Service client settings
Use this administrative console page to manage the settings for the service clients. We can attach and detach policy sets to a service, its endpoints, or operations. We can select default bindings, create new application-specific bindings, or use existing bindings for an attached policy set. We can view or change whether the client uses the policy of the service provider.
This service client page displays configuration information for a service client and the associated endpoints and operations. We can view and manage policy set attachments, bindings information, and whether the client uses the policy of the service provider.
The Application and Module links provide access to the application and module settings page.
To view this administrative console page, click Services > Service clients > service_client_instance.
We can also view this page by clicking Applications > Application Types > WebSphere enterprise applications > service_client_application_instance > Service clients > service_client_instance.
To attach or detach a policy set or binding, do the following:
- Select a service client, endpoint, or operation from Service/Endpoint/Operation. The Service/Endpoint/Operation list is nested, indicating parent-child relationships. When you select a parent, the children automatically inherit the settings of the parent.
- Click the desired button.
Button Resulting action Attach Client Policy Set Click this button to view a list of policy sets available for attachment to the selected service, endpoint, or operation. Select a policy set from the list to attach and it is attached to the selected service, endpoint, or operation. To close the menu list, click Attach Client Policy Set. Detach Client Policy Set Click this button to detach a policy set from a selected service, endpoint, or operation. After the policy set is detached, if there is no policy set attached to an upper level service resource, the Attached Client Policy Set column displays None and the Binding column displays Not Applicable. If there is a policy set attached to an upper level service resource, the Attached Client Policy Set column displays policy_set_name (inherited) and the binding used for the upper level attachment is applied. The binding name is displayed followed by (inherited).
Assign Binding Click this button to select from a list of available bindings for the selected policy set attachment. The options include the following:
- Default
- Default binding for the selected service, endpoint, or operation. We can specify client and provider default bindings to be used at the cell level or global security domain level, for a particular server, or for a security domain. The default bindings are used when an application-specific binding has not been assigned to the attachment. When you attach a policy set to a service resource, the binding is initially set to the default. If we do not specifically assign a binding to the attachment point using this Assign Binding action, the default specified at the nearest scope is used.
For any policy set attachment, the run time checks to see if the attachment includes a binding. If so, it uses that binding. If not, the run time checks in the following order and uses the first available default binding:
- Default general bindings for the server
- Default general bindings for the domain in which the server resides
- Default general bindings for the global security domain
- New Application Specific Binding
- Select this option to create a new application-specific binding for the policy set attachments. The new binding we create is used for the selected resources. If we select more than one resource, ensure that all selected resources have the same policy set attached.
- Client sample
- Select this option to use the Client sample binding.
- Client sample V2
- Select this option to use the Client sample V2 binding when we are using either the Kerberos V5 WSSecurity default or the TrustServiceKerberosDefault policy sets.
- Saml Bearer Client sample
- Select this option to use the Saml Bearer Client sample. The Saml Bearer Client sample extends the Client sample binding to support SAML Bearer token usage scenarios. We can use this sample with any of the SAML bearer token default policy sets.
- Saml HoK Symmetric Client sample
- Select this option to use the Saml HoK Symmetric Client sample. The Saml HoK Symmetric Client sample extends the Client sample binding to support SAML holder-of-key (HoK) symmetric key token usage scenarios. We can use this sample with one of the SAML HoK Symmetric key default policy sets: either SAML11 HoK Symmetric WSSecurity default or SAML20 HoK Symmetric WSSecurity default.
To close the menu list, click Assign Binding.
Service client
Name of the service client that is displayed.
Policy Set Attachments
Service/Endpoint/Operation
Name of the service client, endpoints or operations. The full QName (Java class javax.xml.namespace.QName) is displayed when you hover the mouse pointer over a service client name.
Attached Client Policy Set
Policy set that is attached to the service client, endpoints or operations.
The Attached Client Policy Setcolumn can contain the following values:
- None. No policy set is attached, either directly or to a higher level service resource.
- policy_set_name. The name of the policy set that is attached directly to the service resource, for example, WS-I RSP.
- policy_set_name (inherited). The name of the policy set that is not attached directly to a service resource, but that is attached to a higher level service resource.
When the value in the column is a link, click the link to view or change settings about the attached policy set.
Policies Applied
Policies that are applied to the resource.
The Policies Applied column can contain the following values:
- None. No policies are applied to the service. This is the default setting if there is no policy set attached to the client.
- Client only. The client policy set is applied to the service. This is the default setting if a policy set is attached to the client.
- Provider only. The policy configuration of the service provider is applied to the service, as long as the client can support those policies.
- Client and provider. A policy based on both the client policy set and the policy of the service provider is applied to the service.
When the value in the column is a link, click the link to view or change settings about how the policies are applied.
For a service, if the value in the column is a link followed by the word inherited in parentheses, this shows a setting that is inherited from the parent application. We can click the link to change the setting for the service.
For an endpoint or operation, the value is not a link and it is followed by the word inherited in parentheses. The setting is inherited from the parent application or service and we cannot change it. If there is no applied policy, the entry in the column is None.
Binding
Binding information available for a service client, endpoint, or operation.
The Binding column can contain the following values:
- Not applicable. There is no policy set attached, either directly or to a higher level service resource.
- Binding_name or Default. The binding name is displayed if a policy set is attached directly and an application-specific binding or a general binding is assigned, for example, MyBindings1. Default is displayed if a policy set is attached directly but the service resource uses the default bindings.
- Binding_name (inherited) or Default (inherited). A service resource inherits the bindings from an attachment to a higher level resource.
When the value in the Binding column is a link, click the link to view or change settings about the binding.
About policy set bindings
In this release, 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 by, the characteristics of the defined policy. Application-specific bindings can provide configuration for advanced policy requirements such as multiple signatures; however, these bindings are reusable only within an application. Also, 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 add. 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 create application-specific bindings only by selecting Assign Binding > New Application Specific Binding, on the Service providers policy sets and bindings collection page, for service provider resources that have an attached policy set. Similarly, for service clients, we can create application-specific bindings only by selecting Assign Binding > New Application Specific Binding, on the Service clients policy sets and bindings collection page, for service client resources that have an attached policy set.
General bindings
We can configure general bindings to be used across a range of policy sets and they can be reused across applications and for trust service attachments. Although general bindings are highly reusable, they cannot provide configuration for advanced policy requirements such as multiple signatures. There are two types of general bindings: general provider policy set bindings and general client policy set bindings.
We can create general provider policy set bindings by clicking Services > Policy sets > General provider policy set bindings > New in the general provider policy sets panel, or by clicking Services > Policy sets > General client policy set bindings > New in the general client policy set and bindings panel. Read about defining and managing service client or provider bindings for more information. General provider policy set bindings might also be used for trust service attachments.
Related tasks
View detail of a service client and managing policy sets using the administrative console
Service provider policy sets and bindings collection Service client policy set and bindings collection Service providers collection at the cell level Service providers collection at the application level Service client collection at the cell level Service reference settings Policies applied settings Administrative roles