Interoperating with previous product versions

IBM WAS inter-operates with the previous product versions. Use this topic to configure this behavior.

The current release of the appserver distinguishes the identities of the user who acts as an administrator, managing the appserver environment, from the identity of the user used for authenticating between servers. In prior releases, the end user had to specify a server user ID and password as the user identity for authenticating between servers. In the current release of the appserver, the server user ID is generated automatically and internally; however, the end user can specify that the server user ID and password not be automatically generated. This option is especially important in the case of a mixed-release cell, where the server user ID and password are specified in a down-level version of the appserver. In such a scenario, the end user should opt out of automatically generating the server user ID and instead use the server user ID and password specified in the down-level version of the appserver, in order to ensure backwards compatibility. Interoperability is achieved only when the LTPA authentication mechanism and a distributed user registry is used such as LDAP or a distributed Custom user registry. LocalOS on most platforms is not considered a distributed user registry (except on z/OS within the z/OS environment).

Also, the SWAM cannot be used for interoperability as it does not contain credentials that can be forwarded outside of the existing process.

SWAM was deprecated in WAS. V7.0 and will be removed in a future release.

 

1. Set WAS V7.0 with the same distributed user registry (that is, LDAP or Custom) configured with the previous version. Make sure that the same LDAP user registry is shared by all of WAS versions.

   1. In the admin console, select Security > Global security.

   2. Choose an available Realm definition and click Configure.

   3. Enter a Primary administrative user name. This identity is the user with admin privileges that is defined in the local operating system. If not using the local OS ad the user registry, select the Server identity that is stored in the user repository, enter the Server user ID, and the associated password. The user name is used to log on to the admin console when administrative security is enabled. WAS V6.1 requires an admin user that is distinct from the server user identity so that administrative actions can be audited.

      In WAS, Vs 5.x and 6.0.x, a single user identity is required for both administrative access and internal process communication. When migrating to Version 7.0, this identity is used as the server user identity. we need to specify another user for the admin user identity.

   4. When interoperating with V6.0.x or previous versions, select the Server identity that is stored in the user repository. Enter the Server user id and the associated Password.

2. Set the LTPA authentication mechanism. Automatic generation of the LTPA keys should be disabled. If not, keys used by a previous release are lost. Export the current LTPA keys from WAS V 7.0 and import them into the previous release.

   1. In the admin console select Security > Global security.

   2. From Authentication mechanisms and expiration, click LTPA.

   3. Click the Key set groups link , then click the key set group that displays in the Key set groups panel.

   4. Clear the Automatically generate keys check box.

   5. Click OK, then click Authentication mechanisms and expiration in the path at the top of the Key set groups panel.

   6. Scroll down to the Cross-cell single sign-on section, and enter a password to use for encrypting the LTPA keys when adding them to the file.

   7. Enter the password again to confirm the password.

   8. Enter the Fully qualified key file name that contains the exported keys.

   9. Click Export keys.

   10. Follow the instructions provided in the previous release to import the exported LTPA keys into that configuration.

3. If using the default SSL configuration, extract all of the signer certificates from the WAS V 7.0 common trust store. Otherwise, extract signers where necessary to import them into the previous release.

   1. In the admin console, click Security > SSL certificate and key management.

   2. Click Key stores and certificates.

   3. Click CellDefaultTrustStore.

   4. Click Signer certificates.

   5. Select one signer and click Extract.

   6. Enter a unique path and filename for the signer. For example, /tmp/signer1.arm.

   7. Click OK. Repeat for all of the signers in the trust store.

   8. Check other trust stores for other signers that might need to be shared with the other server. Repeat steps e through h to extract the other signers.

   We can also import a signer certificate, which is also called a certificate authority (CA) certificate, from a truststore on a non-z/OS platform server to a z/OS keyring. the z/OS keyring contains the signer certificates that originated on the non-z/OS platform server.

   See

4. Add the exported signers to DummyServerTrustFile.jks and DummyClientTrustFile.jks in the /etc directory of the back-level product version. If the previous release is not using the dummy certificate, the signer certificate(s) from the previous release must be extracted and added into the WAS V7.0 release to enable SSL connectivity in both directions.

   1. Open the key management utility, iKeyman, for that product version.

   2. Start ikeyman.bat or ikeyman.sh from the ${USER_INSTALL_ROOT}/bin directory.

   3. Select Key Database File > Open.

   4. Open ${USER_INSTALL_ROOT}/etc/DummyServerTrustFile.jks.

   5. Enter WebAS for the password.

   6. Select Add and enter one of the files extracted in step 2. Continue until we have added all of the signers.

   7. Repeat steps c through f for the DummyClientTrustFile.jks file.

5. Verify that the application uses the correct JNDI name and naming bootstrap port for performing a naming lookup.

6. Stop and restart all of the servers.