Configure the Lightweight Third Party Authentication mechanism

You must configure Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) when you set up security for the first time. LTPA is the default authentication mechanism for WebSphere Application Server.

Procedure

1. Open the administrative console.

   Type http://server_name:port_number/ibm/console to access the administrative console in a Web browser.

   Port 9060 is the default port number for accessing the administrative console. During installation, however, you might have specified a different port number. Use the appropriate port number.

2. Click Security > Secure administration, applications, and infrastructure > Authentication mechanisms and expiration.

3. Select the appropriate group from the Key set group field that contains your public, private, and shared LTPA keys. These keys are used to encrypt and decrypt data that is sent between servers. You can access these key set group configurations using the Key set group link. In the Key set group configuration, you can indicate whether to automatically generate new keys and when to generate them.

4. Enter a positive integer value in the Authentication cache timeout field. This timeout value refers to how long an LTPA token is valid in minutes. The token contains this expiration time so that any server that receives the token can verify that the token is valid before proceeding further. When the token expires, the user must log in again. An optimal value for this field depends on your configuration. However, the default value is 10 minutes.

5. Enter a positive integer in the Timeout value for forwarded credentials between servers field. This value refers to how long the server credentials from another server are valid before they expire. The default value is 120 minutes. The value in the Timeout value for forwarded credentials between servers field must be greater than the value in the Authentication cache timeout field.

6. Click Apply or OK. The LTPA configuration is now set. Do not generate the LTPA keys in this step because they are automatically generated later. Proceed with the rest of the steps that are required to enable security, and start with single sign-on (SSO), if it is required.

7. Complete the information in the Security > Secure administration, applications, and infrastructure panel and click OK. The LTPA keys are generated automatically the first time. Do not generate the keys manually.

Results

What to do next

After configuring LTPA, you can also complete the following tasks:

1. Generate key files. For more information, see Generating Lightweight Third Party Authentication keys.

2. Export key files. For more information, see Exporting Lightweight Third Party Authentication keys.

3. Import key files. For more information, see Importing Lightweight Third Party Authentication keys.

4. Manage LPTA keys from multiple cells. For more information, see Managing LTPA keys from multiple WebSphere Application Server cells.

5. If you are enabling security, you can also enable single sign-on (SSO). See:

   • Configuring single sign-on capability with Enterprise Identity Mapping

   • Configuring single sign-on capability with Lotus Domino

   • Configuring single sign-on capability with Tivoli Access Manager or WebSEAL

6. If you generated a new set of keys or imported a new set of keys, verify that the keys are saved to the master configuration by clicking Save at the top of the panel. Because LTPA authentication uses time-sensitive tokens, verify that the time, date, and time zone are synchronized among all of the product servers that are participating in the protected domain. Changes to the time, date, and time zone are done independently from WebSphere Application Server. If the clock skew is too high between servers, the LTPA token seems prematurely expired and causes authentication or validation failures.

Related concepts

Related tasks