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+# How to configure the realm in keycloak 
+
+###  Access keycloak admin console
+Once keycloak container is up running, you can access the admin console at `https://{hostname}/keycloak`.  Click 
+"Administration Console " to login in. If not specified, the default admin username and password are `admin`/ `admin`.
+![admin console](img/keycloak-admin-console.png)
+
+### Import Realm 
+The default Realm of keycloak is Master. To use the realm for this project, the easiest way is to **import 
+the pre-defined realm json file**. You can find some examples in the Clowder 2 repository under the path 
+`scripts/keycloak/`. For example, if you are running a docker-compose development stack on your local host, you can 
+import the file `clowder-realm-dev.json`. 
+
+To import, please navigate to the dropdown on top left corner and click **Create Realm**. Once you see the create 
+realm interface, you can either copy-paste the json definition into the dialog; or click **Browse** and select the 
+realm json file you want to use.
+![create realm](img/keycloak-create-realm.png)
+
+You can check if the Clowder realm is successfully created by whether you can see the **Clowder** in the dropdown 
+of top left corner. Once select Clowder there, you should also see the "Welcome to Clowder" Page. Last thing to 
+verify, if you navigate to the **Clients** on the sidebar, you should be able to see some custom created clients (e.
+g. clowder2-backend)
+
+### Adjust setting based on different hostname
+If you are deploying the Clowder stack on VMs with its own domain name, you would need to adjust some of the 
+setting to reflect the domain host name. For example, if we deploy Clowder at https://clowder2.software-dev.ncsa.
+cloud, there will be three places you need to adjust:
+1. Under **Realm Settings**, you would need to change the **Frontend URL** to https://clowder2.software-dev.ncsa.
+   cloud/keycloak. The pattern is `http(s)://{hostname}/keycloak`
+   ![realm setting](img/keycloak-realm-setting.png)
+2. Navigate to **Clients** and find the client you will be using (in our case, it's clowder2-backend). Change the 
+   **root URL** to `http(s)://{hostname}`, i.e. https://clowder2.software-dev.ncsa.cloud
+3. Similarly, change the **Valid redirect URIs** to be `http(s)://{hostname}/api/v2/auth` which is the API endpoint 
+   for validation and authenticate users, i.e. 
+   https://clowder2.software-dev.ncsa.cloud/api/v2/auth. Valid URI pattern a browser can redirect to after a successful 
+   login. 
+   ![client setting](img/keycloak-client-setting.png)
+
+
+### Alternative
+Alternatively, you can directly configure the realm json file; then import the edited file as instructed above to 
+achieve same effects as above.
+
+Under clients section modify the **rootUrl** and **redirectUris**
+
+```angular2html
+...
+"clients": [
+    {
+      "clientId": "clowder2-backend",
+      "rootUrl": "https://clowder2.software-dev.ncsa.cloud",
+        ...
+      "redirectUris": [
+        "https://clowder2.software-dev.ncsa.cloud/api/v2/auth"
+      ],
+    ...
+```
+
+Under attributes add/modify the **frontendUrl**
+```angular2html
+"attributes": {
+    ...
+    "frontendUrl": "https://clowder2.software-dev.ncsa.cloud/keycloak",
+  }
+```
+
+A few other settings:
+
+To enable password resest add below:
+```angular2html
+  "resetPasswordAllowed": true,
+```
+
+To enable email sending from keycloak (e.g. in case to recover user's forgotten password) set the below:
+```angular2html
+"smtpServer": {
+    "replyToDisplayName": "",
+    "starttls": "false",
+    "auth": "",
+    "host": "smtp.ncsa.illinois.edu",
+    "replyTo": "",
+    "from": "clowder2-devnull@illinois.edu",
+    "fromDisplayName": "",
+    "envelopeFrom": "",
+    "ssl": "false"
+  },
+  ...
+```
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