Managing Web Services and Profiles

After a service is discovered and data is received from a trusted identity provider, a web service consumer can invoke a service at the web service provider. A web service provider is the hosting or relying entity on the server side that can make access control decisions based on this data and upon its business practices and preferences.

Identity Server comes with the following web service profile types:

Authentication Profile: Allows the system to access the roles and authentication contracts in use by current authentications. This profile is enabled by default so that ESP can evaluate roles in policies. This profile can be disabled. When it is disabled, all devices assigned to use this Identity Server cluster configuration cannot determine which roles a user has been assigned, and the devices evaluate policies as if the user has no roles.

WARNING:Do not delete this profile. In normal circumstances, only the system uses this profile.

Credential Profile: Allows users to define information to keep secret. It uses encryption to store the data in the directory the user profile resides in.

Custom Profile: Allows to create custom attributes for general use.

Discovery: Allows requesters to discover where the required resources are located. Entities can place resource offerings in a discovery resource, allowing other entities to discover them. Resources might be a personal profile, a calendar, travel preferences, and so on.

Employee Profile: Allows to manage employment-related information and how this information is shared with others. For example, a company address book that provides details such as names, phones, and office locations.

LDAP Profile: Allows to use LDAP attributes for and general use.

Personal Profile: Allows to manage personal information and to determine how to share that information with others. A shopping portal that manages the user’s account number is an example of a personal profile.

User Interaction: Allows you to set up a trusted user interaction service, used for identity services that must interact with the resource owner to get information or permission to share data with another web service consumer. This profile enables a web service consumer and web service provider to cooperate in redirecting the resource owner to the web service provider and back to the web service consumer.

Perform the following steps to manage web service providers:

  1. Click Devices > Identity Servers > Edit > Liberty > Web Service Provider.

  2. Select one of the following actions:

    New: To create a new web service, click New. This activates the Create Web Service Wizard. You can create a new profile only if you have deleted one.

    Delete: To delete an existing profile, select the profile, then click Delete.

    Enable: To enable a profile, select the profile, then click Enable.

    Disable: To disable a profile, select the profile, then click Disable.

    Edit a Policy: To edit the policy associated with a profile, click Policy. For more information, see Editing Web Service Policies.

    For information about modifying the description, see Editing Web Service Descriptions.

  3. Click OK.

  4. Update Identity Server.

Modifying Service and Profile Details for Employee, Custom, and Personal Profiles

The settings on the Details page are identical for the Employee, Custom, and Personal Profiles. You can specify the display name, resource ID encryption, and how the system reads and writes data.

  1. Click Devices > Identity Servers > Edit > Liberty > Web Service Provider.

  2. Click Custom Profile, Employee Profile, or Personal Profile as required.

  3. Under Details, specify the general settings, as necessary:

    Display Name: The web service name.

    Have Discovery Encrypt This Service’s Resource Ids: Specifies whether the Discovery Service encrypts resource IDs. A resource ID is an identifier used by web services to identify a user. The Discovery Service returns a list of resource IDs when a trusted service provider queries for the services owned by a given user. The Discovery Service has the option of encrypting the resource ID or sending it unencrypted.

  4. Specify data location settings:

    Selected Read Locations: The list of selected locations from which the system reads attributes containing profile data. If you add multiple entries to this list, the system searches attributes in each location in the order you specify. When a match is found for an attribute, the other locations are not searched. Use the up/down and left/right arrows to control which locations are selected and the order in which to read them. Read locations can include:

    • Configuration Datastore: Liberty attribute values can be stored in the configuration store of Administration Console. If your users have access to the User Portal, they can add values to a number of Liberty attributes.

    • LDAP Data Mappings: If you have mapped a Liberty attribute to an LDAP attribute in your user store, the values can be read from the LDAP user store. To create LDAP attribute maps, see Mapping LDAP and Liberty Attributes.

    • Remote Attributes: If you set up federation, Identity Server can read attributes from these remote service providers. Sometimes, the service provider is set up to push a set of attribute values when the user logs in. These pushed attributes are cached, and Identity Server can quickly read them. If a requested attribute has not been pushed, a request for the Liberty attribute is sent to remote service provider. This can be time consuming, especially if the user has federated with more than one remote service provider. Remote Attributes must always be the last item in this list.

    Available Read Locations: The list of available locations from which the system can read attributes containing profile data. Locations in this list are currently not being used.

    Selected Write Locations: The list of selected locations to write attribute data to. If you add multiple entries to this list, the system searches attributes in each location in the order you specify. When a match is found for an attribute, the other locations are not searched. Use the up/down and left/right arrows to control which locations are selected and the order in which they are selected.

    • Configuration Datastore: Liberty attribute values can be stored in the configuration store of Administration Console. Identity Server can write values to these attributes. If this location appears first in the list of Selected Write Locations, all Liberty attribute values are written to this location. If you want values written to the LDAP user store, the LDAP Data Mappings location must appear first in the list.

    • LDAP Data Mappings: If you have mapped a Liberty attribute to an LDAP attribute in your user store, Identity Server can write values to the attribute in the LDAP user store. To create LDAP attribute maps, see Mapping LDAP and Liberty Attributes.

    Available Write Locations: The list of available locations to write attributes containing profile data. Locations in this list are currently not being used.

  5. (Optional) Specify data model extensions.

    Data Model Extension XML: The data model for some web services is extensible. You can enter XML definitions of data model extensions in this field. Data model extensions hook into the existing web service data model at predefined locations.

    All schema model extensions reside inside of a schema model extension group. The group exists to bind model data items together under a single localized group name and description. Schema model extension groups can reside inside of a schema model extension root or inside of a schema model extension. There can only be one group per root or extension. Each root is hooked into the existing web service data model. Multiple roots can be hooked into the same location in the existing web service data model. This conceptual model applies to the structure of the XML that is required to define data model extensions.

    See Section C.0, Data Model Extension XML.

  6. Click OK > OK.

  7. Update Identity Server.

Modifying Details for Authentication, Discovery, LDAP, and User Interaction Profiles

You can specify information for Discovery, LDAP, and User Interaction web service profiles.

For information about profiles, see Managing Web Services and Profiles.

  1. Click Devices> Identity Servers > Edit > Liberty > Web Service Provider > [Profile].

  2. Click Authentication, Discovery, LDAP, or User Interaction as required.

  3. Specify the following details:

    Display name: The web service name. This specifies how the profile is displayed in Administration Console.

    Have Discovery Encrypt This Service’s Resource Ids: (Not applicable for the Discovery profile) Specifies whether the Discovery Service encrypts resource IDs. A resource ID is an identifier used by web services to identify a user. The Discovery Service returns a list of resource IDs when a trusted service provider queries for the services owned by a given user. The Discovery Service has the option of encrypting the resource ID or sending it unencrypted. This ID is encrypted with the public key of the resource provider generated at installation. Encrypting resource IDs is turned off by default.

  4. Click OK.

Editing Web Service Descriptions

The Description pages on each profile are identical. You can define how a service provider gains access to portions of the user’s identity information that can be distributed across multiple providers. The service provider uses the Discovery Service to ascertain the location of a specific identity service for a user. The Discovery Service enables various entities to dynamically and securely discover a user’s identity service, and it responds, on a permission basis, with a service description of the desired identity service.

  1. Click Devices > Identity Servers > Edit > Liberty > Web Service Provider.

  2. Click the profile or service.

  3. Click Descriptions.

  4. Click the description name, or click New.

  5. Specify the following details:

    Name: The Web Service Description name.

    Security Mechanism: (Required) Liberty uses channel security (TLS 1.0) and message security in conjunction with the security mechanism. Channel security addresses how communication between identity providers, service providers, and user agents is protected. For authentication, service providers are required to authenticate identity providers by using identity provider server-side certificates. Identity providers have the option to require authentication of service providers by using service provider client-side certificates.

    Message security addresses security mechanisms applied to the discrete Liberty protocol messages passed between identity providers, service providers, and user agents.

    Select the mechanism for message security. Message authentication mechanisms indicate which profile is used to ensure the authenticity of a message.

    • X.509: Used for message exchanges that generally rely upon message authentication as the principal factor in making decisions.

    • SAML: Used for message exchanges that generally rely upon message authentication as well as the conveyance and attestation of information.

    • Bearer: Based on the presence of the security header of a message. In this case, the bearer token is verified for authenticity rather than proving the authenticity of the message.

  6. Under Select Service Access Method, select Brief Service Access Method or WSDL Service Access Method.

    Brief Service Access Method: Provides the information necessary to invoke basic SOAP-over-HTTP-based service instances without using WSDL.

    • EndPoint URL: This is the SOAP endpoint location at the service provider to which Liberty SOAP messages are sent. An example of this for the Employee Profile is [BASEURL]/services/IDSISEmployeeProfile. If the service instance exposes an endpoint that is different from the logically generated concrete WSDL, you must use the WSDL URI instead.

      A WSF service description endpoint cannot contain double-byte characters.

    • SOAP Action: The SOAP action HTTP header required on HTTP-bound SOAP messages. This header can be used to indicate the intent of a SOAP message to the recipient.

    WSDL Service Access Method: Specify the method used to access the WSDL service. WSDL (Web Service Description Language) describes the interface of a web service.

    • Service Name Reference: A reference name for the service.

    • WSDL URI: Provides a URI to an external concrete WSDL resource containing the service description. URIs must be constant across all implementations of a service to enable interoperability.

  7. Click OK.

  8. Update Identity Server.

Editing Web Service Policies

Web Service policies are permission policies (query and modify) that govern how identity providers share end-user data with service providers. Administrators and policy owners (users) can control whether private information is always allowed to be given, never allowed, or must be requested.

As an administrator, you can configure this information for the policy owner, for specific service providers, or globally for all service providers. You can also specify what policies are displayed for the end user in the User Portal, and whether users are allowed to edit them.

  1. Click Devices > Identity Servers > Edit > Liberty > Web Service Provider.

  2. Click the Policy link next to the service name.

  3. Click the category you want to edit.

    All Trusted Providers: Policies that are defined by the service provider’s ability to query and modify the particular Liberty attributes or groups of attributes for the web service. When All Trusted Providers permissions are established, and a service provider needs data, the system first looks here to determine whether user data is allowed, never allowed, or must be asked for. If no solution is found in All Trusted Providers, the system examines the permissions established within the specific service provider.

    Owners: Policies that limit the end user’s ability to modify or query data from his or her own profile. The settings you specify in the Owner group are reflected on the My Profile page in the User Portal. Portal users have the authority to modify the data items in their profiles. The data items include Liberty and LDAP attributes for personal identity, employment, and any customized attributes defined in Identity Server configuration. Any settings you specify in Administration Console override what is displayed in the User Portal. Overrides are displayed in the Inherited column.

    If you want the user to have Write permission for a given data item, and that data item is used in an LDAP Attribute Map, then you must configure the LDAP Attribute Map with Write permission.

  4. On the All Service Policy page, select the policy’s check box, then click Edit Policy.

    This lets you modify the parent service policy attribute. Any selections you specify on this page are inherited by child policies.

    Query Policy: Allows the service provider to query for the data on a particular attribute. This is similar to read access to a particular piece of data.

    Modify Policy: Allows the service provider to modify a particular attribute. This is similar to write access to a particular piece of data.

    Query and Modify: Allows you to set both options at the same time.

  5. To edit child attributes of the parent, click the policy.

    In the following example, child attributes are inheriting Ask Me permission from the parent Entire Personal Identity attribute. The Postal Address attribute, however, is modified to never allow permission for sharing.

    If you click the Postal Address attribute, you can see that all of its child attributes have inherited the Never Allow setting. You can specify different permission attributes for Address Type (for example), but the inherited policy still overrides changes made at the child level.

    The interface allows these changes to simplify switching between configurations if, for example, you want to remove an inherited policy.

    Inherited: Specifies the settings inherited from the parent attribute policy, when you view a child attribute. In the User Portal, settings displayed under Inherited are not modifiable by the user. At the top-level policy in the User Portal, the values are inherited from the settings in Administration Console. Thereafter, inheritance can come from the service policy or the parent data item’s policy.

    Ask Me: Specifies that the service provider requests from the user what action to take.

    Always Allow: Specifies that the identity provider always allows the attribute data to be sent to the service provider.

    Never Allow: Specifies that the identity provider never allows the attribute data to be sent to the service provider.

    When a request for data is received, Identity Server examines policies to determine what action to take. For example, if a service provider requires a postal address for the user, Identity Server performs the following actions:

    • Checks the settings specified in All Service Providers.

    • If no solution is found, checks for the policy settings configured for the service provider.

  6. Click OK > OK.

  7. Update Identity Server.

Create Web Service Type

  1. Click Devices > Identity Servers > Edit > Liberty > Web Service Provider > New.

  2. Select the web service type from the list.

  3. Click Next.

  4. Continue with one of the following: