Web authentication settings
Use this page to specify the web authentication settings associated with a web client. To view this console page:
- Click Security > Global security > Authentication, expand Web and SIP security and click General settings.
(iseries)(dist) We can override the global Web authentication settings selected on this panel by specifying one or more of the following system properties on the server level. Specify one of these system properties:
- Click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server_name.
- Under Server infrastructure, click Java and Process Management > Process definition.
- Under Additional properties, click Java Virtual Machine > Custom Properties > New.
(zos) We can override the global Web authentication settings selected on this panel by specifying one or more of the following system properties for the controller and the servant. Specify one of these system properties for the controller:
- Click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server_name.
- Under Server infrastructure, click Java and Process Management > Process definition.
- Under Additional properties, click Java Virtual Machine > Custom properties > New
(zos) Specify one of these system properties for the servant:
- Click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server_name.
- Under Server infrastructure, click Java and Process Management > Process definition.
- Under Additional properties, click Java Virtual Machine > Custom properties > New
values. This table lists the web authentication system
Property name Value Explanation com.ibm.wsspi.security.web.webAuthReq lazy This value is equivalent to the Authenticate only when the URI is protected option. We can set webAuthReq differently through the console or scripting when using a global or a security domain, but the global level always takes precedence.
com.ibm.wsspi.security.web.webAuthReq persisting This value is equivalent to the Use available authentication data when an unprotected URI is accessed option. com.ibm.wsspi.security.web.webAuthReq always This value is equivalent to the Authenticate when any URI is accessed option. com.ibm.wsspi.security.web.failOverToBasicAuth true This value is equivalent to the Default to basic authentication when certificate authentication for the HTTPS client fails option.
Authenticate only when the URI is protected
The application server challenges the web client to provide authentication data when the web client accesses a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that is protected by a Java EE role. The authenticated identity is available only when the web client accesses a protected URI.
This option is the default Java EE web authentication behavior that is also available in previous releases of WAS.
When you select this option, the console login page is missing images. We might encounter the following error in the console: "CWLAA6003: Could not display the portlet, the portlet may not be started. Check the error logs".
The missing images and the error message are a side-effect of this option. The images do not display because the URIs for the images now need authentication, which requires you to log in. We can ignore this error message.
Information Value Default: Enabled
Use available authentication data when an unprotected URI is accessed
The web client can access validated authenticated data that it previously could not access. This option enables the web client to call the getRemoteUser, isUserInRole, and getUserPrincipal methods to retrieve an authenticated identity from an unprotected URI.
When you select this option with the Authenticate only when the URI is protected option, the web client can use authenticated data when the URI is protected or not protected.
When this option is selected and Form-based authentication is being used, a WASPostParam cookie is generated during the authentication procedure of the HTTP POST request even if the target URL is unprotected. A WASPOSTParam cookie is a temporary cookie used to store HTTP POST parameters. This results in the Web client being sent the unnecessary cookie with an HTTP response. This might cause unexpected behavior when the size of the cookie is larger than the browser limit. To avoid this behavior, a custom property, com.ibm.websphere.security.util.postParamMaxCookieSize can be set to cause the security code to stop generating the cookie if the maximum size is reached.
Important: This option does not challenge the web client to provide authenticated data if the web client accesses an unprotected URI without authenticated data.
Information Value Default: Enabled
Authenticate when any URI is accessed
The web client must provide authentication data regardless of whether the URI is protected.
Information Value Default: Disabled
Default to basic authentication when certificate authentication for the HTTPS client fails
When the required HTTPS client certificate authentication fails, the application server uses the basic authentication method to challenge the web client to provide a user ID and password.
The HTTP client certification authentication performed by the application server security is different from the client authentication performed by the web server plug-in. If we configure the web server plug-in for mutual authentication and client authentication fails, the following situations will occur:
- The web server produces a error and the web request is not processed by application server security.
- The application server cannot fail over to basic authentication.
Information Value Default: Disabled
Related
Servlet security methods