Using Deployment Descriptors for Declarative Security

Declarative security expresses an application component’s security requirements using deployment descriptors. A deployment descriptor is an XML document with an .xml extension that describes the deployment settings of an application, a module, or a component. Because deployment descriptor information is declarative, it can be changed without the need to modify the source code. At runtime, the Java EE server reads the deployment descriptor and acts upon the application, module, or component accordingly.

This tutorial does not document how to write the deployment descriptors from scratch, only what configurations each example requires its deployment descriptors to define. For help with writing deployment descriptors, you can view the provided deployment descriptors in a text editor. Each example’s deployment descriptors are stored at the top layer of each example’s directory. Another way to learn how to write deployment descriptors is to read the specification in which the deployment descriptor elements are defined.

Deployment descriptors must provide certain structural information for each component if this information has not been provided in annotations or is not to be defaulted.

Different types of components use different formats, or schema, for their deployment descriptors. The security elements of deployment descriptors which are discussed in this tutorial include the following:

• Enterprise JavaBeans components use an EJB deployment descriptor that must be named META-INF/ejb-jar.xml and must be contained in the EJB JAR file.

  The schema for enterprise bean deployment descriptors is provided in the EJB 3.0 Specification (JSR-220), Chapter 18.5, Deployment Descriptor XML Schema, which can be downloaded from http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=220.

  Security elements for EJB deployment descriptors are discussed in this tutorial in the section Using Enterprise Bean Security Deployment Descriptor Elements.

• Web Services components use a jaxrpc-mapping-info deployment descriptor defined in JSR 109. This deployment descriptor provides deployment-time mapping functionality between Java and WSDL. In conjunction with JSR 181, JAX-WS 2.0 complements this mapping functionality with development-time Java annotations that control mapping between Java and WSDL.

  The schema for web services deployment descriptors is provided in Web Services for Java EE (JSR-109), section 7.1, Web Services Deployment Descriptor XML Schema, which can be downloaded from http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=109.

  Schema elements for web application deployment descriptors are discussed in this tutorial in the section Declaring Security Requirements in a Deployment Descriptor.

• Web components use a web application deployment descriptor named web.xml.

  The schema for web component deployment descriptors is provided in the Java Servlet 2.5 Specification (JSR-154), section SRV.13, Deployment Descriptor, which can be downloaded from http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=154.

  Security elements for web application deployment descriptors are discussed in this tutorial in the section Declaring Security Requirements in a Deployment Descriptor.