Configure the client for identity assertion: specifying the method

You can configure identity assertion authentication. The purpose of identity assertion is to assert the authenticated identity of the originating client from a Web service to a downstream Web service.

Overview

There is an important distinction between V5.x and V6 and later applications. The information in this article supports V5.x applications only that are used with WebSphere Application Server V6.0.x and later. The information does not apply to V6.0.x and later applications.

This task is used to configure identity assertion authentication. The purpose of identity assertion is to assert the authenticated identity of the originating client from a Web service to a downstream Web service. Do not attempt to configure identity assertion from a pure client. Identity assertion works only when you configure on the client-side of a Web service acting as a client to a downstream Web service.

In order for the downstream Web service to accept the identity of the originating client (just the user name), supply a special trusted BasicAuth credential that the downstream Web service trusts and can authenticate successfully. You must specify the user ID of the special BasicAuth credential in a trusted ID evaluator on the downstream Web service configuration. For more information on trusted ID evaluators, see Trusted ID evaluator.

Complete the following steps to specify identity assertion as the authentication method:

Procedure

1. Launch an assembly tool. For more information on the assembly tools, see Assembly tools.

2. Switch to the J2EE perspective. Click Window > Open Perspective > J2EE.

3. Click Application Client Projects > application_name > appClientModule > META-INF.

4. Right-click the application-client.xml file, select Open with > Deployment descriptor editor.

5. Click the WS Extension tab, which is located at the bottom of the deployment descriptor editor within the assembly tool.

6. Expand the Request sender configuration > Login configuration section.

7. Select IDAssertion as the authentication method. For more conceptual information on identity assertion authentication, see Identity assertion in a SOAP message.

8. Expand the IDAssertion section.

9. For the ID type, select Username. This value works with all registry types and originating authentication methods.

10. For the trust mode, select either BasicAuth or Signature.

    • By selecting BasicAuth, include basic authentication information (user ID and password), which the downstream Web service has specified in the trusted ID evaluator as a trusted user ID. See Configuring the client for signature authentication: collecting the authentication information to specify the user ID and password information.

    • By selecting Signature the certificate configured in the signature information section used to sign the data also is that is used as the trusted subject. The Signature is used to create a credential and user ID, which the certificate mapped to the downstream registry, is used in the trusted ID evaluator as a trusted user ID.

What to do next

After you specify identity assertion as the authentication method used by the client, specify how to collect the authentication information. See Configuring the client for identity assertion: collecting the authentication method for more information.

Related concepts

Related tasks