Network Deployment (Distributed operating systems), v8.0 > Reference > Administrator best practices
Default authentication token
Do not use the default authentication token in service provider code. This default token is used by the WAS run-time code only and is authentication mechanism specific.
Any modifications to this token by service provider code can potentially cause interoperability problems. If create an authentication token for custom usage, see Implement a custom authentication token for security attribute propagation for more information.
Change the token factory that is associated with the default authentication token
When WAS generates a default authentication token, the application server utilizes the TokenFactory class specified using the com.ibm.wsspi.security.token.authenticationTokenFactory property.
To modify this property using the admin console...
- Click Security > Global security.
- Under Additional properties, click Custom properties.
The com.ibm.ws.security.ltpa.LTPATokenFactory token factory is the default for this property. The LTPATokenFactory token factory uses the DESede/ECB/PKCS5Padding cipher. This token factory creates an interoperable Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) token.
If you associate the com.ibm.ws.security.ltpa.LTPAToken2Factory token factory with the com.ibm.wsspi.security.token.authenticationTokenFactory property, the token is Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encrypted. However, weigh the performance against the security needs. You might add additional attributes to the authentication token in the Subject during a login that are available downstream.
If perform your own signing and encryption of the default authentication token, implement the following classes:
- com.ibm.wsspi.security.ltpa.Token
- com.ibm.wsspi.security.ltpa.TokenFactory
Your token factory implementation instantiates (createToken) and validates (validateTokenBytes) your token implementation. We can use the LTPA keys that are passed into the initialize method of the token factory or you can use your own keys. If you use your own keys, they must be the same everywhere to validate the tokens that are generated using those keys. See the API documentation, available through a link on the front page of the information center, for more information on implementing your own custom token factory.
To associate your token factory with the default authentication token using the admin console...
- Click Security > Global security.
- Under Additional properties, click Custom properties.
- Locate the com.ibm.wsspi.security.token.authenticationTokenFactory property and verify that the value of this property matches your custom token factory implementation.
- Verify that your implementation classes are put into the install_dir/classes directory so that the WAS class loader can load the classes.
Security attribute propagation
Propagate security attributes among application servers
Implement a custom authentication token for security attribute propagation