I am hoping someone can help me out with a frustrating configuration problem I'm having with IBM FileNet Content Manager 5.2.1 (aka P8 5.2.1).
We have an existing system setup that uses Microsoft Active Directory as our LDAP directory service for P8 and that has worked fine to date. That said, we are now wanting our .NET apps to talk to P8 (via the Content Platform Engine .NET API) using WCF instead of legacy (and now deprecated) WSE but we have run into a problem. WCF requires that all communication occur over SSL - on the surface, not a problem. If you want to talk to the IBM Content Platform Engine (CPE) over SSL however, according to IBM's documentation, you must also change the underlying default LDAP connection from unsecured to SSL as well (in the process, changing LDAP to use port 636 instead of 389).
Following both Microsoft's and IBM's docs, I first enabled LDAP over SSL on Active Directory and tested accordingly. Using Microsoft's LDAP utility, ldp.exe, I can successfully connect and bind to Active Directory on port 636 over SSL.
The next step however is where I hit a wall - Enabling SSL for Content Platform Engine. I followed all the steps involving adding the Active Directory Server's CA certificate to the CPE's application server keystore - no problem. The next step in the configuration instructions however asks you to start the Administration Console for CPE (ACCE) and reconfigure the directory configuration properties - telling it to use SSL on port 636 and... KABOOM! When I attempt to save the configuration, the save fails, stating
An unexpected exception occurred. Message was: Failed connecting to ldap://ad1.domain.com:636
Unfortunately, I can't find any additional info as to why it failed to connect - I assumed it was due to something minor, such as a port conflict. To test that theory, I installed Microsoft's LDAP test utility on the CPE server and attempted to connect to the Active Directory Server over SSL on port 636. Much to my surprise, that worked just fine - grrrr...
I am now at something of a loss as to what to look at next. Anybody out there with experience configuring CPE to use SSL in an Active Directory environment?
Thanks in advance for any-and-all assistance.
WCF requires that all communication occur over SSL - on the surface, not a problem. If you want to talk to the IBM Content Platform Engine (CPE) over SSL however, according to IBM's documentation, you must also change the underlying default LDAP connection from unsecured to SSL as well
This is not true. FileNet can work with non-secure LDAP, while at the same time working with WCF.
Now, if you would like to solve why FileNet will not connect to a secure LDAP, then you should start with your WebSphere
Check WebSphere's Keystores to ensure that the AD's key is contained. Follow #M.Tamboli's advice and restart WebSphere.
Also make sure that you check WebSphere's SystemOut.log logs, as you may find more info in there.
I'm not sure if it is necessary, but you may also want to add/change the LDAP config that is setup within WebSphere itself.
Related
This is resulting from an outbound connection to Equifax's new TLS 1.2-enabled URL.
Background:
Servers: Windows 2012 R2, .NET 4.6.2, all TLS 1.x Enabled in Test, Stage and Production tiers per this. IIS configurations match between servers (app pools/code except tier-specific configurations/IIS settings.)
Servers are load balanced via Citrix Netscaler, but this site uses Port 80/HTTP, no HTTPS configuration.
Both tiers use the same Equifax URL, but with tier-specific credentials.
The Situation:
Prod will not communicate with their site, we get the opening error.
Our stage environment has no problem communicating.
What we have done:
- Validated TLS reg settings match
- Swapped the prod web.config to the Stage server and the communication worked, so it seems unlikely that it is a web.config issue in production.
- Validated .NET versions
- Checked LSA fips reg setting (set to 0)
- checked for wonky updates known to cause issues
We are going to setup a network trace, but for the moment we are at a bit of a loss. I would appreciate any insights as to what I might be missing.
Developers had to do the following:
Added the specification of using 4.6 per Microsoft recommendations.
Updated some other .NET references in the web.config to point specifically to 4.6.2
They made some changes in some older code pieces to make them 4.6.2-compliant.
In Weblogic, I have more than one Machines created using Node Manager. We have been told to setup SSL implementation for our Application which is deployed across created machines in a single Weblogic Admin Console.
So for the Application we had configured certificate using .jks file and configured SSL listen port by enabling it.
However we have been told to secure Node Manager machines in which application are deployed across as well. While enabling Node Manager type to SSL instead of Plain I am getting SSLException. By the fact we no need to secure Machines which were created using Node Manager, only securing Application is sufficient. Is am I right. Else is it required to Secure Machines -> Node Manager as well.
When I am turning SSL in Machines -> Node Manager, what are the things I have to consider to avoid SSLException. Is the Weblogic restart required If configure this or so. For now I do not have UNIX access, hence I couldn't do that at this moment.
Please advise on this situation. Without securing Machines -> Node Manager I am able run the application. But not able to access it using https. Only http for the Application is working.
Please advise on the situation.
SSL for node manager is optional as there's no application related sensitive data that flows in this layer.
You mention even after configuring jks you can't get the server and hence the application listening on https. Could you elaborate what steps did you follow. Note this has nothing to do with node manager
We are running WebSphere Application Server v8.5 on AIX 7, which we configured to use ldap security. Everything is working fine, but project went halt for some time and our WAS was down. Now we see that ldap cerficates were expired, hence we are unable to connect to dmgr & admin console. Can somebody help to resolve it?
We know how to configure ldap on WAS, but dont no how to change expired ldap cerficate with new cerficates. (We received new non-expiry certificates from ldap team but dont no how to configure it on WAS).
You need to disable security, restart dmgr, replace certificates and reenable security.
To disable security:
stop/kill the dmgr
run the following from the dmgr\bin folder:
wsadmin -conntype NONE
At the wsadmin prompt, type securityoff and then type exit.
Restart your dmgr.
UPDATE
Do you have Federated or Standalone Ldap configured? You should have in LDAP configuration link to SSL configuration. There you will need to add your new certificate to the Signers store (this is very simplified description as I'm not sure which repository you are using).
I have the following implementation in testing environment,
Front-end Server [IBM HTTP Server + IBM Websphere plugin],
WLServer1 [IBM Worklight 6.2 + IBM DB2 10.1+ Liberty Farm 8.5.5.1] and
WLServer2 [IBM Worklight 6.2 + IBM DB2 10.1+ Liberty Farm 8.5.5.1].
plugin-cfg.xml has been generated from each Worklight server and merged.
The request[http] from multiple devices has been directed to worklight server's alternatively, once the merged plugin-cfg.xml has been deployed in Front-end server's IBM Websphere plugin.
How I can implement the same to serve HTTPS request.
And also I have implemented the "UserCertificateAuthenticationProject" from the Worklight modules which connects the device[HTTPS] to Worklight server directly.
Note Tested it on Android only.
Help me to understand, How I can achieve HTTPS in Test environment via IHS.
What should be the procedure in Production environment?
Note IBM Worklight 6.2 supports Android, IOS, Blackberry & Windows, so I have to implement in all platforms.
It sounds like the problem you are having is similar to this one: https://stackoverflow.com/a/21914147/2245921 The Unresponsive Host error occurs for one of two reasons:
Your device cannot reach your server (they are not in the same network)
The device does not trust the server's certificate
Since you can connect to your HTTP connection, it is not #1, so it should be #2. The answer to the other question I pointed to above should fix your problem. Make sure to turn on trace-level logs in the WL Logger so that you can see the exceptions regarding untrusted certificates.
Edit: To expand on this answer; to use HTTPS, your server needs an SSL certificate to identify itself, otherwise the device has no proof that it is connecting to the right server and not to some random server that could be malicious. You should already have a certificate that you are using in your server; if you don't, then read on.
You usually get an SSL certificate from one of two places: you either use a certificate issued to you by a trusted Certificate Authority (e.g., Verisign), or you create one for internal testing purposes. In your case, you probably want to create your own, so you should follow the "Client X.509 Certificate Authentication and User Enrollment" getting started here, specifically the parts that talk about generating the server certificate.
Once you have that certificate set up, you should configure your server to use it; for that, follow the instructions here. After doing this, the last step is to have your device trust your server's certificate. For this, follow the last part in the getting started above, which shows you how to make your iOS/Android device trust the server. You would have to look up how to do this on Windows and Blackberry, too.
After this, you should now be able to connect successfully via HTTPS. (Always make sure that when you get an "Unresponsive host" error, that you can still connect to the HTTP console via the browser, to make sure that you are connected to the same network as your server. I know you already did this as you specified in your question, I'm just mentioning it as a reminder since it is easy to forget this.)
Context
I developed an application deployed in a Glassfish 3.1. This application is accessed only by https and sometimes it must connect to third-party webservices located out the customers networks. The customer have other applications inside his network; mine is only a new one "service".
Topology approximation
Big-ip F5 is the ssl end point. The customer have in this device the valid certificate
IIS redirects by domain to the respective service
glassfish is the machine with the application (over, of course, a glassfish 3.1)
How it works
When a user try to connect to _https://somedomain the request arrives to the F5 where the SSL encryption ends; now we have a request to _http://somedomain. In the next step F5 redirects this request to the IIS and this, finally, redirects to glassfish. This petitions are successfully processed.
Points of interest
I've full control over glassfish server and S.O. of the vm where it is located. Not other applications are or will be deployed on this server; it's a dedicated server for the app and some services it needs. The Glassfish runs on a VM with a Debian distribution as S.O. This VM is provided by a VM Server but I don't know the brand, model, etc. The glassfish have the default http listeners configuration.
I don't have any more information about network and other devices and i can't access to
any configuration file of any other device. I can't modify any part of the network for my own but maybe ask, suggest or advice for a change. Network's behavior should not change.
Actually users reach the application without problem.
The used certificate is a simple domain certificate trusted by Verysign
The customer have no idea of how to solve this.
The problem
All the third party WS the application must access have an unique https access and, in some cases, the authentication required is mutual (two-way) and here we find the problem. When the application wants to connect to WS with mutual ssl authentication it sends the glassfish local keystore configuration targeted certificate. Customer wants, if possible, use the same cert for incoming and outcoming secure connections. This cert is in the F5 and i can't add to the glassfish keystore because if I do this I would be breaking Verysign contract requirements. I've been looking for a solution at google, here(stackoverflow), jita,... but only incoming traffic solutions I've found. I understand that maybe a SSL proxy is required but I haven't found any example or alternative solution for the outcoming ssl connections.
What I'm asking for
I'm not english speaker (isn't obvious?) and maybe i doesn't use the correct terms in my search terms. I can understand that this context can be a nightmare and hard to solve but I will stand... The first think I need is to know if exists a solution (or solutions) for this problem and if it (or they!) exist where or how can I find it/them. I've prepared different alternatives to negotiate with the customer but I need to known the true. I've spent tones of hours on this.
There are a couple of solutions.
1)pay verisign more money for a second "license/cert". They will be happy to take your money for the "privilege". :)
2)Create a different virtual server listening on 443 which points to a pool that has your client's server address as the pool member. Then on the virtual server, attach a serverssl profile that is configured to use the same cert you are using for the incoming connections. Then the F5 would authenticate with the same cert along with your app server would not need a client cert installed. Also, if they need to initiate a session to you, you would have to setup a virtual server with a clientssl profile that uses the same cert and requires a client cert to connect.
If your destinations may not be static addresses, then an irule(s) would have to be created to deal with that. Can be handled in 10 or later code with a DNS call in the irule and setting a node for the session to go.