![[Version 5 only]](../../v5app.gif)
Important distinction between Version 5.x and Version 6 applications
Note: The information in this article supports version 5.x applications only that are used with WebSphere Application Server Version 6. The information does not apply to version 6 applications.
Web services security for WebSphere Application Server is based on standards included in the Web services security
(WS-Security) specification. These standards address how to provide protection for messages exchanged in a Web service environment. The specification defines the core facilities for protecting the integrity and confidentiality of a message and provides mechanisms for associating security-related claims with the message. Web services security is a message-level standard based on securing Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messages through XML digital signature,
confidentiality through XML encryption, and credential propagation through
security tokens.
Use the deprecated "Securing Apache SOAP Web services" topics in the WebSphere Application Server, Version 5 documentation if you are still using Apache SOAP Version 2.3.
To secure Web services, consider a broad set of security requirements, including authentication, authorization, privacy, trust, integrity, confidentiality, secure communications channels, federation, delegation, and auditing across a spectrum of application and business topologies. One of the key requirements for the security model in today's business environment is the ability to interoperate between formerly incompatible security technologies (such as public key infrastructure, Kerberos and so on.) in heterogeneous environments (such as Microsoft .NET and Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)). The complete Web services security protocol stack and technology roadmap is described in Security in a Web Services World: A Proposed Architecture and Roadmap.
Specification: Web Services Security (WS-Security) proposes a standard set of SOAP extensions that you can use to build secure Web services.
These standards confirm integrity and confidentiality, which are generally provided with digital signature and encryption technologies. In addition,
Web services security provides a general purpose mechanism for associating
security tokens with messages. A typical example of the security token is a user name and password token, in which a user name and password are included as text. Web services security defines how to encode binary security tokens using methods such as X.509 certificates and Kerberos tickets.
To establish a managed environment and to enforce constraints for Web services security, perform a Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) lookup on the client to resolve the service reference. For more information on the recommended client programming model, see "Service lookup" in the Java Specification Request (JSR) 109 specification available at: ftp://www-126.ibm.com/pub/jsr109/spec/1.0/websvcs-1_0-fr.pdf.
An administrator can use any of the following methods to integrate message-level
security into a WebSphere Application Server environment:
(dependent on configuration)
Related reference
Web services: Resources for learning
Related information
Security in a Web Services World:
A Proposed Architecture and Roadmap
Specification: Web Services Security (WS-Security)
Web Services for J2EE, Version 1.0