Configure the server for request digital signature verification
by modifying the extensions to indicate which parts of the request
to verify.
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 assembly tools:
You can use these two tabs to configure the Web Services Security
extensions and the Web Services Security bindings, respectively.
Also, you must specify which parts of the message sent by the client
must be digitally signed. See
Configuring the client for request signing: digitally signing message parts to determine which message parts are digitally
signed. The message parts specified for the client request sender
must match the message parts specified for the server request receiver.
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 parts of the request to verify.
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 Extensions tab in the web services editor.
- Expand the section.
Required integrity refers to the
parts of the message that require digital signature verification.
The purpose of digital signature verification is to make sure that
the message parts have not been modified while transmitting across
the Internet.
- Indicate parts of the message to verify by clicking Add,
and selecting one of the following three parts: body, Timestamp, or SecurityToken.
You
can determine which parts of the message to verify by looking at the
web service request sender configuration in the client application.
To view the web service request sender configuration information in
the web services client editor, click the Security extensions tab
and expand . The following list
includes a description of the message parts:
- Body
- This is the user data portion of the message.
- Timestamp
- The time stamp determines if the message is valid based on the
time that the message is sent and then received. If Timestamp is
selected, proceed to the next step to Add Created Time Stamp to
the message.
- SecurityToken
- The security token authenticates the client. If SecurityToken is
selected, the message is signed.
- Optional: Expand the Add received
time stamp section.
The Add Received Time Stamp
value indicates to validate the Add Created Time Stamp option configured
by the client. You must select this option if you selected the Add
Created Time Stamp on the client. The time stamp ensures message integrity
by indicating the timeliness of the request. This option helps defend
against replay attacks.
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:
- 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 which
message parts are digitally signed and must be verified by the server
when the client sends a message to a server.
What to do next
After you specify which message parts contain a digital signature
that must be verified by the server, you must configure the server
to recognize the digital signature method used to digitally sign the
message. See Configuring the server for request digital signature verification: choosing the verification method for
more information.