What is new for securing Web services

In WebSphere® Application Server Version 6.0.x, and later there are many security enhancements for Web services. The enhancements include supporting sections of the Web services security specifications and providing architectural support for plugging in and extending the capabilities of security tokens.

 

Enhancements from the supported Web services security specifications

Since September 2002, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) has been developing the Web Services Security (WSS) for SOAP message standard. In April 2004, OASIS released the Web Services security Version 1.0 specification, which is a major milestone for securing Web services. This specification is the foundation for other Web services security specifications and is also the basis for the Basic Security Profile (WS-I BSP) Version 1.0 work, which is a working draft. See Basic Security Profile for more information. Web services security Version 1.0 is a strategic move towards Web services security interoperability and it is the first step in the Web services security roadmap. For more information on the Web services security roadmap, see Security in a Web Services World: A Proposed Architecture and Roadmap.

WAS Version 6 supports the following specifications and profiles:

For details on what parts of the previous specifications are supported in WAS v6, see Supported functionality from OASIS specifications.

 

High level features overview in WAS Version 6.0.x and later

The Web Services Security for SOAP message Version 1.0 specification is designed to be flexible and accommodate the requirements of Web services. For example, the specification does not have a mandatory security token definition in the Web services security Version 1.0 specification. Rather the specification defines a generic mechanism to associate the security token with a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message. The use of security tokens is defined in the various security token profiles such as:

For more information on security token profile development at OASIS, see Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards.

Important: The wire format in the Web services security Version 1.0 specification changed and is not compatible with the previous drafts of the Web services security specification. It is not possible to make an implementation of the wire format using a previous draft of the Web services security specification to interoperate with the Web Services Security Version 1.0 specification.

Support for pluggable security tokens has been available since WAS Version 5.0.2. However, in WAS Version 6, the pluggable architecture is enhanced to support the Web services security Version 1.0 specification, other profiles, and other Web services security specifications. WAS Version 6 and later include the following key enhancements:

For more information on some of these enhancements, see Web services security enhancements.

 

Configuration

WAS Version 6 uses the deployment model for implementing the Web services security Version 1.0 specification, the Username token Version 1.0 profile, and the X.509 token Version 1.0 profile. The deployment model is an extension of the Web services deployment model for Java™ 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE). The Web services security constraints are defined in the IBM® extension deployment descriptor and the binding file based on the Web service port.

The format of the deployment descriptor and the binding file is IBM proprietary material and is not available. However, WAS provides the following tools that you can use to edit the deployment descriptor and the binding file:

Application Server Toolkit

You can use the Application Server Toolkit (AST), which is an assembly tool designer for WAS Version 6, to specify the deployment descriptor and the binding file for Web services security.

WAS Administrative Console

You can use the administrative console to configure the Web services security binding of a deployed application with Web services security constraints defined in the deployment descriptor.

Important: The format of the deployment descriptor and the binding file for Web services security in WAS Version 6.0.x and later is different from WAS Versions 5.0.2, 5.1, and 5.1.1. Web services security support in WAS Versions 5.0.2, 5.1, and 5.1.1 is based on the Web services security draft 13 specification and the username token draft 2 profile. Thus, this support is deprecated. However, applications that you configured using the Web service security Versions 5.0.2, 5.1, and 5.1.1 deployment descriptor and binding file can work with WAS 6 and later. These applications use a deployment descriptor and binding file that emit SOAP message security using the draft 13 specification format. The Web services security deployment descriptor and binding file for WAS Version 6.0.x and later is available for a J2EE Version 1.4 application only. Therefore, the Web services security Version 1.0 specification is supported for a J2EE Version 1.4 application only.

To take advantage of implementations associated with the Web services security Version 1.0 specification, :

Important: An automatic process does not exist for migrating the deployment descriptor and the binding file for Web services security from the version 5.0.2, 5.1, and 5.1.1 format to the new v6.0.x and later format using the Rational® Web Developer and Application Server Toolkit. You must migrate the configuration manually.

Important: The Web services security support in WAS Version 6.1 is based in part on the OASIS specification titled Web Services Security: X.509 Token Profile 1.0 plus the first errata (Errata 1.0).

 

What is not supported

Web service security is still fairly new and some of the standards are still being defined or standardized. The following functionality is not supported in WAS Version 6.0.x and later:

For information on what is supported for Web services security in WAS Version 6.0.x and later, see Supported functionality from OASIS specifications.

 

Related concepts

Web services security enhancements