WAS v8.5 > Reference > Sets

Web authentication settings page

Use this page to specify the web authentication settings associated with a web client.

To view this dmgr console page...

  1. Click Security > Global security.

  2. Under Authentication, expand Web and SIP security and click General settings.

We can override the global Web authentication settings that you select on this panel by specifying one or more of the following system properties on the server level. To specify one of these system properties:

  1. Click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server_name.

  2. Under Server infrastructure, click Java and Process Management > Process definition.

  3. Under Additional properties, click Java Virtual Machine > Custom Properties > New.

Web authentication system property values. This table lists the web authentication system property values.

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 dmgr 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 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) role. The authenticated identity is available only when the web client accesses a protected URI.

This option is the default J2EE web authentication behavior that is also available in previous releases of WebSphere Application Server.

When you select this option, the dmgr console login page is missing images. You might encounter the following error in the dmgr 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.

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 that is performed by the application server security is different from the client authentication that is performed by the web server plug-in. If you configure the web server plug-in for mutual authentication and client authentication fails, the following situations will occur:

Information Value
Default: Disabled


Reference:

Servlet security methods
Global security settings


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