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Web server plug-in default configuration in SSL

When we create a new web server definition, WebSphere Application Server associates the web server plug-in with a Certificate Management Services (CMS) keystore for a specific node. The keystore contains all of the signers for the current cell with the self-signed or chained certificate, which belongs to the node. The plug-in can communicate securely to WAS, even when the plug-in is configured with SSL client authentication enabled.

When we set the web server definition to webserver1 on node myhostNode01, WAS creates the keystore configuration. The keystore is scoped to the webserver1 server, which makes it visible to this server only. Other processes cannot use this keystore definition.

(iSeries) The default password for the keystore is WebAS. We can change the default keystore password using either the administrative console or the appropriate AdminTask command. Also, we can create only one CMSKeyStore entry for each management scope. If a CMS keystore already exists for scope (cell):myhostCell01:(node):myhostNode01:(server):webserver1, then we cannot create another CMSKeyStore entry. WAS uses the plug-in name to create a self-signed certificate, if a self-signed certificate does not already exist for that particular node. If a self-signed certificate already exists for the node, then the certificate is put into the CMS keystore and all the signers from the cell are added, by default.

The following sample code from the security.xml file shows the configuration entries for the web server plug-in. 

<keyStores xmi:id="KeyStore_1132357815719" 
           name="CMSKeyStore" 
           password="{xor}HRYNFAtrbxEwOzpvbhw6MzM=" 
           provider="IBMCMSProvider" 
           location="C:\WASX_e0540.11\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01/config/cells/myhostCell01/nodes/myhostNode01/servers/webserver1/plugin-key.kdb"
           type="CMSKS"
           fileBased="true"
           createStashFileForCMS="true"
           managementScope="ManagementScope_1132357815718"/>
<managementScopes xmi:id="ManagementScope_1132357815718"
           scopeName="(cell):myhostCell01:(node):myhostNode01:(server):webserver1"
           scopeType="server"/>

The following sample code shows how the CMS keystore and stash file are generated in the security.xml file. 

C:\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Dmgr01\config\cells\myhostCell01\nodes\myhostNode01\servers\webserver1\plugin-key.kdb
C:\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Dmgr01\config\cells\myhostCell01\nodes\myhostNode01\servers\webserver1\plugin-key.sth

The default password for the keystore is WebAS. We can change the default keystore password using either the administrative console or the appropriate AdminTask command. The following sample code shows the AdminTask command we can use to create this CMS keystore.

Note the following characteristics of the previous example:

When additional nodes are federated, the signers for these nodes are not automatically added to each web server for the CMS keystore. For the web server plug-in to be able to communicate with a newly federated node, we must manually exchange signers with the CMSKeyStore keystore. Use the administrative console keystore certificate management function to exchange signers. See Add the correct SSL Signer certificates to the plug-in keystore.

  • Configure the web server plug-in for Secure Sockets Layer