Set inbound transports

By using this configuration, we can configure a different transport for inbound security versus outbound security. Inbound transports refer to the types of listener ports and their attributes that are opened to receive requests for this server. Both Common Secure Interoperability Specification, V2 (CSIv2) and Secure Authentication Service (SAS) have the ability to configure the transport.

SAS is supported only between V6.0.x and previous version servers that have been federated in a V6.1 cell.

However, the following differences between the two protocols exist:

• CSIv2 is much more flexible than SAS, which requires SSL); CSIv2 does not require SSL.

• SAS does not support SSL client certificate authentication, while CSIv2 does.

• CSIv2 can require SSL connections, while SAS only supports SSL connections.

• SAS always has two listener ports open: TCP/IP and SSL.

• CSIv2 can have as few as one listener port and as many as three listener ports. We can open one port for just TCP/IP or when SSL is required. We can open two ports when SSL is supported, and open three ports when SSL and SSL client certificate authentication is supported.

Complete the following steps to configure the Inbound transport panels in the admin console:

 

1. Click...
   Security | Global security

2. Under RMI/IIOP security, click CSIv2 inbound communications.

3. Under Transport, select We can choose to use either SSL, TCP/IP or both as the inbound transport that a server supports. If we specify TCP/IP, the server only supports TCP/IP and cannot accept SSL connections. If we specify SSL-supported, this server can support either TCP/IP or SSL connections. If we specify SSL-required, then any server communicating with this one must use SSL.

   This option is not available on the z/OS platform unless there are both V6.0.x and earlier nodes in the cell.

4. Click Apply.

5. Consider fixing the listener ports that you configured.

   You complete this action in a different panel, but think about this action now. Most endpoints are managed at a single location, which is why they do not display in the Inbound transport panels. Managing end points at a single location helps you decrease the number of conflicts in the configuration when you assign the endpoints. The location for SSL end points is at each server.

   The following port names are defined in the End points panel and are used for Object Request Broker (ORB) security:

   • CSIV2_SSL_MUTUALAUTH_LISTENER_ADDRESS - CSIv2 Client Authentication SSL Port
   • CSIV2_SSL_SERVERAUTH_LISTENER_ADDRESS - CSIv2 SSL Port
   • SAS_SSL_SERVERAUTH_LISTENER_ADDRESS - SAS SSL Port

   • ORB_LISTENER_PORT - TCP/IP Port

   For an appserver ...

   Servers > Application servers > myserver. Under Communications, click Ports. The Ports panel is displayed for the specified server.

   For a node agent, go to System administration > Node agents > mynode. Under Additional properties, click Ports. The Ports panel for the node agent and dmgr already are fixed, but we might consider reassigning the ports. For the dmgr, click System Administration > Deployment manager. Under Additional properties, click Ports.

   The (ORB) on WAS uses a listener port for RMI/IIOP communications, and is statically specified using configuration dialogs or during migration. If working with a firewall, specify a static port for the ORB listener and open that port on the firewall so that communication can pass through the specified port. The endPoint property for setting the ORB listener port is: ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS. In the WAS ND environment, the ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS end point is specified on the node agent. The location service daemon resides on the node agent and piggybacks onto the ORB listener port, which results in needing the port fixed. Also, add the ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS to the other appservers to set their ORB listener port. Each ORB has a distinct listener port. In WAS ND, specify a different listener port. For example, we might specify the following ports:

   • Node agent: ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS=9000

   • Server1: ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS=9811

   • Server2: ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS=9812

   Federated servers can run without the node agent running. When ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS is set to a value of zero (0) or greater, the server does not depend on the location service daemon to redirect connections to the server. When you set ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS, all object references in the namespace specify the connection to the server, not the location service daemon. When the server is running without the node agent, all applications must be accessed through the name server that runs on the application server. The client must change the Java Naming Directory Interface (JNDI) reference to use the host and port of the appserver.

   
   

   Table 1. ORB_LISTESNER_ADDRESS

   ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS
   value = 0	The server starts on any available port and does not use the location service daemon.
   value > 0	The server starts on the port specified by the value you enter. The location service daemon is not used.

   Work load management might not work without the node agent running.

   Complete the following steps using the admin console to specify the ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS port or ports.

   Complete the following steps for the node agent and the dmgr.

   1. Click Servers > Application Servers > myserver. Under Communications, click Ports > New.

   2. Select ORB_LISTENER_ADDRESS from the Port name field in the Configuration panel.

   3. Enter the IP address, the fully qualified Domain Name System (DNS) host name, or the DNS host name by itself in the Host field.

      For example, if the host name is myhost, the fully qualified DNS name can be myhost.myco.com and the IP address can be 155.123.88.201.

   4. Enter the port number in the Port field.

      The port number specifies the port for which the service is configured to accept client requests. The port value is used with the host name. Using the previous example, the port number might be 9000.

6. Click...
   Security | Global security
   Under RMI/IIOP security, click CSIv2 inbound communications. Select the SSL settings that are used for inbound requests from CSIv2 clients, and then click Apply. Remember that the CSIv2 protocol is used to inter-operate with previous releases. When configuring the keystore and truststore files in the SSL configuration, these files need the right information for inter-operating with previous releases of WAS.

 

Results

The inbound transport configuration is complete. With this configuration, we can configure a different transport for inbound security versus outbound security. For example, if the application server is the first server used by users, the security configuration might be more secure. When requests go to back-end enterprise bean servers, we might lessen the security for performance reasons when you go outbound. With this flexibility we can design the right transport infrastructure to meet the needs.

 

Next steps

When you finish configuring security, perform the following steps to save, synchronize, and restart the servers:

1. Click Save in the admin console to save any modifications to the configuration.

2. Synchronize the configuration with all node agents.

3. Stop and restart all servers, when synchronized.

CSIv2 transport inbound settings
Secure Authentication Service inbound transport settings

 

Related tasks

Set inbound messages
Set outbound messages
Set CSIV2 inbound and outbound communication settings

 

Related

Ports settings