Configuring Single Sign-On for Netcool Configuration Manager

The single sign-on (SSO) capability in Tivoli®® products means that you can log on to one Tivoli application and then launch to other Tivoli web-based or web-enabled applications without having to re-enter your user credentials.

The repository for the user IDs is the Tivoli Netcool®/OMNIbus ObjectServer. A user logs on to one of the participating applications, at which time their credentials are authenticated at a central repository. With the credentials authenticated to a central location, the user can then launch from one application to another to view related data or perform actions. Single sign-on can be achieved between applications deployed to DASH servers on multiple machines.

Single sign-on capabilities require that the participating products use Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) as the authentication mechanism. When SSO is enabled, a cookie is created containing the LTPA token and inserted into the HTTP response. When the user accesses other Web resources in any other application server process in the same Domain Name Service (DNS) domain, the cookie is sent with the request. The LTPA token is then extracted from the cookie and validated. If the request is between different cells of application servers, you must share the LTPA keys and the user registry between the cells for SSO to work. The realm names on each system in the SSO domain are case sensitive and must match exactly. See Managing LTPA keys from multiple WebSphere®® Application Server cells on the WebSphere Application Server Information Center.

When configuring ITNCM-Reports for an integrated installation, ensure you configure single sign-on (SSO) on the Reporting Services server. Specifically, you must configure SSO between the instance of WebSphere that is hosting the Network Manager GUI, and the instance of WebSphere that is hosting ITNCM Reports. This will prevent unwanted login prompts when launching reports from within Network Manager. For more information, see the related topic links.