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Use Kerberos authentication with Git LFS on Azure DevOps Server

Azure DevOps Server | Azure DevOps Server 2022

Use this article if you run Azure DevOps Server with Windows Authentication and need Git LFS to work with Kerberos.

This guidance applies only to Azure DevOps Server. Azure DevOps Services uses a different authentication flow.

Before you continue, confirm that your environment matches these assumptions:

  • You're using Azure DevOps Server, not Azure DevOps Services.
  • Your Azure DevOps Server deployment uses Windows Authentication.
  • You use Git LFS with the repo that connects to Azure DevOps Server.

Note

Git LFS version behavior

Git LFS supports Kerberos authentication starting with Git LFS 2.10.0.

Earlier Git LFS releases supported NTLM authentication. However, NTLM support was removed starting with Git LFS 3.0.0.

If you connect to an Azure DevOps Server instance that uses Windows Authentication, Git LFS 3.0.0 and later requires Kerberos authentication for that scenario.

What to verify before you change clients

Before you upgrade or troubleshoot Git LFS, confirm that your environment can use Kerberos successfully:

  • Verify that your Azure DevOps Server environment is configured for Windows Authentication.
  • Verify that client connections negotiate Kerberos instead of falling back to another authentication mechanism.
  • Review your environment constraints before you standardize on Kerberos. For example, workgroup and other non-domain scenarios can require separate planning.

Important

Upgrade to Git LFS 2.10.0 or later to use Kerberos authentication. If your Azure DevOps Server instance uses Windows Authentication and you're running Git LFS 3.0.0 or later, use Kerberos authentication.