Configure HTTP basic authentication with the administrative console

This topic explains how to configure HTTP basic authentication with the administrative console.

This task is one of three ways that you can configure HTTP basic authentication. You can also configure HTTP basic authentication with an assembly tool or by modifying the HTTP properties programmatically.

If you choose to configure HTTP basic authentication with the administrative console or an assembly tool, the Web services security binding information is modified. You can use the administrative console to configure HTTP basic authentication if you have deployed or installed the Web services application into WebSphere Application Server. If you have not installed the Web services application, then you can configure the security bindings with an assembly tool. This task assumes that you have deployed the Web services application into the WebSphere product.

If you configure HTTP basic authentication programmatically, the properties are configured in the Stub or Call instance. The values set programmatically take precedence over the values defined in the binding. However, you only can programmatically configure HTTP proxy authentication.

The HTTP basic authentication that is discussed in this topic is orthogonal to WS-Security and is distinct from basic authentication that WS-Security supports. WS-Security supports basic authentication token, not HTTP basic authentication.

Configure HTTP basic authentication with the following steps provided in this task section.

1. Open the administrative console.

   1. Click Applications > Enterprise Applications > application_instance > Web Modules or EJB Modules > module_instance > Web services: Client security bindings .

   2. Click HTTP Basic Authentication to access the HTTP basic authentication panel. Enter the values in the HTTP Basic Authentication panel.

2. Click Applications > Enterprise Applications > application_instance. Under Additional Properties, click Publish WSDL files which brings you to the Publish WSDL zip files panel.

Related concepts
Transport level security
HTTP basic authentication

Related tasks
Securing Web services for version 5.x applications based on WS-Security
HTTP SSL Configuration collection