Filtering HTTP requests for SPNEGO TAI (deprecated)

You can use a system programming interface to customize the behavior of the Simple and Protected GSS-API Negotiation Mechanism (SPNEGO) trust association interceptor (TAI) by specifying whether or not a particular HTTP request should be intercepted.

Before you begin

Before you begin, you need to understand the deployment of the SPNEGO TAI in your installation.
Deprecated feature:

In WebSphere® Application Server Version 6.1, a trust association interceptor (TAI) that uses the Simple and Protected GSS-API Negotiation Mechanism (SPNEGO) to securely negotiate and authenticate HTTP requests for secured resources was introduced. In WebSphere Application Server 7.0, this function is now deprecated. SPNEGO web authentication has taken its place to provide dynamic reload of the SPNEGO filters and to enable fallback to the application login method.

About this task

Verify the configuration of your SPNEGO TAI. The deployment of the SPNEGO TAI can vary from a single WebSphere Application Server system on which a single application is running to a large multinode WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment (ND) cell, with dozens of application servers, hosting many applications. Every SPNEGO TAI is installed at the cell level. You must be aware of your particular SPNEGO TAI configuration.

The default behavior of the SPNEGO TAI is to not intercept HTTP requests. This default behavior ensures that the SPNEGO TAI can be installed into an existing cell, configured for a single application server and not change any other application servers in the cell. Other WebSphere Application Servers can run exactly as before within a given configuration.

Then decide whether or not to use the sample SPN<id>.filter class and determine the exact filter properties to use.
Note: The default behavior of the SPNEGO TAI is to use the com.ibm.ws.security.spnego.SPN<id>.filter class and intercept all requests.
If the default behavior is not appropriate, you can use a customer provided class, or extend or modify the sample class as required. The system programmer interface, com.ibm.ws.security.spnego.SpnegoFilter allows you to implement a custom filter to determine whether or not to intercept a particular HTTP request. With the default implementation, you can set filter rules for coarse as well as fine-grained criteria in selecting which HTTP requests to intercept.

Procedure

  1. Set the com.ibm.ws.security.spnego.isEnabled Java™ virtual machine (JVM) custom property to true to enable the SPNEGO TAI on any JVM.
  2. Identify when the SPNEGO TAI intercepts a given request. A set of filter properties is provided, but you must determine what is appropriate and modify the com.ibm.ws.security.spnego.SPN<id>.filter class accordingly.

Results

Your SPNEGO TAI is set to filter HTTP requests when it is operating.