Tivoli Access Manager integration as the JACC provider

 

Tivoli Access Manager uses the Java Authorization Contract for Container (JACC) model in WAS to perform access checks. Tivoli Access Manager consists of the following components:

• Run time

• Client configuration

• Authorization table support

• Access check

• Authentication using the PDLoginModule module

Tivoli Access Manager run-time changes that are used to support JACC

For the run-time changes, Tivoli Access Manager implements the PolicyConfigurationFactory and the PolicyConfiguration interfaces, as required by JACC. During the application installation, the security policy information in the deployment descriptor and the authorization table information in the binding files are propagated to the Tivoli provider using these interfaces. The Tivoli provider stores the policy and the authorization table information in the Tivoli Access Manager policy server by calling the respective Tivoli Access Manager application programming interfaces (API).

Tivoli Access Manager also implements the RoleConfigurationFactory and the RoleConfiguration interfaces. These interfaces are used to ensure that the authorization table information is passed to the provider with the policy information. See Interfaces that support JACC for more information about these interfaces.

Tivoli Access Manager client configuration

To configure the Tivoli Access Manager client, you can use either the console or wsadmin scripting. You can access the console panels for the Tivoli Access Manager client configuration by clicking Security > Secure administration, applications, and infrastructure > External authorization providers. Under Related Items, click External JACC provider. The Tivoli client must be set up to use the Tivoli Access Manager JACC Provider.

For more information about how to configure the Tivoli Access Manager client, see Tivoli Access Manager JACC provider configuration.

Authorization table support

Tivoli Access Manager uses the RoleConfiguration interface to ensure that the authorization table information is passed to the Tivoli Access Manager provider when the application is installed or deployed. When an application is deployed or edited, the set of users and groups for the user or group-to-role mapping are obtained from the Tivoli Access Manager server, which shares the same LDAP server as WebSphere Application Server. This sharing is accomplished by plugging into the application management users or groups-to-role console panels. The management APIs are called to obtain users and groups rather than relying on the WebSphere Application Server-configured LDAP registry.

The user or group-to-role mapping is on the application level, not on the node level.

Access check

When WAS is configured to use the JACC provider for Tivoli Access Manager , it passes the information to Tivoli Access Manager to make the access decision. The Tivoli Access Manager policy implementation queries the local replica of the access control list (ACL) database for the access decision.

Authentication using the PDLoginModule module

The custom login module in WAS can do the authentication. This login module is plugged in before the WAS-provided login modules. The custom login modules can provide information that can be stored in the Subject. If the required information is stored, no additional registry calls are made to obtain that information. As part of the JACC integration, the Tivoli Access Manager-provided PDLoginModule module is also used to plug into WAS for both Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) and Simple WebSphere Authentication Mechanism (SWAM) authentication. The PDLoginModule module is modified to authenticate with the user ID or password. The module is also used to fill in the required attributes in the Subject so that no registry calls are made by the login modules in WAS. The information that is placed in the Subject is available for the Tivoli Access Manager policy object to use for access checking.

SWAM is deprecated in WebSphere Application Server V6.1 and will be removed in a future release.

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Related concepts

Authorization providers
JACC providers
JACC support in WAS
Authorization providers

 

Related tasks

Enabling an external JACC provider
Authorizing access to J2EE resources using Tivoli Access Manager
Propagating security policy of installed applications to a JACC provider using wsadmin scripting

 

Related Reference

Interfaces that support JACC
Security authorization provider troubleshooting tips

 

Related information

IBM Tivoli Access Manager for e-business information center