To configure the server for request digital signature verification,
use an assembly tool to modify the extensions and indicate which digital
signature method the server will use during verification.
Before you begin
Important: There is an important distinction between
Version 5.x and Version 6 and later applications. The information
supports Version 5.x applications only that are used with WebSphere® Application Server Version 6.0.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 Extensions
tab and the Binding Configurations 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. You must
specify which message parts contain digital signature information
that must be verified by the server. See
Configuring the server for request digital signature verification: Verifying the message parts. The message
parts specified for the client request sender must match the message
parts specified for the server request receiver. Likewise, the digital
signature method chosen for the client must match the digital signature
method used by the server.
About this task
Complete the following steps to configure the server for
request digital signature verification. The steps describe how to
modify the extensions to indicate which digital signature method the
server will use during verification.
Procedure
- Launch an assembly tool.
For more information,
see the related information on Assembly Tools.
- Switch to the Java™ Platform,
Enterprise Edition (Java EE)
perspective. Click .
- Click .
- Right-click the webservices.xml file,
and click .
- Click the Binding Configurations tab.
- Expand the section.
- Click Edit to edit the signing information.
The signing information dialog is displayed, select or enter the following information:
- Canonicalization method algorithm
- Digest method algorithm
- Signature method algorithm
- Use certificate path reference
- Trust anchor reference
- Certificate store reference
- Trust any certificate
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 is located at the following web
address:
https://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core.
Table 1. Digital signature
methods . The digital signature method is part of the binding
configuration.
Name |
Purpose |
Canonicalization method algorithm |
Canonicalizes the <SignedInfo> element
before it is digested as part of the signature operation. The algorithm selected for the server
request receiver configuration must match the algorithm selected in the client request sender
configuration. |
Digest method algorithm |
Applies to the data after transforms are applied, if specified, to yield the
<DigestValue> element. The signing of the <DigestValue> element binds resource content to the signer key. The
algorithm selected for the server request receiver configuration must match the algorithm selected
in the client request sender configuration. |
Signature method algorithm |
Converts the canonicalized <SignedInfo>
element into the <SignatureValue> element. The algorithm
selected for the server request receiver configuration must match the algorithm selected in the
client request sender configuration. |
Use certificate path reference or Trust any certificate |
Validates a certificate or signature sent with a message. When a message is
signed, the public key used to sign it is sent with the message. This public key or certificate
might not be validated at the receiving end. By selecting User certificate path
reference, you must configure a trust anchor reference and a 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 |
Refers to a key store 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 |
Contains 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. |
- Optional: Select Show only FIPS
Compliant Algorithms if you only want the FIPS compliant
algorithms to be shown in the Signature method algorithm and Digest
method algorithm dropdown lists. Use this option if you expect this
application to be run on a WebSphere Application Server
that has set the Use the United States Federal Information
Processing Standard (FIPS) algorithms option in the SSL
certificate and key management panel of the administrative console.
Results
Important: 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:
- Click and indicate the actor information in the Actor URI
field.
- Click and indicate the actor information in the Actor field.
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:
- Click .
- Click and indicate the actor
information in the Actor field.
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
the method that the server uses to verify the digital signature in
the message parts.
What to do next
After you configure the client for request signing and the server for request digital
signature verification, you must configure the server and the client to handle the response. Next,
specify the response signing for the server. See Configuring the server for response signing: digitally signing message parts for
more information.