Network Deployment (Distributed operating systems), v8.0 > Secure applications and their environment > Authenticate users > Single sign-on for authentication
Single sign-on for authentication using LTPA cookies
With single sign-on (SSO) support, web users can authenticate once when accessing both WAS resources, such as HTML, JSP files, servlets, enterprise beans, and Lotus Domino resources, such as documents in a Domino database, or accessing resources in multiple WAS domains.
Application servers distributed in multiple nodes and cells can securely communicate using the Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) protocol. LTPA is intended for distributed, multiple application server and machine environments. LTPA can support security in a distributed environment through cryptography. This support permits LTPA to encrypt, digitally sign, and securely transmit authentication-related data, and later decrypt and verify the signature.
LTPA also provides the SSO feature wherein a user is required to authenticate only once in a DNS domain and can access resources in other WAS cells without getting prompted. Web users can authenticate once to a WAS or to a Domino server. This authentication is accomplished by configuring WASs and the Domino servers to share authentication information.
Without logging in again, web users can access other WASs or Domino servers in the same DNS domain that are enabled for SSO. We can enable SSO among WASs by configuring SSO for WAS.
To enable SSO between WASs and Domino servers, configure SSO for both WAS and for Domino.
Prerequisites and conditions
To take advantage of support for SSO between WASs or between WAS and a Domino server, applications must meet the following prerequisites and conditions:
- Verify that all servers are configured as part of the same DNS domain. The realm names on each system in the DNS domain are case sensitive and must match identically. For example, if the DNS domain is specified as mycompany.com, then SSO is effective with any Domino server or WAS on a host that is part of the mycompany.com domain, for example, a.mycompany.com and b.mycompany.com.
- Verify that all servers share the same registry.
This registry can be either a supported LDAP directory server or, if SSO is configured between two WASs, a stand-alone custom registry. Domino servers do not support stand-alone custom registries, but you can use a Domino-supported registry as a stand-alone custom registry within WAS.
We can use a Domino directory that is configured for LDAP access or other LDAP directories for the registry. The LDAP directory product must have WAS support. Supported products include both Domino and LDAP servers, such as IBM Tivoli Directory Server. Regardless of the choice to use an LDAP or a stand-alone custom registry, the SSO configuration is the same. The difference is in the configuration of the registry.
- Define all users in a single LDAP directory. Using multiple Domino directory assistance documents to access multiple directories also is not supported.
- Enable HTTP cookies in browsers because the authentication information that is generated by the server is transported to the browser in a cookie. The cookie is used to propagate the authentication information for the user to other servers, exempting the user from entering the authentication information for every request to a different server.
- For a Domino server:
- Domino Release 6.5.4 for iSeries and other platforms are supported.
- A Lotus Notes client Release 5.0.5 or later is required for configuring the Domino server for SSO.
- We can share authentication information across multiple Domino domains.
- For WAS:
- WAS v3.5 or later for all platforms are supported.
- We can use any HTTP web server that is supported by WAS.
- We can share authentication information across multiple product administrative domains.
- Basic authentication (user ID and password) using the basic and form-login mechanisms is supported.
Form-login mechanisms for web applications require that SSO is enabled.
- By default, WAS does a case-sensitive comparison for authorization. This comparison implies that a user who is authenticated by Domino matches the entry exactly (including the base distinguished name) in the WAS authorization table. If case sensitivity is not considered for the authorization, enable the Ignore Case property in the LDAP user registry settings.
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