How SSO Works
How SSO Works
How SSO Works
Objective
This document will provide an overview of the Single Sign On functionality using
Siteminder and Get Access and how its used in the OpenPages 5.5 application. For
detailed steps on how to implement the Single Sign on Solution, please refer to the
document SSO_Doc_op55. The scope of this document is to provide the framework on
how Single Sign On works and the ways to troubleshoot, in the event of a new
implementation.
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Configuring OpenPages
SiteMinder Authentication Service
Authentication schemes
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Configuring OpenPages
SiteMinder Authentication Service
o
CryptoCard
RADIUS Proxy
Forms-based authentication
X.509 certificates
Use some of these schemes in combination to provide stronger authentication. You can
establish priority levels for finer control over resources. For example, if users are
authenticated by a method that has a lower priority than the resource they are accessing,
then an attempt to authenticate them at a higher level is made. Conversely, if users are
already authenticated at a high-priority level, then no further authentication is required.
FIGURE 11-1 illustrates how single sign-on is achieved with SiteMinder.
Figure 11-1. SiteMinder Single Sign-on
In FIGURE 11-1, the user accesses an URL that is located on Web server A, which has
the SiteMinder Web Agent running on it. The agent checks to see if the requested URL is
under SiteMinder control, and if it is, the agent contacts the Policy Server, which
authenticates the user according to established policy rules. Once the user is
authenticated, an encrypted cookie or user credential is created and passed to the other
web servers under SiteMinder control.
When the same user tries to access a URL on Web server B, the Web Agent can then grant
access according to the user credential it was passed, eliminating the need for a second
user login.
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Configuring OpenPages
SiteMinder Authentication Service
Limitation of SiteMinder
SiteMinder was designed to work in a web server environment, where authentication is
triggered upon a URL request. When a user logs into a computer, authentication is
handled by the underlying operating system, instead of being initiated by a web server.
Since there is no way to pass the authentication information to SiteMinder from the
operating system, the user would have to log in again to gain access to web service
applications.
Even though SiteMinder is a valuable tool for creating an SSO environment between
disparate web applications, the user is still required to log into the platform from which
the web applications will be launched. SiteMinder also requires that an agent be installed
on each web server that will participate in the SSO environment. The agents are written
with web server extension APIs such as ISAPI for Microsoft IIS and NSAPI for iPlanet
Web server, and so must be provided by Netegrity.
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Configuring OpenPages
SiteMinder Authentication Service
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Configuring OpenPages
SiteMinder Authentication Service
24) Click Apply and then OK to finish creating the agent configuration object.
25) Select the Domains tab on the left side of the administration console.
26) Under the Domains tab right click on the Domains menu and select Create
Domain.
27) For Domain name enter <name of Openpages Application sever>
28) Add the appropriate user directories to this domain. The user directories
specified should contain all of the users that should be able to access Openpages
Application sever.
29) Click Apply and then OK to finish creating the domain.
30) Expand the tree under the newly created domain to see all of its sub-components.
31) Right click on the Realms sub-component and select Create Realm.
32) For Realm Name enter <name of Openpages Application sever>-sox
33) For Agent click the Lookup button, select the Agent you created earlier (Step 8)
and then click OK.
34) For Resource Filter enter /sox/
35) Click Apply and then OK to finish creating the realm.
36) Right click on the newly created realm and select Create Rule Under Realm.
37) For Rule Name enter soxrule.
38) For Resource enter *.
39) Under the Action section make sure both Get and Post are selected.
40) Click Apply and then OK to finish creating the rule.
41) Right click on the Policies sub-component of the domain and select Create
Policy.
42) For Policy Name enter soxpolicy.
43) Under the Users tab add all users that should have access to Openpages
Application sever from the user directory.
44) Under the Rules tab add the soxrule you created in step 37.
45) Click Apply and then OK to finish creating the policy.
46) Exit the SiteMinder Administration console.
47) Restart all SiteMinder services.
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Configuring OpenPages
SiteMinder Authentication Service
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Configuring OpenPages
SiteMinder Authentication Service
14) In the Web Agent Configuration for Microsoft IIS dialog click the Configure
button.
15) In the Agent Configuration Object field, enter the name of the Agent
Configuration Object for this Web server instance (Part 2, Step 15) and click
Next.
16) In the Servlet Engine for Registration on Microsoft IIS dialog select No
Registration Services and click Next.
17) In the Web Agent Configuration dialog box, check the location of the host
configuration file and the name of the Agent Configuration Object. If the settings
are correct, click Next.
18) Confirm that the configuration settings are correct, then click Next.
19) Click Finish to exit the wizard.
20) Open the WebAgent.conf file located in <agent_install_location>\Bin\IIS. For
example: C:\Program Files\Netegrity\SiteMinder Web Agent\Bin\IIS
21) Set the EnableWebAgent parameter equal to YES.
22) Save the file and restart the Web server (all IIS services).
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Configuring OpenPages
SiteMinder Authentication Service
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SiteMinder Authentication Service
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SiteMinder Authentication Service
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SiteMinder Authentication Service
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SiteMinder Authentication Service
3. Click on the Show Hidden Settings setting and change the value to true
(without the quotes).
4. Click Save to save your changes.
5. Navigate to the following location: OpenPages|Platform|Security|Single
SignOn|Implementations|Header-based.
6. Click on the Session Attribute link.
7. Modify the value (if necessary) to match the session attribute for your
single-sign-on system. Using GetAcess as an example, the value of the
Session Attribute parameter would be SESSIONID (without the quotes).
8. Save your changes (if necessary) by clicking the Save button, or cancel
the edit.
9. Click on the Username Attribute link.
10. Modify the value (if necessary) to match the user name attribute for your
single-signon system. Again using GetAccess as a example, the value of the
Username Attribute would be USER.
11. Save your changes (if necessary) by clicking the Save button, or cancel
the edit.
12. Modify the setting Single Sign On | OP and change the value to true
(without thequotes). Save your changes.
13. Modify the setting Single Sign On | SOX and change the value to true
(without the quotes). Save your changes.
14. Navigate to the following location: OpenPages|Applications|Common
|Configuration.
15. Click on the Show Hidden Settings setting and change the value to
false (withoutthe quotes).
16. Click Save to save your changes.
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SiteMinder Authentication Service
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