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Define and manage policy set bindings

Policy set bindings contain platform specific information, like keystore, authentication information or persistent information, required by a policy set attachment. Use this task to create and manage bindings.

In Version 7.0 and later, there are two types of bindings, application specific bindings and general bindings.

Application specific bindings

We can create application specific bindings only at a policy set attachment point. These bindings are specific to and constrained to the characteristics of the defined policy. Application specific bindings are capable of providing configuration for advanced policy requirements, such as multiple signatures; however, these bindings are only reusable within an application. Furthermore, application specific bindings have very limited reuse across policy sets.

When creating an application specific binding for a policy set attachment, the binding begins in a completely unconfigured state. We must add each policy, such as WS-Security or HTTP transport, to override the default binding and fully configure the bindings for each policy that we have added. For WS-Security policy, some high level configuration attributes such as TokenConsumer, TokenGenerator, SigningInfo, or EncryptionInfo might be obtained from the default bindings if they are not configured in the application specific bindings.

For service providers, we can only create application specific bindings by selecting Assign Binding > New Application Specific Binding for service provider resources that have an attached policy set. See service providers policy sets and bindings collection. Similarly, for service clients, we can only create application specific bindings by selecting Assign Binding > New Application Specific Binding for service client resources that have an attached policy set. See service client policy set and bindings collection.

General bindings

General bindings were introduced in Version 7.0. These bindings can be configured to be used across a range of policy sets and can be reused across applications and for trust service attachments. Though general bindings are highly reusable, they are however not able to provide configuration for advanced policy requirements, such as multiple signatures. There are two types of general bindings:

We can create general provider policy set bindings by accessing Services > Policy sets > General provider policy set bindings > New in the general provider policy sets panel or by accessing Services > Policy sets > General client policy set bindings > New in the general client policy set and bindings panel. See defining and managing service client or provider bindings. General provider policy set bindings might also be used for trust service attachments.

Important: The general bindings that are shipped with the product are provider and client sample bindings. These bindings are initially set as the cell default bindings. Do not use these bindings in their current state in a production environment. To use the sample bindings, modify them to meet the security needs in a production environment. Alternatively, create a copy of the bindings and then modify the copy. For example, change the key and keystore settings to ensure security, and modify other settings to match the environment. We must also configure the username and password for Username or LTPA token authentication. See the topic Configuring the username and password for WS-Security Username or LTPA token authentication for more information.

Depending on the assigned security role when security is enabled, you might not have access to text entry fields or buttons to create or edit configuration data. Review the administrative roles documentation to learn more about the valid roles for the application server.

To view or work with the current policy sets bindings, perform the following:

  1. To view the current policy set and application specific bindings from the administrative console, click Services > Policy sets > Application policy sets >policy_set_name > Attached applications and then click an application.

    Depending on the application selected, we can manage the bindings attached to the following policy sets:

    • Service provider policy sets and bindings

    • Service client policy sets and bindings

    To learn more about managing the bindings attached to policy sets, see the service provider or service client policy sets and bindings information.

    Sort on the Attached policy set column on either of the policy sets and bindings pages to select the service resources with the same policy set attached. Likewise, sort on the Binding column to select the service resources that share the same custom binding to attach to a different policy set. If we sort on the Policy Set or the Binding column, the hierarchical relationship of the service resources in the first column is not accurate. We can sort again on the Application/Service/Endpoint/Operation column to restore the hierarchical relationship. The entries in the Application/Service/Endpoint/Operation column display in ascending order.

  2. To work with an existing bindings from the administrative console, click Services > Policy sets > Application policy sets >policy_set_name > Attached applications. Click an application name, and then click either the Service provider policy sets and bindings or the Service client policy sets and bindings. Then click a binding name in the Bindings column of the table.

    If no applications appear when you click Attached applications, we do not have any applications attached to the selected policy set. To attach a policy set and binding to an application using the administrative console, click Applications > Enterprise Applications > application name. Then, click either Service provider policy sets and bindings or Server client policy sets and bindings to attach resources to the policy set and to assign bindings. .

  3. [Optional] To work with general bindings, click Services > Policy sets > General client policy set bindings or Services > Policy sets > General provider policy set bindings.

    We can complete the following actions for general bindings:


Results

When you finish this task, you would have performed one or more of the following:


Subtopics

  • Create new or configuring existing general binding settings
  • Keys and certificates
  • WS-Security authentication and protection
  • Administrative roles
  • Service client policy set and bindings collection
  • Service provider policy sets and bindings collection