Network communication using SSL and the Transport Channel Service
To fully support the required communications for WebSphere Application Server, a secure communication mechanism is required to ensure that applications are communicating securely. Configure the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) channel as part of the transport channel service to provide secure communication for all users.
The SSL channel is a protocol channel providing the same interface as the TCP channel. The SSL channel implements the same application interface that the TCP channel implements so upstream channels can be written to use only TCP channel functions. (SSL function can be provided using the SSL channel without modifying the upstream channel.) The SSL channel communicates with the network using a downstream channel that implements the TCP channel interface.
When the SSL channel is constructed, its initialization parameters provide the information required to use Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) services. The SSL channel:
- Uses JSSE APIs to perform security functions
- Uses the JSSE security provider to obtain a configured key store
- Loads the key store from the configured key store name using the configured key store password
The SSL channel receives configuration information from JSSE repertoires configured and maintained by WebSphere Application Server. The SSL channel configuration attribute for the security repertoire name provides a reference to all the security attributes required to initialize the SSL channel. If a security repertoire is not available, channel data can be filled in with a map of the property names. If properties are specified in addition to the repertoire name, they override the parameters in the repertoire. Additional security information can be provided as part of individual container configuration.
For more information on the SSL channel, refer to Transport chains or Transport protocol for a high availability manager.
For general information on the SSL, refer to Secure Sockets Layer.
See Also
Transport chains
Related Tasks
Transport chains collection
Transport chain settings
Transport protocol for a high availability manager