J2EE Connector security

The J2EE connector architecture defines a standard architecture for connecting the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) to heterogeneous enterprise information systems (EIS). Examples of EIS include Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), mainframe transaction processing (TP) and database systems.

The connector architecture enables an EIS vendor to provide a standard resource adapter for its EIS. A resource adapter is a system-level software driver that is used by a Java application to connect to an EIS. The resource adapter plugs into an application server and provides connectivity between the EIS, the application server, and the enterprise application. Accessing information in EIS typically requires access control to prevent unauthorized accesses. J2EE applications must authenticate to the EIS to open a connection to it. The J2EE Connector security architecture is designed to extend the end-to-end security model for J2EE-based applications to include integration with EISs. An application server and an EIS collaborate to ensure the proper authentication of a resource principal, which establishes a connection to an underlying EIS. The connector architecture identifies the following mechanisms as the commonly-supported authentication mechanisms, although other mechanisms can be defined:

• BasicPassword: Basic user-password-based authentication mechanism that is specific to an EIS

• Kerbv5: Kerberos Version 5-based authentication mechanism

Applications define whether to use application-managed signon or container-managed signon in the resource-ref elements in the deployment descriptor. Each resource-ref element describes a single connection factory reference binding. The res-auth element in a resource-ref element, whose value is either Application or Container, indicates whether the enterprise bean code can perform signon or whether WebSphere Application Server can signon to the resource manager using the principal mapping configuration. The resource-ref element is typically defined at application assembly time with an assembly tool such as the Application Server Toolkit (AST) or Rational Web Developer.assembly tool. The resource-ref can also be defined, or redefined, at deployment time.

Application managed signon

To access an EIS system, applications locate a connection factory from the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) namespace and invoke the getConnection method on that connection factory object. The getConnection method might require a user ID and password argument. A J2EE application can pass in a user ID and password to the getConnection method, which subsequently passes the information to the resource adapter. Specifying a user ID and password in the application code has some security implications, however.

The user ID and password, if coded into the Java source code, are available to developers and testers in the organization. Also, the user ID and password are visible to users if they decompile the Java class.

The user ID and password cannot be changed without first requiring a code change. Alternatively, application code might retrieve sets of user IDs and passwords from persistent storage or from an external service. This approach requires that IT administrators configure and manage a user ID and password using the application-specific mechanism.

WebSphere Application Server supports a component-managed authentication alias to be specified on a resource. This authentication data is common to all references to the resource. On the Resource Adapter >Connection Factory configuration panel, select Component-managed authentication alias . When res-auth=Application, the authentication data is taken from the following elements, in order:

1. The user ID and password that are passed to the getConnection method

2. The component-managed authentication alias in the connection factory or data source

3. The custom properties user name and password in the data source

The user name and password properties can be initially defined in the resource adapter archive (RAR) file and can also be defined in the administrative console or with wsadmin scripting under custom properties.

Container-managed signon

The user ID and password for the target enterprise information systems (EIS) can be supplied by the application server. WebSphere Application Server provides container-managed signon functionality. The Application Server locates the proper authentication data for the target EIS to enable the client to establish a connection. Application code does not have to provide a user ID and password in the getConnection call when it is configured to use container-managed signon, nor does authentication data have to be common to all references to a resource. WebSphere Application Server uses a Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) pluggable authentication mechanism to use a preconfigured JAAS login configuration, and LoginModule to map a client security identity and credentials on the running thread to a preconfigured user ID and password.

WebSphere Application Server ships a default many-to-one credential mapping LoginModule module that maps any client identity on the running thread of execution to a preconfigured user ID and password for a specified target EIS. The default mapping module is a special purpose JAAS LoginModule module that returns a PasswordCredential credential that is specified by the configured Java 2 Connector (J2C) authentication data entry. The default mapping LoginModule performs a table lookup, but does not perform actual authentication. The user ID and password are stored together with an alias in the J2C Authentication data list.

The J2C Authentication data list is located on the Global Security panel under Authentication > JAAS Configuration > J2C Authentication data. The default principal and credential mapping function is defined by the DefaultPrincipalMapping application JAAS login configuration.

J2C Authentication data that is modified using the administrative console takes effect when the modification is saved into the repository and TestConnection is performed. Also, J2C Authentication data that is modified using wsadmin scripting takes effect when any application is started or restarted for a given WAS server process. J2C Authentication Data modification takes effect by invoking the SecurityAdmin MBean method, updateAuthDataCfg. Set the HashMap parameter to null to enable the Securityadmin MBean to refresh the J2C Authentication data using the latest values in the repository.

Do not modify the DefaultPrincipalMapping login configuration because WebSphere Application Server added performance enhancements to this frequently used default mapping configuration. WebSphere Application Server does not support modifying the DefaultPrincipalMapping configuration, changing the default LoginModule module, or stacking a custom LoginModule module in the configuration.

For most systems, the default configuration with a many-to-one mapping is sufficient. However, WebSphere Application Server does support custom principal and credential mapping configurations. Custom mapping modules can be added to the application logins JAAS configuration by creating a new JAAS login configuration with a unique name. For example, a custom mapping module can provide one-to-one mapping or Kerberos functionality.

You also can use the WebSphere Application Server administrative console to bind the resource manager connection factory references to one of the configured resource factories. If the value of the res-auth element is container, configure the mapping configuration using the Map resource references to resources link on an enterprise application panel.

Map resource references to references To map resource references to resources, take the following actions:

1. Click applications > application_name.

2. Under Additional Properties, select Map resource references to resources .

3. Select a connection factory reference binding from the table that has a login configuration of Resource authorization: Container. You must specify an authentication method for the selected connection factory reference binding. Select either Use default method or Use custom login configuration. If you select the Use default method option, the WebSphere Application Server DefaultPrincipalMapping login configuration is selected. You must select an authentication data alias from the list.

4. After you make a selection, click Apply for the configuration to take effect.

5. If you select the Use custom login configuration option, select a mapping JAAS login configuration from the drop-down list.

6. Click Apply . The selected login configuration name and an Update button display in the login configuration field of the particular connection factory reference binding.

7. Click Update to define mapping properties that you might need to pass to the mapping login modules.

J2C mapping modules and mapping properties

Mapping modules are special JAAS login modules that provide principal and credential mapping functionality. You can define and configure custom mapping modules using the administrative console.

You also can define and pass context data to mapping modules by using login options in each JAAS login configuration. In WebSphere Application Server, you also can define context data using mapping properties on each connection factory reference binding.

Login options that are defined under each JAAS login configuration are shared among all resources that use the same JAAS login configuration and mapping modules. Mapping properties that are defined for each connection factory reference binding are used exclusively by that resource reference.

Consider a usage scenario where an external mapping service is used, for example, you might use the Tivoli Access Manager Global Sign-On (GSO) service. Use the Tivoli Access Manager GSO to locate authentication data for both back-end servers.

You have two EIS servers: DB2 and MQ. The authentication data for DB2 is different from that for MQ, however. Use the login option in a mapping JAAS login configuration to specify the parameters that are required to establish a connection to the Tivoli Access Manager GSO service. Use the mapping properties in a connection factory reference binding to specify which EIS server requires the user ID and password.

For more detailed information about developing a mapping module, see the Developing your own Java 2 security mapping module article.

Note:

• WebSphere Application Server configures container-managed signon under each enterprise application. This action is different than WebSphere Application Server Version 5, which configures container-managed signon for each connection factory.

• The deprecated way of configuration at the Resource Adapter > Connection factory panel still works in WebSphere Application Server Version 6 and later. The advantage to configuring at the connection factory reference level is that the configuration has an application scope and is not visible to other applications. However, the mapping configuration that is defined at the connection factory is visible to other applications.

• The mapping configuration at the connection factory has moved to the resource manager connection factory reference. The mapping login modules that are developed using WebSphere Application Server Version 5 JAAS callback types can be used by the resource manager connection factory reference, but the mapping login modules cannot take advantage of the custom mapping properties feature.

• Connection factory reference binding supports mapping properties, and passes those properties to mapping login modules by way of a new WSMappingPropertiesCallback callback. In addition, WSMappingPropertiesCallback callback and the new WSManagedConnectionFactoryCallback callback are defined in the com.ibm.wsspi package. Use the new mapping login modules with the new callback types.

Related concepts

Programmatic login

Related tasks
Developing your own J2C principal mapping module