You can configure the Web services security extensions and Web services security bindings using the WS extension tab and the WS binding tab in the Web services editor within an assembly tool.
There is an important distinction between Version 5.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 Version 6.0.x and later applications. Prior to completing these steps, read either of the following topics to become familiar with the WS extension tab and the WS binding tab in the Web services editor within the IBM assembly tools:
You can use these two tabs to configure the Web services security extensions and Web services security bindings, respectively. Also, specify which message parts contain digital signature information that must be verified by the client. See Configuring the client for response digital signature verification: verifying the message parts to specify which message parts are digitally signed by the server and must be verified by the client. The message parts specified for the server response sender must match the message parts specified for the client response receiver. Likewise, the digital signature method chosen for the server must match the digital signature method used by the client.
For more conceptual information on digitally signing SOAP messages, see XML digital signature. The following table describes the purpose for each of these selections. Some of the following definitions are based on the XML-Signature specification, which can be found at: http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core.
| Name | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Canonicalization method algorithm | The canonicalization method algorithm is used to canonicalize the <SignedInfo> element before it is digested as part of the signature operation. |
| Digest method algorithm | The digest method algorithm is the algorithm applied to the data after transforms are applied, if specified, to yield the <DigestValue>. The signing of the <DigestValue> binds resource content to the signer key. The algorithm selected for the client response receiver configuration must match the algorithm selected in the server response sender configuration. |
| Signature method algorithm | The signature method is the algorithm that is used to convert the canonicalized <SignedInfo> element into the <SignatureValue> element. The algorithm selected for the client response receiver configuration must match the algorithm selected in the server response sender configuration. |
| Use certificate path reference or Trust any certificate | When a message is signed, the public key used to sign it is transmitted with the message. To validate this public key at the receiving end, configure a certificate path reference. By selecting User certificate path reference, configure a trust anchor reference and certificate store reference to validate the certificate sent with the message. By selecting trust any certificate, the signature is validated by the certificate sent with the message without the certificate itself being validated. |
| Use certificate path reference: Trust anchor reference | A trust anchor is a configuration that refers to a keystore that contains trusted, self-signed certificates and certificate authority (CA) certificates. These certificates are trusted certificates that you can use with any applications in your deployment. |
| Use certificate path reference: Certificate store reference | A certificate store is a configuration that has a collection of X.509 certificates. These certificates are not trusted for all applications in your deployment, but might be used as an intermediary to validate certificates for an application. |
If you configure the client and server signing information correctly, but receive a Soap body not signed error when running the client, you might need to configure the actor. You can configure the actor in the following locations on the client in the Web services client editor within an assembly tool:
You must configure the same actor strings for the Web service on the server, which processes the request and sends the response back. Configure the actor in the following locations in the Web services editor within an assembly tool:
The actor information on both the client and server must refer to the same exact string. When the actor fields on the client and server match, the request or response is acted upon instead of being forwarded downstream. The actor fields might be different when you have Web services acting as a gateway to other Web services. However, in all other cases, make sure that the actor information matches on the client and server. When Web services are acting as a gateway and they do not have the same actor configured as the request passing through the gateway, Web services do not process the message from a client. Instead, these Web services send the request downstream. The downstream process that contains the correct actor string processes the request. The same situation occurs for the response. Therefore, it is important that you verify that the appropriate client and server actor fields are synchronized. You have specified which method the client uses to verify the digital signature in the message parts.