Authorization provider troubleshooting tips

This article describes the issues you might encounter using a Java Authorization Contract for Containers (JACC) authorization provider. Tivoli Access Manager is bundled with WebSphere Application Server as an authorization provider. However, you also can plug in your own authorization provider.

Using Tivoli Access Manager as a Java Authorization Contract for Containers authorization provider You might encounter the following issues when using Tivoli Access Manager as a JACC authorization provider:

• The configuration of JACC might fail.

• The server might fail to start after configuring JACC.

• The application might not deploy properly.

• The startServer command might fail after you have configured Tivoli Access Manager or a clean uninstall did not take place after unconfiguring JACC.

• An "HPDIA0202w An unknown user name was presented to Access Manager" error might occur.

• An "HPDAC0778E The specified user's account is set to invalid" error might occur.

• An WASX7017E: Exception received while running file "InsuranceServicesSingle.jacl" error might occur.

• Access denied exceptions accessing applications when using JACC

• An "HPDBA0219E: An error occurred reading data from an SSL connection" might occur

Using an external provider for Java Authorization Contract for Containers authorization provider You might encounter the following issues when you use an external provider for JACC authorization:

• An "HPDJA0506E Invalid argument: Null or zero-length user name field for the ACL entry" error might occur.

The configuration of JACC might fail

If you have problems configuring JACC, check the following items:

• Ensure that the parameters are correct. For example, you do not want a number after TAM_Policy_server_hostname:7135, but you do want a number after TAM_Authorization_server_hostname:7136 (for example, TAM_Authorization_server_hostname:7136:1).

• If a message such as "server can't be contacted" is displayed, it is possible that the host names or port numbers of the Tivoli Access Manager servers are incorrect, or that the Tivoli Access Manager servers have not started.

• Ensure that the password for the sec_master user is correct.

• Check the SystemOut.log file and search for the string AMAS to see if any error messages are present.

The server might fail to start after configuring JACC

If the server does not start after JACC is configured, check the following items:

• Ensure that the WebSphere Application Server and Tivoli Access Manager use the same Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server.

• If the message "Policy Director Authentication failed" is displayed, ensure that the:

  • WebSphere Application Server LDAP server ID is the same as the "Administrator user" in the Tivoli Access Manager JACC configuration panel.

  • Verify that the Tivoli Access Manager Administrator distinguished name (DN) is correct.

  • Verify that the password of the Tivoli Access Manager administrator has not expired and is valid.

  • Ensure that the account is valid for the Tivoli Access Manager administrator.

• If a message such as "socket can't be opened for xxxx" (where xxxx is a number) is displayed, take the following actions:

  1. Go to the profile_root/etc/tam directory.

  2. Change xxxx to an available port number in change the amwas.commomconfig.properties file, and the amwas*cellName_dmgr.properties file if the deployment manager failed to start. If the node failed to start, change xxx to an available port number in the amwas*cellName_nodeName_.properties. If the Application Server failed to start, change xxxx in the Amwas*cellname_nodeName_serverName.properties file.

The application might not deploy properly

When you click Save , the policy and role information is propagated to the Tivoli Access Manager policy. This process might take some time to finish. If the save fails, uninstall the application and then reinstall it.

To access an application after it is installed, wait 30 seconds, by default, to start the application after you save.

The startServer command might fail after you have configured Tivoli Access Manager or a clean uninstall did not take place after unconfiguring JACC. If the cleanup for JACC unconfiguration or start server fails after JACC is configured, take the following actions:

• Remove Tivoli Access Manager properties files from WebSphere Application Server. For each application server in a Network Deployment (ND) environment with N servers defined (for example, server1, server2), the following files must be removed:

  install_root/java/jre/PdPerm.properties
  install_root/java/jre/PdPerm.ks
  profile_root/etc/tam/*

• Use a utility to clear the security configuration and return the system to the state it was in before you configure the JACC provider for Tivoli Access Manager. The utility removes all of the PDLoginModuleWrapper entries as well as the Tivoli Access Manager authorization table entry from the security.xml file, effectively removing the JACC provider for Tivoli Access Manager. Backup security.xml file before running this utility. Enter the following commands:

  install_root/java/jre/bin/java -classpath
  "install_root/lib/AMJACCProvider.jar:CLASSPATH"
  com.tivoli.pd.as.jacc.cfg.CleanSecXML fully_qualified_path/security.xml

An "HPDIA0202w An unknown user name was presented to Access Manager" error might occur You might encounter the following error message if you try to use an existing user in a Local Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) user registry with Tivoli Access Manager:

AWXJR0008E Failed to create a PDPrincipal for principal mgr1.:
AWXJR0007E A Tivoli Access Manager exception was caught. Details are:
"HPDIA0202W An unknown user name was presented to Access Manager." This problem might be caused by the hostname exceeding predefined limits with Tivoli Access Manager when it is configured against MS Active Directory. In WebSphere Application Server, the maximum length of the host name can not exceed 46 characters.

Check that the host name is not fully qualified. Configure the machine so that the hostname does not include the host domain. To correct this error, complete the following steps:

1. On the command line, type the following information to get a Tivoli Access Manager command prompt:

   pdadmin -a administrator_name -p administrator_password The pdadmin administrator_name prompt is displayed. For example:

   pdadmin -a administrator1 -p password

2. At the pdadmin command prompt, import the user from the LDAP user registry to Tivoli Access Manager by typing the following information:

   user import user_name cn=user_name,o=organization_name,c=country For example:

   user import jstar cn=jstar,o=ibm,c=us

user modify user_name account-valid yes Forexample:

user modify jstar account-valid yes

For information on how to import a group from LDAP to Tivoli Access Manager, see the Tivoli Access Manager documentation.

An "HPDAC0778E The specified user's account is set to invalid" error might occur You might encounter the following error message after you import a user to Tivoli Access Manager and restart the client:

AWXJR0008E  Failed to create a PDPrincipal for principal mgr1.: 
AWXJR0007E   A Tivoli Access Manager exception was caught. 
Details are: "HPDAC0778E   The specified user's account is set to invalid."

user modify user_name account-valid yes

user modify jstar account-valid yes

An "HPDJA0506E Invalid argument: Null or zero-length user name field for the ACL entry" error might occur You might encounter an error similar to the following message when you propagate the security policy information from the application to the provider using the wsadmin command propagatePolicyToJACCProvider :

AWXJR0035E   An error occurred while  attempting to add member, cn=agent3,o=ibm,c=us, to role AgentRole HPDJA0506E   Invalid argument: Null or zero-length user name field for the ACL entry 

To correct this error, create or import the user, that is mapped to the security role to the Tivoli Access Manager. For more information on propagating the security policy information, see the documentation for your authorization provider.

An WASX7017E: Exception received while running file "InsuranceServicesSingle.jacl"; error might occur After the JACC provider and Tivoli Access Manager are enabled, when attempting to install the application, which is configured with security roles using the wsadmin command, the following error might occur:

WASX7017E: Exception received while running file "InsuranceServicesSingle.jacl"; exception information:
 com.ibm.ws.scripting.ScriptingException: WASX7111E: Cannot find a match for supplied option: 
"[RuleManager, , , cn=mgr3,o=ibm,c=us|cn=agent3,o=ibm,c=us, cn=ManagerGro up,o=ibm,c=us|cn=AgentGroup,o=ibm,c=us]" for task "MapRolesToUsers

The $AdminApp MapRolesToUsers task option is no longer valid when Tivoli Access Manager is used as the authorization server. To correct the error, change MapRolesToUsers to TAMMapRolesToUsers.

Access denied exceptions accessing applications when using JACC

In the case of Tivoli Access Manager, you might see the following error message.

AWXJR0044E: The access decision for Permission, {0}, was denied because either the PolicyConfiguration or RoleConfiguration objects did not get created successfully at application installation time. RoleConfiguration exists = {false}, PolicyConfiguration exists = {false}."

If the access denied exceptions are not expected for the application, check the SystemOut.log files to see if the security policy information was correctly propagated to the provider.

If the security policy information for the application is successfully propagated to the provider, the audit statements with the message key SECJ0415I appear. However, if there was a problem propagating the security policy information to the provider (for example: network problems, JACC provider is not available), the SystemOut.log files contain the error message with the message keys SECJ0396E (during install) or SECJ0398E (during modification). The installation of the application is not stopped due to a failure to propagate the security policy to the JACC provider. Also, in the case of failure, no exception or error messages appear during the save operation. When the problem causing this failure is fixed, run the propagatePolicyToJaccProvider tool to propagate the security policy information to the provider without reinstalling the application.

An "HPDBA0219E: An error occurred reading data from an SSL connection" might occur

An error message (HPDBA0219E) might appear in dmgr SystemOut.log when you install an application on the WebSphere Application Server for Network Deployment (ND) and a managed node with Tivoli Access Manager is enabled.

If the error occurs, then the security policy data of recently deployed applications might not be immediately available. The policy data is available based on the server replicate time of the Tivoli Access Manager. This is defaulted to 30 seconds after all updates have been completed. To ensure that the latest policy data is available, log on to the pdadmin console and type: server replicate.

Related tasks

Enabling an external JACC provider
Authorizing access to J2EE resources using Tivoli Access Manager
Propagating security policy of installed applications to a JACC provider using wsadmin scripting
Troubleshooting security configurations

Related reference

Interfaces that support JACC

Related information

IBM Tivoli Access Manager for e-business information center