Enabling security for the realm

Use this topic to enable IBM® WebSphere® Application Server security. You must enable administrative security for all other security settings to function.

About this task

WebSphere Application Server uses cryptography to protect sensitive data and to ensure confidentiality and integrity of communications between WebSphere Application Server and other components in the network. Cryptography is also used by Web Services Security when certain security constraints are configured for the web services application.

[AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows][z/OS]WebSphere Application Server uses Java™ Secure Sockets Extension (JSSE) and Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) libraries in the Software Development Kit (SDK) to perform this cryptography. The SDK provides strong but limited jurisdiction policy files. Unrestricted policy files provide the ability to perform full strength cryptography and to improve performance.

[AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows][z/OS]WebSphere Application Server provides an SDK 6 that contains strong, but limited jurisdiction policy files. You can download the unrestricted policy files from the following website: IBM developer kit: Security information.

Avoid trouble: Fix packs that include updates to the Software Development Kit (SDK) might overwrite unrestricted policy files and the cacerts file. Back up unrestricted policy files and the cacerts file before you apply a fix pack and reapply these files after the fix pack is applied. These files are located in the {was_install_directory}\java\jre\lib\security directory. For Java 8.0.5.10, Java 7.1.4.20, Java 7.0.10.20, Java 6.1.8.60, and onward, the restricted policy files are the default. From these releases onward, the unrestricted policy files are still overwritten, but they are overwritten with the same file. You do not need to recopy them after you apply the service.
Important: Your country of origin might have restrictions on the import, possession, use, or re-export to another country, of encryption software. Before downloading or using the unrestricted policy files, you must check the laws of your country, its regulations, and its policies concerning the import, possession, use, and re-export of encryption software, to determine if it is permitted.
Complete the following steps to download and install the new policy files:
  1. Click Java SE 6
  2. Scroll down the page then click IBM SDK Policy files.

    The Unrestricted JCE Policy files for SDK 6 website displays.

  3. Click Sign in and provide your IBM.com ID and password.
  4. Select Unrestricted JCE Policy files for SDK 6 and click Continue.
  5. View the license and click I Agree to continue.
  6. Click Download Now.
  7. Extract the unlimited jurisdiction policy files that are packaged in the compressed file. The compressed file contains a US_export_policy.jar file and a local_policy.jar file.
  8. [AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows][IBM i]In your WebSphere Application Server installation, go to the $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security directory and back up your US_export_policy.jar and local_policy.jar files.
  9. [z/OS]In your WebSphere Application Server installation, mount your product HFS read/write. Go to the $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security directory and back up your US_export_policy.jar and local_policy.jar files.
  10. Replace your US_export_policy.jar and local_policy.jar files with the two files that you downloaded from the IBM.com website.
  11. [z/OS]Re-mount your product HFS as read/only.
[z/OS]The embedded Software Development Kit (SDK) ships with the unrestricted jurisdiction policy Java archive (JAR) files. Therefore, instead of downloading these files from the website, you can symbolically link to the files as allowed by your local country regulations. These unrestricted policy files are in the install_root/java/demo/jce/policy-files/unrestricted/ directory. The following UNIX based commands enable you to symbolically link to these files:
# Export the paths. You can find the values of the following
# variables in the joblog by searching for was.install.root,
# java.home, and so on:
export was.install.root=<was.install.root>
export java.home=<java.home>
# The previous paths apply to both 31- and 64-bit configurations
# of WebSphere Application Server for z/OS. For a 64-bit 
# configuration, the java.home path points to the 64-bit embedded
# Java virtual machine (JVM).

# Delete the original policy .jar files. Because a backup is
# automatically present in the smpe.home HFS, an explicit
# backup is not needed:
cd $java.home/lib/security
rm US_export_policy.jar
rm local_policy.jar

# Issue the following commands on separate lines to create
# the symbolic links to the unrestricted policy files:
ln -s $java.home/demo/jce/policy-files/unrestricted/US_export_po licy.jar US_export_policy.jar
ln -s $java.home/demo/jce/policy-files/unrestricted/local_policy .jar local_policy.jar
To remove the symbolic links to the unrestricted policy files in the demo directory and link to the original files, use the following UNIX based commands:
# Export the paths. You can find the values of the following
# variables in the joblog by searching for was.install.root,
# java.home, and so on:
export was.install.root=<was.install.root>
export java.home=<java.home>
export smpe.install.root=<smpe.install.root>
# The previous paths apply to both 31- and 64-bit configurations
# of WebSphere Application Server for z/OS. For a 64-bit 
# configuration, the java.home path points to the 64-bit embedded
# Java virtual machine (JVM).

# Delete the current policy .jar files. You might want
# to back up the following files:
cd $java.home/lib/security
rm US_export_policy.jar
rm local_policy.jar

# Issue the following commands on separate lines to create 
# symbolic links to the smpe HFS where the original files 
# are kept: 
ln -s $smpe.install.root/java/lib/security/US_export_policy.jar US_export_policy.jar
ln -s $smpe.install.root/java/lib/security/local_policy.jar local_policy.jar

Complete the following steps to enable security for the realm:

Procedure

  1. Enable administrative security in WebSphere Application Server.

    For more information, see Enabling security. It is important to click Security > Global security. Select an available realm definition from the list, and then click Set as current. Save the configuration to the repository. Verify that the validation that occurs after you click OK on the Security > Global security panel is successful before continuing. If the validation is not successful and you continue with these steps, you risk the server not starting. Reconfigure the security settings until validation is successful.

  2. Send a copy of the new configuration to all of the running node agents by using the administrative console.
    If a node agent fails to get the security-enabled configuration, communication with the deployment manager fails, due to a lack of access. The node agent is not security-enabled. To force synchronize a specific node, complete the following steps from the administrative console:
    1. Click System administration > Nodes and select the option next to all the nodes. You do not need to select the deployment manager node.
    2. Click Full resynchronize to verify that the file synchronization has occurred.
      The message might indicate that the nodes already are synchronized. This message is OK. When synchronization is initiated, verify that the Synchronized status displays for all nodes.
  3. Stop the deployment manager. Manually restart the deployment manager from the command line or service.
    To stop the deployment manager, click System administration > Deployment manager and click Stop. This action logs you out of the administrative console and stops the deployment manager process.
  4. Restart the deployment manager process.

    [AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows]To restart the deployment manager process, locate the app_server_root/bin directory and type startManager.bat or startManager.shAfter the deployment manager initialization is complete, go back into the administrative console to complete this task. Remember that security now is enabled in only the deployment manager. If you enabled single sign-on (SSO), specify the fully qualified domain name of your Web address, for example, http://myhost.domain:port_number/ibm/console. When you are prompted for a user ID and password, type the one that you defined as the administrator ID in the configured user registry.

    [z/OS]To restart the deployment manager process, enter the following command:
    START dmgr_proc_name,JOBNAME=server_short_name,
ENV=cell_short_name.node_short_name.server_short_name
    You must enter this command on a single line. It is split here for illustrative purposes (refer to the following related links for more information on using z/OS® MVS™ system commands). After the deployment manager initialization is complete, go back into the administrative console to complete this task. Security is enabled in the deployment manager only. If you enabled single sign-on (SSO), specify the fully qualified domain name of your web address, for example, http://myhost.domain:port_number/ibm/console. When you are prompted for a user ID and password, type the one that you entered as the administrator ID in the configured user registry.
  5. [IBM i]Restart the deployment manager process.
    To restart the deployment manager process, open the Qshell environment and locate the app_server_root/bin directory. The app_server_root variable refers to the app_server_root/bin/ default directory. On the Qshell command line, type startManager.

    After the deployment manager initialization is complete, go back into the administrative console to complete this task. Remember that security now is enabled in only the deployment manager. If you enabled single sign-on (SSO), specify the fully qualified domain name of your Web address, for example, http://myhost.domain:port_number/ibm/console. When you are prompted for a user ID and password, type the one that you defined as the administrator ID in the configured user registry.

  6. If the deployment manager does not start after enabling security, disable security by using a script and restart.
    Disable security by issuing the following command from the DeploymentManager/bin directory: 
    ./wsadmin.sh -conntype NONE
    At the prompt, enter securityoff.
  7. Restart all node agents to make them security enabled.
    You must have restarted the deployment manager in a previous step before completing this step. If the node agent is security-enabled before the deployment manager is security-enabled, the deployment manager cannot query the node agent for status or give the node agent commands. To stop all node agents, complete the following steps:
    1. Go to System administration > Node agents and select the option for all node agents. Click Restart. A message similar to the following example is displayed on the panel: The node agent on node NODE NAME was restarted successfully.
    2. Alternatively, if you previously did not stop your application servers, restart all of the servers within any given node by clicking System administration > Node agents and by clicking the node agents where you want to restart all the servers. Click Restart all Servers on Node. This action restarts the node agent and any started application servers.
  8. If any node agent fails to restart, perform a manual resynchronization of the configuration.
    This step consists of going to the physical node and running the client syncNode command. This client logs in to the deployment manager and copies all of the configuration files to the node agent. This action ensures that the configuration is security-enabled. If the node agent is started, but is not communicating with the deployment manager, stop the node agent by issuing the stopServer command.