Manage LTPA keys from multiple WAS cells

We can specify the shared keys and configure the authentication mechanism used to exchange information between servers to import and export LTPA keys across multiple WAS cells. You must be sure that the exported key file for the multiple cells is accessible on the host where WAS is running. Also, know the password that was used when the keys were exported.

You should disable automatic key generation if we import or export keys to or from another cell. This disabling causes the imported keys to get lost and the exported keys to no longer interoperate with this cell over time.

At runtime, the default key sets are CellLTPASecret and CellLTPAKeyPair. The default key group is CellLTPAKeySetGroup. After generation, keys are stored in the default key store CellLTPAKeys.

Complete the following steps to manage LTPA keys using the admin console.

 

1. Access the admin console.

   Type http://fully_qualified_host_name:port_number/ibm/console to access the admin console in a Web browser.

2. Verify that all of the WAS processes are running, including cells, nodes, and all of the appservers. If any of the servers are down at the time of key generation and then brought back up later, these servers might contain old keys. Copy the new set of keys to these servers, then bring them back up.

3. Click Security > Global security > Authentication mechanisms and expiration.

4. Click LTPA.

5. Type the password for the LTPA keys in the field.

   Enter a password used to encrypt and decrypt the LTPA keys from the SSO properties file. During import, this password should match the password used to export the keys at another LTPA server. During export, remember this password in order to provide it during the import operation.

6. Type the password again in the Confirm password field.

7. Select from among the following options:

   • To support SSO in the WebSphere product across multiple appserver domains (cells), we can share the LTPA keys and the password among the domains. Before exporting, make sure that security is enabled and using LTPA on the system that is running.

     See Exporting Lightweight Third Party Authentication keys.

   • To support SSO in the appserver product across multiple application server domains (cells), we can share the LTPA keys and the password among the domains.

     See Importing Lightweight Third Party Authentication keys.

   • To import LTPA keys for the current cell if they were previously exported, see Importing Lightweight Third Party Authentication keys.

8. Start the server again for any changes you make to become active.

 

Results

The shared LTPA keys are now available for WAS to use for secure connections.

 

Next steps

After the keys are generated or imported, they are used to encrypt and decrypt the LTPA token. To view the latest key version, see Change the number of active LTPA keys.

Lightweight Third Party Authentication key sets and key set groups

 

Related tasks

Exporting Lightweight Third Party Authentication keys
Importing Lightweight Third Party Authentication keys
Disable automatic generation of Lightweight Third Party Authentication keys
Change the number of active LTPA keys