticate connections to HDFS.

Install the Remote File Systems plugin

This functionality relies on the plugin, which you need to install and enable.

  1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open settings and then select Plugins.

  2. Find the Remote File Systems plugin, and click Install. Restart the IDE if prompted.

Use Kerberos to authenticate in HDFS

  1. In the Big Data Tools window, click Add a connection and select HDFS. Or, if you want to edit an existing connection, select it and click Edit a connection.

  2. Open the Kerberos settings: In the Configuration source, select Custom, and, under Authentication, select Kerberos.

  3. If you want to use the Kerberos ticket cache created by the kinit tool, select Use kinit cache.

    Otherwise, in the Authentication by list, select the authentication method:

    • Keytab: enter your Kerberos principal, such as john@EXAMPLE.ORG, and a path to the keytab file.

    • Password: enter your Kerberos principal, such as john@EXAMPLE.ORG, and the principal password.

    • JAAS config: specify the path to the JAAS Login Configuration File. IntelliJ IDEA detects JAAS entries in the file, and you can then select the one you want to use for authentication in the JAAS entry list. Alternatively, click Generate JAAS entry to generate a new JAAS entry and add it to the file.

  4. Click IDE Kerberos settings. In the window that opens, in the Krb5 config field, specify your krb5.conf or krb5.ini file or keep the default one.

Enable debug logging

If you have issues with Kerberos authentication, you can enable logging of Kerberos and Java Generic Security Services (JGSS) debug messages. The logs are then available in Help | Show Log in Finder and Help | Open Log in Editor.

  1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) , go to Appearance & Behavior | System Settings | Kerberos Authentication.

  2. Select the Kerberos debug logging and JGSS debug logging checkboxes.

25 September 2026