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TAM integration as the JACC provider


TAM uses the Java Authorization Contract for Container (JACC) model in WAS to perform access checks.

TAM consists of the following components:

TAM run-time changes that are used to support JACC

For the run-time changes, TAM 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 TAM policy server by calling the respective TAM APIs.

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

TAM client configuration

To configure the TAM client, we can use either the admin console or wsadmin scripting. We can access the admin console panels for the TAM client configuration by clicking...

Security | Global security | External authorization providers | Related Items | External JACC provider

The Tivoli client must be set up to use the TAM JACC Provider.

Authorization table support

TAM uses the RoleConfiguration interface to verify the authorization table information is passed to the TAM 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 TAM server, which shares the same LDAP server as WAS. This sharing is accomplished by plugging into the application management users or groups-to-role admin console panels. The management APIs are called to obtain users and groups rather than relying on the WAS-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 TAM , it passes the information to TAM to make the access decision. The TAM 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 TAM-provided PDLoginModule module is also used to plug into WAS for LTPA, Kerberos (KRB5) 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 TAM policy object to use for access checking.

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

When using Kerberos authentication mechanism and TAM, TAM loginModule creates the PDPrincipal without first going through the TAM authentication process. Also when using Kerberos authentication mechanism and TAM, the TAM policy is not enforced in WAS Version 7.0.


 

Related concepts


Authorization providers
JACC providers
JACC support in WAS
Authorization providers

 

Related tasks


Enable an external JACC provider
Authorizing access to J2EE resources using TAM
Propagating security policy of installed applications to a JACC provider using wsadmin scripting

 

Related


Interfaces that support JACC
Security authorization provider troubleshooting tips

 

Related information


IBM TAM for e-business information center