The default binding information is defined in the ws-security.xml file
and can be administered by either the administrative console or by scripting. Only default bindings for JAX-RPC applications are
supported. Default bindings for JAX-WS applications are not supported.
Important: There is an important distinction between Version 5.x
and Version 6 and later applications. The information in this article supports
version 5.x applications only that are used with WebSphere Application Server
Version 6.0.x and later. The information does not apply to Version 6 and later
applications.Also, policy sets
can only be used with JAX-WS applications. Policy sets cannot be used for
JAX-RPC applications.
Certain applications can share certain binding information. This information
includes truststores, keystores, and authentication methods (token validation).
WebSphere Application Server provides support for default binding information.
Administrators can define binding information at:
- The server level
- The cell level
Applications can refer to this binding information.
You can define the following binding information in the ws-security.xml file:
- Trust anchors (truststore)
- Trust anchors contain key store configuration information that
has the root-trusted certificates. Trust anchors are used for certificate
path validation of the incoming X.509-formatted security
tokens.
- The Trust Anchor Name is used in the binding file (ibm-webservices-bnd.xmi and ibm-webservicesclient-bnd-xmi when
Web services is running as a client) to refer to the trust anchor defined
in the default binding information. The trust anchor name must be unique in
the trust anchor collection.
- Collection certificate store
- The collection certificate store specifies a list of untrusted,
intermediate certificates and is used for certificate path validation of incoming
X.509-formatted security tokens. The default provider is IBMCertPath.
- The Certificate Store Name is used in the binding file (ibm-webservices-bnd.xmi and ibm-webservicesclient-bnd-xmi when
Web services is running as a client) to refer to the certificate store defined
in the default binding information. The Certificate Store Name must be unique
to the collection certificate store collection.
- Key locators
- Key locators specify implementation of the com.ibm.wsspi.wssecurity.config.KeyLocator
interface. This interface is used to retrieve keys for signature or encryption.
Customer implementations can extend the key locator interface to retrieve
keys using other methods. WebSphere Application Server provides implementations
to retrieve a key from the key store, map an authenticated identity to a key
in the key store, or retrieve a key from the signer certificate (mapping and
retrieving actions are used for encrypting the response).
- The Key Locator Name is used in the binding file (ibm-webservices-bnd.xmi and ibm-webservicesclient-bnd-xmi when
Web services is running as a client) to refer to the key locator defined in
the default binding information. The Key Locator Name must be unique to the
key locators collection in the default binding information.
- Trusted ID evaluators
- Trusted ID evaluators are an implementation of the com.ibm.wsspi.wssecurity.id.TrustedIDEvaluator
interface. This interface is used to make sure the identity (ID)-asserting
authority is trusted. Additionally, you can extend the trusted identity evaluator
to validate the trust. WebSphere Application Server provides a default implementation
for validating trust based on a predefined list of identities.
- The Trusted ID Evaluator Name is used in the binding file (ibm-webservices-bnd.xmi)
to refer to the trusted identity evaluator defined in the default binding
information. The Trusted ID Evaluator Name must be unique to the Trusted ID
Evaluator collection.
- Login mappings
- Login mappings define the mapping of the authentication
method to the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) login configuration.
The mappings are used to authenticate the incoming security token embedded
in the Web services security SOAP message header. The JAAS login configuration
is defined in the administrative console under Security > Secure administration,
applications, and infrastructure > Java Authentication and Authorization Service
> Application logins.
- WebSphere Application Server defines the following authentication methods:
- BasicAuth
- Authenticates user name and password.
- Signature
- Maps the subject distinguished name (DN) in the certificate to a WebSphere
Application Server credential.
- IDAssertion
- Maps the identity to a WebSphere Application Server credential.
- LTPA
- Authenticates a Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) token.
After identity authentication, the associated credential is
used in the downstream call.
- This method can be extended to authenticate custom security tokens by
providing a custom JAAS login configuration and by using the com.ibm.wsspi.wssecurity.auth.module.WSSecurityMappingModule to
create the principal and credential required by WebSphere Application Server.
- If LoginConfig (AuthMethod)
is defined in the IBM extension deployment descriptor (ibm-webservices-ext.xmi),
but there are no login mapping bindings (ibm-webservices-bnd.xmi)
defined for the AuthMethod, Web services security
run time uses the login mapping defined in the default binding information.
WebSphere
Application Server Network Deployment
When the WebSphere Application
Server is federated to a Network Deployment cell, the default binding file
(ws-security.xml) of the server is added to the new cell (with other
server level configuration information). If you use the cell-level default
binding, the entries of the server level default binding must be removed.
There
is a cell-level default binding (
ws-security.xml) for Network Deployment
installation. Furthermore, for Network Deployment installation server-level
binding is optional. To navigate to the cell-level default binding in the
administrative console, click
Security > Web Services.
Figure 1. Web
services security application-level, cell-level, and server-level default
binding information
The order of the default binding information is application-level
binding, server-level, and cell-level default binding.