IBM® App Connect Enterprise provides a security manager to control access to individual messages in a message flow, by using the identity of the message.
You can configure an integration server for processing end-to-end an identity that is carried in a message through a message flow by using a security profile. By creating a security profile, you can configure security for a message flow to control access based on the identity that is associated with the message and provides a security mechanism that is independent of both the transport type and message format.
Only a subset of the connectors available in IBM App Connect Enterprise use security profiles to control and vary the identity that is used when the connector interacts with an external system. For other connectors, a fixed identity can be specified, which is used to authorize access to the external system. For those connectors, the integration server has its own repository of identities, which can be updated with the mqsisetdbparms and mqsireportdbparms command.
If you do not enable message flow security, the default security facilities that are in IBM App Connect Enterprise are based on the security facilities that are provided by the transport mechanism. In this case, the integration server processes all messages that are delivered to it, using the integration server service identity as a proxy identity for all message instances. Any identity that is present in the incoming message is ignored.
You can invoke message flow security by configuring either a security enabled input node or a SecurityPEP node. You can use the SecurityPEP node to invoke the message flow security manager at any point in the message flow between an input node and an output (or request) node.
However, the support for treating security exceptions as normal exceptions is provided by only the MQInput, HTTPInput, SCAInput, and SCAAsyncResponse nodes; it is not available in the SOAPInput node.
To improve performance, the integration server security manager uses a security cache. Entries are created in the security cache when a message flow with a security profile performs authentication, mapping, or authorization. The entries are valid for the length of time that is specified by the cacheTimeout property of the securitycache component after which the entries are marked as expired. When an entry is marked as expired, it must be reauthenticated, mapped, or reauthorized with the security provider before it can be reused, and its expiry time is reset.
The following topics in this section provide more detailed information about message flow security: