WebSphere Application Server supports Java client authentication using a digital certificate when the client attempts to make a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection. The authentication occurs during an SSL handshake. The SSL handshake is a series of messages exchanged over the SSL protocol to negotiate for connection-specific protection. During the handshake, the secure server requests the client to send back a certificate or certificate chain for the authentication.
Before you begin
To configure SSL for Java client authentication, consider the following questions:Note: The Security Authentication Service (SAS) authentication protocol does not support Java client authentication with SSL transport.
Why and when to perform this task
Note: Java client authentication using digital certificates is supported only by the Common Secure Interoperability Version 2 (CSIv2) authentication protocol.
Steps for this task
Example
What to do next
If a connection problem occurs, you can set a Java property, javax.net.debug=true, before you run your client or your server to generate debugging information. See Troubleshooting security configurations for further information about how to debug an IBM JSSE problem.