Nonce is a randomly generated, cryptographic token that
is used to thwart the highjacking of Username tokens, which are used
with SOAP messages. Use nonce in conjunction with the basic authentication
(BasicAuth) method. You can configure nonce
for the application level by using the WebSphere® Application Server administrative console.
About this task
Important: The information 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 6.0.x and later applications.
You can configure nonce
at the application level, the server level, and cell level.
However, you must consider the order of precedence:
- Application level
- Server level
- Cell level
If you configure nonce on the application level and the
server level, the values specified for the application level take
precedence over the values specified for the server level.
Likewise, the values specified for the application
level take precedence over the values specified for the server level
and cell level.
- Connect to the administrative console.
Type http://server_name:port_number/ibm/console in your web browser unless you have changed the port number.
- Click .
- Under Manage modules, click URI_name.
- Under Web Services Security Properties, click Web services: Server security bindings.
- Click Edit under Request receiver
binding
- Under Additional properties, click .
- Specify (optional) a value, in seconds, for the Nonce maximum age field. This panel is optional
and only valid if the BasicAuth authentication method is specified.
If you specify another authentication method and attempt to specify
values for this field, the following error message displays and you
must remove the specified value:
Nonce is not supported for authentication methods other than
BasicAuth.
If you specify BasicAuth, but do not specify
values for the Nonce maximum age field, the
Web Services Security runtime searches for a nonce maximum age value
on the server level. If a value is not found on
the server level, the runtime searches the cell level. If a value
is not found on either the server level or the cell level, the default
is 300 seconds.
The value specified for the Nonce
maximum age field indicates how long the nonce is valid.
You must specify a minimum of 300 seconds; however, the value cannot
exceed the number of seconds that is specified for the Nonce cache timeout field for the server level. Nor can it exceed the number of seconds specified
for the Nonce cache timeout field for the cell
level.
You can specify the nonce cache timeout value for
the server level by completing the following steps:
- Click .
- Under Security, click JAX-WS and JAX-RPC security runtime.
Mixed-version environment: In a mixed node cell with a server using
Websphere Application Server version 6.1 or earlier, click
Web services: Default bindings for Web Services Security.
mixv
You can specify the nonce cache timeout
value for the cell level by clicking .
- Specify (optional) a value, in seconds, for the Nonce clock skew field. The value specified
for the Nonce clock skew field specifies the
amount of time, in seconds, to consider when the message receiver
checks the timeliness of the value. This panel is optional and only
valid if the BasicAuth authentication method is specified. If you
specify another authentication method and attempt to specify values
for this field, the following error message displays and you must
remove the specified value:
Nonce is not supported for authentication methods other than
BasicAuth.
If you specify BasicAuth, but
do not specify values for the Nonce clock skew field, the Web Services Security runtime searches for a Nonce clock
skew value on the server level. If a value is not
found on the server level, the runtime searches the cell level. If
a value is not found on either the server level or the cell level,
the default is 0 seconds.
Consider the following information
when you set this value:
- Difference in time between the message sender and the message
receiver if the clocks are not synchronized.
- Time needed to encrypt and transmit the message.
- Time needed to get through network congestion.
- Restart the server.