Configuring Common Secure Interoperability Version 2 outbound authentication

Before you begin

Outbound authentication refers to the configuration that determines the type of authentication performed for outbound requests to downstream servers. Several layers or methods of authentication can occur. The downstream server inbound authentication configuration must support at least one choice made in this server outbound authentication configuration. If nothing is supported, the request might go outbound as unauthenticated. This situation does not create a security problem because the authorization run time is responsible for preventing access to protected resources. However, if you choose to prevent an unauthenticated credential to go outbound, you might want to designate one of the authentication layers as required, rather than supported. If a downstream server does not support authentication, then when authentication is required, the method request fails to go outbound.

Why and when to perform this task

The following choices are available in the Common Secure Interoperability Version 2 (CSIv2) Outbound Authentication panel. Remember that you are not required to complete these steps in the displayed order. Rather, these steps are provided to help you understand your choices for configuring outbound authentication.

Steps for this task

  1. Select Identity Assertion (attribute layer).
    When selected, this server submits an identity token to a downstream server, if the downstream server supports identity assertion. When an originating client authenticates to this server, the authentication information supplied is preserved in the outbound identity token. If the client authenticating to this server uses client certificate authentication, then the identity token format is a certificate chain, containing the exact client certificate chain on the socket. The same scenario is true for other mechanisms of authentication. Read theIdentity Assertion article for more information.
  2. Select SSL Client certificate authentication (transport layer).
    The main reason to enable outbound Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) client authentication from one server to a downstream server is to create a trusted environment between those servers. For delegating client credentials, use one of the two layers mentioned previously. However, you might want to create SSL personal certificates for all the servers in your domain, and only trust those servers in your SSL truststore file. No other servers or clients can connect to the servers in your domain, except at the tiers where you want them. This process can protect your enterprise bean servers from access by anything other than your servlet servers. Refer to the SSL Client Certificate Authentication article for more information.

    A server can send multiple layers simultaneously, therefore, an order of precedence rule decides which identity to use. The identity assertion layer has the highest priority, the message layer follows, and the transport layer has the lowest priority. SSL client certificates are only used as the identity for invoking method requests, when that is the only layer provided. SSL client certificates are useful for trust purposes, even if the identity is not used for the request. If only the message layer and transport layer are provided, the message layer is used to establish the identity for authorization. If the identity assertion layer is provided (regardless of what is provided), then the identity from the identity token is always used by the authorization engine as the identity for that request.

    Note: Although user ID and password appear on this panel, they are not available in WebSphere Application Server for z/OS.

Configuring session management

Why and when to perform this task

You can choose either stateful or stateless security. Performance is optimum when choosing stateful sessions. The first method request between this server and the downstream server is authenticated. All subsequent requests reuse the session information, including the credential. A unique session entry is defined as the combination of a unique client authentication token and an identity token, scoped to the connection.

Example

BasicAuth

What to do next

Save the configuration and restart the server for the changes to take effect.

Related tasks
Configuring Common Secure Interoperability Version 2 inbound authentication
Related reference
Common Secure Interoperability outbound authentication settings
Identity assertion
Message layer authentication
Secure Sockets Layer client certificate authentication



Searchable topic ID:   tseccsiv2outbound
Last updated: Jun 21, 2007 9:56:50 PM CDT    WebSphere Application Server for z/OS, Version 5.0.2
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.zseries.doc/info/zseries/ae/tsec_csiv2outbound.html

Library | Support | Terms of Use | Feedback