Setting up SSL

Get an overview of the tasks that are required to configure SSL for IBM® WebSphere® Portal Express®. Some of these tasks are completed on the IBM WebSphere Application Server and the web server. The steps that refer to the WebSphere Application Server and the web server are summarized here; you should refer to the WebSphere Application Server and the web server documentation for detailed information. Steps that are unique to WebSphere Portal Express are described in detail here.

1. Configure the Web server to support HTTPS. This involves setting up the Web server to accept inbound connections from client browsers over SSL.
2. Depending on the Web server you want to use, other software may have to be installed on the Web Server. For example: instance Microsoft Internet Information Server and Microsoft Certificate Service.
3. The Web server must have a port defined (usually 443), and the necessary certificates and keys must be installed.
   • Go to Securing with SSL communications in the related links section for information about how to enable SSL on an IBM HTTP Server.
4. If this is a production environment, you must obtain a certificate from a certificate authority. For testing purposes, you can use IKEYMAN to generate a self-signed certificate. For Internet Information Server, use the Web server's resource tool kit to create SSL keys. Refer to the related links section for information about ITEYMAN and creating Secure Sockets Layer digital certificates.
5. Configure the WebSphere Application Server plug-in for the Web server to forward WebSphere Portal Express traffic that is received over SSL to WebSphere Application Server (which then forwards the traffic to WebSphere Portal Express ). Refer to the related links section for information about how to configure the plug-in.
6. In configurations where the Web server and WebSphere Portal Express reside on separate machines, requests to the Web server are rerouted to the application server. Under these circumstances, you can also configure SSL between the Web server and the application server to provide more complete security. This requires that you create additional keyfiles for the Web server plug-in and for the embedded HTTPS of WebSphere Application Server.
   • For information about configuring SSL between the Web server and the application server, use the IBM Redbook called WebSphere Application Server V7.0 Security Guide, found in the related links section. Use section 8.7.2 Application server configuration: Web container configuration of the IBM WebSphere Application Server
   Note: Always create a new SSL keystore and truststore for the external Web server and change the WebSphere_Portal server's secure transport channel to use the new SSL repository.
   CAUTION:
   Do not modify the default SSL key and truststore.
7. Complete the following steps to create or modify the two required properties in the configuration services:
   1. Log on to the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
   2. Go to Resources > Resource Environment > Resource Environment Providers.
   3. Click WP ConfigService.
   4. Click Custom Properties under the Additional Properties heading.
   5. Locate the redirect.login.ssl property and complete one of the following options:
      Parameter values: redirect.login.ssl determines the protocol to use after login completes. Specify one of the following values:

      • true to use HTTPS.
      • false to use HTTP.
      • If the property exists, click the property to modify it and change the value to true.
      • If the property does not exist, click New to create the property and enter the following information:
        • Name: redirect.login.ssl
        • Value: true
        • Type: java.lang.String
   6. Locate the host.port.https property and complete one of the following options:
      • If the property exists, click the property to modify it and change the value to alias_port.
        Note: alias_port is the port number that is used for the virtual host alias that is specified in a previous step (usually 443).
      • If the property does not exist, click New to create the property and enter the following information:
        • Name: host.port.https
        • Value: 443
        • Type: java.lang.String
   7. Click Save to save the changes to the master configuration.
   8. Log out of the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
8. Update the Transport Security Constraint in wps.ear. You can modify the transport guarantee so that WebSphere Application Server enforces the use of SSL for all pages under the /myportal/ URL. This step is required only if you need to completely secure the protected area over HTTPS.
   Clustered environments: Complete this step on the primary node, then complete a full resynchronize to propagate the changes to all nodes.
   1. Export wps.ear. See the related tasks section for instructions.
   2. Go to the directory where you exported wps.ear: path_to_exported_EAR/installedApps/node_name/wps.ear/wps.war/WEB-INF
      Note: You might need to extract the exported EAR before you can edit any files.
   3. Locate and open web.xml with any text editor.
   4. Set the value of the <transport-guarantee> element to CONFIDENTIAL under the <security-constraint> element for the /myportal/* URL. Do not change the values for the other <transport-guarantee> elements. Update the XML as follows:

            <security-constraint id="SecurityConstraint_1">
               <web-resource-collection id="WebResourceCollection_1">
                  <web-resource-name></web-resource-name>
               <url-pattern>/myportal/*</url-pattern>
               				<http-method>DELETE</http-method>
                  <http-method>POST</http-method>
                  <http-method>GET</http-method>
                  <http-method>PUT</http-method>
               </web-resource-collection>
               <auth-constraint id="AuthConstraint_1">
                  <description></description>
                  <role-name>All Role</role-name>
               </auth-constraint>
               <user-data-constraint id="UserDataConstraint_4">
                  <transport-guarantee>CONFIDENTIAL</transport-guarantee> 
               </user-data-constraint>
            </security-constraint>

   5. Save and close web.xml.
   6. Redeploy wps.ear. See the related tasks section for instructions.
   7. Clustered environments: Synchronize the nodes.
      1. Log in to the Deployment Manager.
      2. Select System Administration > Nodes.
      3. Select the nodes to synchronize from the list.
      4. Click Full Resynchronize.
9. Complete the following steps to update theme links:
   1. Edit the JSP and JSPF files that provide the login link. Locate the JSP and JSPF files that include the "wps.Login" string: You should not edit any of the themes shipped with WebSphere Portal Express because these themes are updated with fixes. Instead, you should copy the theme and make your changes to the copy.
      Finding theme resources: See the Location of theme resources link in the Related section.
      This attribute should appear in a tag similar to the following:

           <portal-navigation:urlGeneration contentNode="wps.Login" 
                portletWindowState="Normal">

      The exact structure of this tag can vary depending on how it was constructed by the page designer. JSP comments might also be used to indicate where the login link is located:

            <%-- login button --%>

   2. After finding the login link, change or add the ssl="true" attribute to the <portal-navigation:urlGeneration> tag of the anchor, for example:

      <wps:if loggedIn="no" notSelection="wps.Login">
       <wps:urlGeneration contentNode="wps.Login" 
                  portletWindowState="Normal" ssl="true">
        <td class="wpsToolBar" valign="middle" nowrap>
         <a href="<% wpsURL.write(escapeXmlWriter); %>" class="wpsToolBarLink">
         <wps:text key="link.login" bundle="nls.engine"/>
         </a>
        </td>
       </wps:urlGeneration>
      </wps:if>

      Note: The previous examples use the portal-navigation: prefix to designate JSP tags from the portal navigation tag library. Your custom JSP tags might use a different tag prefix.
10. Optional: Complete the following steps when using a remote Web server if you need to allow direct access to the WebSphere_Portal node on the internal port, for example http://www.ibm.com:10039/wps/portal:
    1. From the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console, go to Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > WebSphere_Portal > Web Container Settings > Web Container Transport Chains.
    2. Click New.
    3. Select a name for the transport chain.
    4. Select the WebContainer-Secure template (templates/chains|webcontainer-chains.xml).
    5. Select Next.
    6. Specify the Port name; for example 443.
    7. Click Next.
    8. Click Finish to confirm the creation of the transport chain.
    9. Click Save.
    10. If this is a clustered environment, repeat the previous steps for each node in the cluster, for example WebSphere_Portal2, and then synchronize the changes to all nodes.
11. Optional: Complete the following steps only if using the Login portlet:
    1. Log in to WebSphere Portal Express.
    2. Navigate to Administration > Portlet Management > Portlets.
    3. Locate the Login portlet and click the Configure portlet icon.
    4. Locate the UseSecureLoginActionUrl parameter and click the Edit value icon.
    5. Type true in the Value field and click OK to save your changes.
    6. Click OK to return to the Manage Portlets portlet.
12. In a stand-alone environment, stop and restart the WebSphere_Portal server. In a clustered environment, stop and restart the Deployment Manager and the WebSphere_Portal servers.
    Clustered environments: In the Deployment Manger, verify that the EAR changes have been successfully synchronized to all nodes. Stop and restart the servers on all nodes.
13. Complete the following steps to test your changes:
    1. Launch the home page in a Web browser through an HTTP URL that is not secure (for example, http://hostname.example.com:10039/wps/portal, where hostname.example.com is the fully qualified host name of the machine where Portal is running and 10039 is the default transport port that is created by WebSphere Application Server; the port number may be different for your environment.).
    2. Verify that the login link in the banner area uses the HTTPS schema for the link to the login page.
    3. Enter your username and password and then click the login link to verify that this page is already protected; the URL must be HTTPS and the browser must indicate that the page is protected.
       Browser security prompt: After you click the login link to accept the server certificate, a browser security prompt might appear.
    4. Log off.
    5. Log in using an HTTP URL that is not secure and that points directly to the protected area (for example, http://www.ibm.com:10039/wps/portal).
    6. Verify that you are requested to login and that the login page and the portal page afterwards are protected through SSL.
       Note: If the security-constraint has not been modified to CONFIDENTIAL, SSL does not protect the login page and the portal pages.