Add an external repository in federated repository

Follow this task to add an external repository into a federated repository configuration.

1. If the external repository to add to your federated repository configuration is previously configured, select the corresponding Repository on the Repository reference panel. To access the Repository reference panel...

   1. Click Security > Global security.

   2. Under User account repository, select Federated repositories from the Available realm definitions field and click Configure. To configure for a specific domain in a multiple security domain environment, click Security domains > domain_name. Under Security Attributes, expand User Realm, and click Customize for this domain. Select the Realm type as Federated repositories and then click Configure.

   3. Click Add base entry to realm.

   4. In the Repository field, select an external repository.

2. Enter a distinguished name for the realm base entry in the Distinguished name of a base entry that uniquely identifies this set of entries in the realm field. This base entry must uniquely identify the external repository in the realm. If multiple repositories are included in the realm, use this field to define an additional distinguished name (DN) that uniquely identifies this set of entries within the realm. For example, repositories LDAP1 and LDAP2 might both use o=ibm,c=us as the base entry in the repository. Use the DN in this field to uniquely identify this set of entries in the realm. For example: o=ibm,c=us for LDAP1 and o=ibm2,c=us for LDAP2. The specified DN in this field maps to the LDAP DN of the base entry within the repository.

3. Enter the DN of the base entry within the repository in the Distinguished name of a base entry in this repository field. The base entry indicates the starting point for searches in this repository. This entry and its descendents are mapped to the subtree that is identified by this unique base name entry field. For example, for a user with a DN of cn=John Doe, ou=Rochester, o=IBM, c=US, specify the base entry as any of the following options:

   ou=Rochester, o=IBM, c=us or o=IBM, c=us or c=us

   In most cases, this DN is the same as the distinguished name for the realm base entry.

   If this field is left blank, then the subtree defaults to the root of the repository. Consult the repository administrator to determine if the repository provides support to search from the root, or create users and groups under the root without defining a suffix beforehand.

   In WebSphere Application Server, the distinguished name is normalized according to the repository specification. Normalization consists of removing spaces in the base distinguished name before or after commas and equal symbols. An example of a non-normalized base distinguished name is o = ibm, c = us or o=ibm, c=us. An example of a normalized base distinguished name is o=ibm,c=us.

4. If the repository to add to the realm is not previously configured...

   1. Click Add Repository on the Repository reference panel to configure the external repository. See step 1 to access the Repository reference panel.

   2. Configure the fields on the repository configuration panel, as described in Configure Lightweight Directory Access Protocol in federated repository, Add a file-based repository to a federated repositories configuration, or Add a custom repository to a federated repositories configuration.

   3. Select the new Repository on the Repository reference panel.

5. Click OK.

Results

You have added a new or previously configured external repository into the federated repository configuration.

What to do next

1. Before we can manage this account with Users and Groups, configure supported entity types as described in Configure supported entity types in federated repository.

2. After configuring the federated repositories, click Security > Global security to return to the Global security panel. Verify that Federated repositories is identified in the Current realm definition field. If Federated repositories is not identified, select Federated repositories from the Available realm definitions field and click Set as current. To verify the federated repositories configuration, click Apply on the Global security panel. If Federated repositories is not identified in the Current realm definition field, the federated repositories configuration is not used by WebSphere Application Server.

3. If we are enabling security, complete the remaining steps as specified in Enable security for the realm. As the final step, validate this setup by clicking Apply in the Global security panel.

4. Save, stop, and restart all the product servers (deployment managers, nodes and Application Servers) for changes in this panel to take effect. If the server comes up without any problems, the setup is correct.