Configure a service provider to share its policy configuration
A WebSphere Application Server service provider can share its policy configuration in published Web Services Description Language (WSDL), or WSDL that is obtained by using an HTTP GET request or the Web Services Metadata Exchange (WS-MetadataExchange) GetMetadata request.
You have developed a web services service provider containing all the necessary artifacts and deployed the web services application into the application server instance. You have attached the policy sets and managed the associated bindings.
For a list of WS-Policy assertion specifications and WS-Policy domains that are supported, see the topic about learning about WS-Policy.
We can make the policy configuration of a JAX-WS service endpoint available to share in the following ways:
- Include the policy configuration of the service provider in the WSDL. The WSDL is then available to publish, or to obtain by using an HTTP GET request.
- Enable the Web Services Metadata Exchange (WS-MetadataExchange) protocol so that the policy configuration of the service provider is included in the WSDL and is available to a WS-MetadataExchange GetMetadata request. An advantage of using the WS-MetadataExchange protocol is that we can apply message-level security to WS-MetadataExchange GetMetadata requests by using a suitable system policy set.
If the service provider application uses multipart WSDL, all the WSDL must be local to the web service application. For more information about multipart WSDL, see the topic about WSDL.
We must configure a service provider to share its policy configuration because by default the policy configuration is not available in its WSDL. We can configure the service provider to include the policy configuration in its WSDL, to use WS-MetadataExchange so that the policy configuration is available, or both. This topic describes how to configure a service provider to share its policy configuration by using wsadmin commands. We can also use the administrative console or Rational Application Developer tools.
We can configure a service provider to share its policy configuration at application or service level. The policy configuration that is represented by the policy sets attached to any lower levels will also be shared. Policy sets that are attached at lower levels override the policy set configuration attached at a higher level.
- Start the wsadmin scripting client if it is not already running.
- Use the SetProviderPolicySharingInfo command. For example:
AdminTask.setProviderPolicySharingInfo('[-applicationName WebServiceProviderApplication -resource WebService:/WebServiceProvider.war:{http://example_path/}Service1 -sharePolicyMethods [httpGet ]]')
- Save the changes to the master configuration.
To save the configuration changes, enter the following command:
AdminConfig.save()
Results
The policy configuration of the service provider is available to its clients. The WSDL of the service provider contains the current policy configuration in WS-PolicyAttachments format so that it is available to other clients, service registries, or services that support the Web Services Policy (WS-Policy) specification.If the policy configuration cannot be shared, an error that describes the problem is written to the service provider error log, and the following policy is attached to the WSDL of the service provider:
<wsp:Policy> <wsp:ExactlyOne> </wsp:ExactlyOne> </wsp:Policy>This policy notifies the client that there is no acceptable policy configuration for the service. Other aspects of the WSDL are unaffected.A service provider might not be able to share its policy configuration because the configuration cannot be expressed in the standard WS-PolicyAttachments format. One reason might be because multiple incompatible policies are defined for a particular attach point. Another reason might be because there is not enough binding information to generate the standard policy. Policy configuration might include bootstrap policy, for example, the policy to access a WS-Trust service, so the bootstrap policy must also be expressed in WS-PolicyAttachments format.
What to do next
Optionally, we can publish the WSDL files.
Subtopics
- setProviderPolicySharingInfo command
Use the setProviderPolicySharingInfo command to set how an application or service that is a web service provider can share its policy configuration with other clients, service registries, or services that support the WS-Policy specification. We can set or remove this information about how a provider policy is shared.
- getProviderPolicySharingInfo command
Use the getProviderPolicySharingInfo command to find out whether an application or service that is a web service provider can share its policy configuration, and list the properties that apply to sharing that configuration.
Related concepts
Web service providers and policy configuration sharing WS-Policy WS-MetadataExchange requests WSDL
Related tasks
Use WS-Policy to exchange policies in a standard format Configure security for a WS-MetadataExchange request Deploy web services applications onto application servers Configure the client policy to use a service provider policy by Publish WSDL files View WSDL documents for service providers using the administrative console Start the wsadmin scripting client
WS-Policy commands (AdminTask) setProviderPolicySharingInfo command