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WebSSO

WebSSO 1.2 Administrators Guide

  WebSSO: 1.2 Documentation |  Administrators Guide  |  caGrid: Documentation Guides

Table of Contents


Web Single Sign On (WebSSO) Server Installation and Configuration

The Web Single Sign On (WebSSO) is distributed both as a standalone project and a component other projects (such as caGrid). Each distribution contains a websso directory, herein referred to as WEBSSO_LOCATION. To install and configure the WEBSSO, please follow the steps below.

Step 1: Install Prerequisite Software

In order to install and run the WebSSO, the following pre-requisite software must be installed:

Step 2: Setup Environment Variables

  1. Create a GLOBUS_LOCATION environment variable and point it at the directory in which you installed Globus.
  2. Create a CATALINA_HOME environment variable and point it at the directory in which you installed Tomcat.

Step 3: Obtain a Host Credential

The WebSSO must run as a secure service, so the hosting container must run with a host credential. A host credential consist of an X.509 certificate and private key. Dorian provides the ability to issue and manage host credentials. There are many methods of retrieving host credentials, including:

  1. Requesting a credential from a known/trusted certificate authority (caGrid Certificate Authority). (RECOMMENDED APROACH)
  2. Standing up a Dorian service.
  3. Standing up a simple certificate authority.

Step 4: Create Host Credential Keystore

  1. Download and unzip gridca.
  2. Bring up a command prompt and change to the gridca directory which you recently unzipped.
  3. At the command line type ant createTomcatKeystore, this will execute a command line program which will guide you through creating the keystore.
  4. In the Enter a location and name for your keystore: prompt enter a file name and location to create your keystore.
  5. In the Enter a password for your keystore: prompt enter a password for your keystore.
  6. In the Enter the location of the certificate (PEM format): prompt enter the location of the host certificate you just created.
  7. In the Enter the location of the private key (PEM format): prompt enter the location of the private key you just created.
  8. In the Enter the current password of the private key: prompt enter the password for your private key, if you private key does not have a password (most cases) just hit enter.
  9. At this point the program will create your keystore at the location you specified. Below is a sample output of the program just described:Enter a location and name for your keystore:mykeystore
    Enter a password for your keystore:password
    Enter the location of the certificate (PEM format):w:\certificates\dwight.bmi.ohio-state.edu-cert.pem
    Enter the location of the private key (PEM format):w:\certificates\dwight.bmi.ohio-state.edu-key.pem
    Enter the current password of the private key:

Step 5: Configure Globus to Trust the CA

NOTE: This step is not necessary if you opt to start syncGTS programatically. For detailed steps refer Step 8 and Step 9.

We MUST configure Globus to trust the CA that issued the host credentials obtained in the previous step. To do this, place a copy of the certificate for the CA that issued the host credentials in the Globus trusted certificates directory. Unless otherwise specified during installation, this is usually USER_HOME/.globus/certificates. Globus requires all CA certificates in its trusted certificates directory to be in PEM format and to have a digit extension (0-9). For example, if a CA certificate is stored in the file cacert.pem, it should be copied to the directory USER_HOME/.globus/certificates (create directory if needed) with the file name cacert.0

Step 6: Configuring Tomcat

Since the WebSSO Server would be running using SSL we need to configure Tomcat to enable SSL. To do so complete the following:

  1. Edit the file CATALINA_HOME/conf/server.xml (example shown below).
  2. Uncomment connector element for port 8443 (SSL)
  3. Add a keystoreFile parameter containing the location of the keystore you just created.
  4. Add a keystorePass parameter containing the the password of the keystore you just created.
  5. Restart tomcat<!- Define a SSL HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8443 ->
    <Connector port="8443" maxHttpHeaderSize="8192"
    maxThreads="150" minSpareThreads="25" maxSpareThreads="75"
    enableLookups="false" disableUploadTimeout="true"
    acceptCount="100" scheme="https" secure="true"
    clientAuth="false" sslProtocol="TLS"
    keystoreFile="C:/Documents and Settings/user_account/mykeystore"
    keystorePass="password" />

Step 7: Configure Tomcat Endorsed Jars

  1. Delete jars from CATALINA_HOME/common/endorsed.
  2. Download the xercesImpl.jar and place it in CATALINA_HOME/common/endorsed.

Step 8: Configuring the WebSSO Server

The WebSSO is configured through an file, WEBSSO_LOCATION/src/resources/websso-properties.xml. Below is an example of the websso property file, followed by a description of each of the properties:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<\!--Sample XML file generated by XMLSpy v2005 rel. 3 U ([http://www.altova.com)-\-|http://www.altova.com)--]>
<websso-properties>
<websso-server-information>
<start-auto-syncgts>String</start-auto-syncgts>
<trust-store-path>String</trust-store-path>
<host-credential-certificate-file-path>String</host-credential-certificate-file-path>
<host-credential-key-file-path>String</host-credential-key-file-path>
</websso-server-information>
<credential-delegation-service-information>
<service-url>[http://www.altova.com]</service-url>
<delegation-lifetime-hours>0</delegation-lifetime-hours>
<delegation-lifetime-minutes>0</delegation-lifetime-minutes>
<delegation-lifetime-seconds>0</delegation-lifetime-seconds>
</credential-delegation-service-information>
<authentication-service-list>
<authentication-service-information>
<service-name>String</service-name>
<service-url>[http://www.altova.com]</service-url>
<dorian-information>
<service-url>[http://www.altova.com]</service-url>
<proxy-lifetime-hours>0</proxy-lifetime-hours>
<proxy-lifetime-minutes>0</proxy-lifetime-minutes>
<proxy-lifetime-seconds>0</proxy-lifetime-seconds>
<proxy-delegation-path-length>2</proxy-delegation-path-length>
</dorian-information>
</authentication-service-information>
</authentication-service-list>
<delegated-applications-group>
<group-name>String</group-name>
<delegated-application-list>
<delegated-application>
<application-name>String</application-name>
<host-identity>String</host-identity>
</delegated-application>
</delegated-application-list>
</delegated-applications-group>
</websso-properties>

WebSSO Properties

  1. websso-server-information - This section contains information about the WebSSO Server.
    1. start-auto-syncgts - This is a configuration parameter indicating whether the WebSSO Server should start SyncGTS automatically or not. "yes" indicates WebSSO Server to start the SyncGTS daemon
    2. trust-store-path - This is the path to the trust store. This attribute is kept for future use.
    3. host-credential-certificate-file-path - This is the path to the WebSSO Server's Host Certificate File obtained in Step 3 above
    4. host-credential-key-file-path - This is the path to the WebSSO Server's Host Key File obtained in Step 3 above
  2. credential-delegation-service-information - This section is used to configure the Central Delegation Service which will be used to publish the delegation policy for User's Grid Credentials
    1. service-url - This is the URL to the Central Delegation Service.
    2. delegation-lifetime-hours - This is the hours for which the delegation policy remains alive.
    3. delegation-lifetime-minutes - This is the minutes for which the delegation policy remains alive.
    4. delegation-lifetime-seconds - This is the seconds for which the delegation policy remains alive.
  3. authentication-service-list - This is the list of all the Authentication Services which can be used to authenticate user's credentials. For CCTS Release there would be only one entry.
    1. authentication-service-information - This is the entry for a single Authentication Service which consists of its name and URL.
      1. service-name - This is the name of the Authentication Service.
      2. service-url - This is the url where the Authentication Service is located.
      3. dorian-information - This section is used to configure the Dorian Server which will be used to retrieve User's Grid Credentials
        1. service-url - This is the URL to the Dorian Service.
        2. proxy-lifetime-hours - This is the hours for which the proxy remains alive.
        3. proxy-lifetime-minutes - This is the minutes for which the proxy remains alive.
        4. proxy-lifetime-seconds - This is the seconds for which the proxy remains alive.
        5. proxy-delegation-path-length - This is the delegation path length which should be set for proxy when created. It should be set to greater that '0' thus allowing further delegation of proxy by the client.
  4. delegated-applications-group - These are the group of applications to which user's credentials are to be delegated. In future these will be provided as a choice to the user. As of now they are just static list.
    1. group-name - This is the name given to the group of the applications to which a user's credentials is delegated.
    2. delegated-application-list - These are the list of the applications to which user's credentials are to be delegated.
      1. delegated-application - This is the entry for an application to which the user's credentials are delegated..
        1. application-name - This is the name of the application to which the user's credentials are delegated.
        2. host-identity - This is the host identity (obtained from the Host Credentials that are obtained from the Dorian) of the application to which the user's credentials are delegated.

Step 9: Copy the Sync Description File

In order to sync with the Grid Trust Fabric, the WebSSO Server needs a sync-description.xml file in its classpath to start SyncGTS programatically if the start-auto-syncgts entry in WebSSO Configuration file is set to 'yes'. Depending upon the grid you are trying to connect to, you need to obtain the sync-description.xml file from the corresponding Grid Administrator. This file needs to be placed in WEBSSO_LOCATION/src/resources folder. NOTE: if you have turned start-auto-syncgtsto 'no', then the onus of syncing with the trust fabric relies on the administrator. This can be done manually by starting the syncGTS Daemon. For detailed steps refer to GTS

Step 10: Building WebSSO Server

If you have obtained a source release of the WebSSO, you will need to build it. Type the following from a command prompt:

%> cd WEBSSO_LOCATION
%> ant clean all

*Depending on the the WebSSO Server distribution, it may be required to build the entire project that the WebSSO Server is distributed with prior to building the WebSSO. For example, if you have obtained a caGrid source distribution, this is required. If you received a WebSSO Server standalone distribution, this is not required.*

Step 11: Deploying WebSSO

Once you have configured a secure (Tomcat) container and built the WebSSO Application, you need to deploy the WebSSO to that container. To deploy the WebSSO to a secure Tomcat container, copy cas.war file from the WEBSSO_LOCATION/build folder into Tomcat's webapps folder.

Prerequisites

(Any service specific prerequisites (e.g. MySQL) beyond the common ones.)

Obtaining the Service

e.g. dir in caGrid release, external zip if available, etc.

Configuration

Local config files you can edit and what they do.

Installation

Deploying the service.

Validation

Making sure the service works.

Management

Service-specific use cases you can do to manage the service (e.g. adding an administrator, etc.).
Last edited by Knowledge Center (490 days ago), ...
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