Broker 10.15 | webMethods Broker Documentation | Administering webMethods Broker | Managing Broker Security | Broker Security Model
 
Broker Security Model
 
Authentication Identities
Access Control Lists (ACLs)
Securing Broker System Components
The Broker security model is designed to safeguard all major components of your webMethods Broker installation as well as Broker data. The Broker security model uses:
*Basic authentication to authenticate Broker Servers and clients.
Authentication is the process of validating the identity of an entity attempting to establish a connection. Basic authentication provides a light-weight mechanism to authenticate Broker Servers and clients with users existing in the operating system, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), or Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI). For more information about configuring basic authentication, see Securing Broker Server Using Basic Authentication.
*SSL to authenticate Broker Servers and clients.
The reference integrity through SSL guarantees the identity of a Broker Server to a requesting client and that of a client to a Broker Server. For more information about SSL configuration, see Securing Broker Server Using SSL.
*FIPS to provide additional security.
You can ensure additional security on top of generic SSL on Broker Server by enabling FIPS. For more information, see Securing Broker Server Using FIPS.
*CRL to provide increased security.
A certificate revocation check against a CRL provides a mechanism for protecting against using certificates that are compromised. For more information, see Securing Broker Server Using CRL.
*Access Control List (ACL) to do following:
*Authorize administrative access to a Broker Server and client access to Broker objects and data.
Authorization is the process of granting (or denying) access permissions. The Broker security model authorizes access permissions by comparing a client's identity against a list of identities contained in an ACL. If the client's identity matches one of those listed, it is granted permission; if not, it is denied permission.
*Allow secure sharing of data between Brokers in territories, clusters, or gateways.
You can also set access permissions to control which Brokers can join a territory or a cluster. The Broker security model authorizes access permissions by comparing the identity of a Broker against a list of identities contained in an ACL. If the identity of a Broker matches one of those listed, it is granted permission; if not, it is denied permission.
For using ACL, Broker Server must be configured with one of the following:
*Basic Authentication
*Basic Authentication with SSL
*SSL (and optionally configure FIPS, or CRL, or both)
*Broker Server Port and Broker Monitor Port security.
You can specify individual IP addresses to which the Broker Server port and Broker Monitor port must bind to. You do this by specifying a value for the broker-ipaddress parameter in the awbroker.cfg file and the monitor-ipaddress parameter in the awbrokermon.cfg file.
For example, to bind Broker Monitor to the loopback address, you specify monitor-ipaddress=127.0.0.1 in the awbrokermon.cfg file. For more information, see SSL Authentication and Broker Port Usage.
It is not necessary that basic authentication, SSL, FIPS, or CRL be enabled when you are configuring the Broker Server Port and Broker Monitor Port security parameters.
Important:
It is not mandatory to configure basic authentication or SSL to operate your webMethods Broker installation. However, if you do not configure basic authentication or SSL, any Broker user can establish the administrative credentials required to control your Broker Server, join a client group that has administrator permissions, reconfigure Broker, and access Broker data. Therefore, it is recommended that you read this chapter to understand how the Broker security model works, and then configure basic authentication or SSL to safeguard your Broker installation.