Policy Types

The Policy Service authorizes access to a user based on the policies stored in the Access Manager information tree. The following sections contain information on the two types of policies you can create using Access Manager:

• Normal Policy

• Referral Policy

Normal Policy

A normal policy specifies a protected resource and who is allowed to access the resource. The protected resource can be anything hosted on a protected server. Examples of protected resources are applications, document files, images, or the server itself. Only a Top-Level Realm or Policy Administrator can create or manage polices that apply to a resource. A normal policy consists of rules, subjects, conditions, and response providers. The following sections contain information regarding these elements.

• Rules

• Subjects

• Conditions

• Response Providers

Rules

A rule defines the policy itself by specifying a resource, one or more sets of an action, and values for each action.

• A resource defines the specific object that is being protected. Examples of protected objects are an HTML page on a web site, or a user’s salary information accessed using a human resources service.

• An action is the name of an operation that can be performed on the resource. Examples of web page actions are POST and GET. An allowable action for a human resources service might be canChangeHomeTelephone.

• A value defines the permission for the action. Examples are allow anddeny.

Subjects

A subject specifies, by implication, the user or collection of users that the policy affects.

You can implement custom subjects by using the Policy APIs. You can assign the following subjects to policies:

Access Manger Roles

The roles you create and manage under the Realms Subject tab can be added as a value of the subject.

Access Manager Identity

The identities you create and manage under the Realms Subject tab can be added as a value of the subject.

Authenticated Users

Any user with a valid SSOToken is a member of this subject. All authenticated users would be member of this Subject, even if they have authenticated to a realm that is different from the realm in which the policy is defined.

LDAP Groups

Any member of an LDAP group can be added as a value of this subject.

LDAP Roles

Any LDAP role can be added as a value of this subject. An LDAP Role is any role definition that uses the Sun Java System Directory Server role capability. These roles have object classes mandated by Directory Server role definition. The LDAP Role Search filter can be modified in the Policy Configuration Service to narrow the scope and improve performance.

LDAP Users

Any LDAP user can be added as a value of this subject.

Organization

Any realm can be added as a value of this subject

Web Services Clients

Valid values are the DNs of trusted certificates in the local JKS keystore, which corresponds to the certificates of trusted web service clients (WSCs). A WSC identified by the SSOToken is a member of this subject, if the DN of any principal contained in the SSOToken matches any selected value of this subject. This subject has dependency on the Access Manager implementation of the Liberty Alliance Project Identity Web Services Framework and should be used only by web service providers to authorize WSCs.

Conditions

A condition specifies additional constraints that must be satisfied for a policy be applicable. For example, you can define a condition to limit a user’s network access to a specific time period. The condition might state that the subject can access the network only between 7:00 in the morning and 10:00 at night.

You can implement custom conditions by using the Policy APIs. Access Manager provides the following conditions:

Active Session Time

Sets a condition based on constraints configured for user session time such as maximum session time.

Authentication Chain

The policy is applicable if the user has successfully authenticated to the authentication chain in the specified realm. If the realm is not specified, authentication to any realm at the authentication chain will satisfy the condition.

Authentication Level

The Authentication Level attribute indicates the level of trust for authentication. The policy is applicable if the user's authentication level is greater than or equal to the Authentication Level set in the condition, or if the user's authentication level is less than or equal to the Authentication Level set in the condition, depending on the configuration.

Authentication Module Instance

The policy applies if the user has successfully authenticated to the authentication module in the specified realm. If the realm is not specified, authentication to any realm at the authentication module will satisfy the condition.

IP Address/DNS Names

Sets a condition based on a range of IP Addresses, or a DNS name.

Current Session Properties

Decides whether a policy is applicable to the request based on values set in the user's Access Manager session.

LDAP Filter Condition

The policy is applicable when the defined LDAP filter locates the user entry in the LDAP directory that was specified in the Policy Configuration service.

Realm Authentication

The policy applies if the user has authenticated to the specified realm.

Time

Sets the condition based on time constraints (time, day, date, time zone).

Response Providers

Response providers are plug-ins that provide policy response attributes. Policy response attributes typically provide values for attributes in the user profile. The attributes are sent with policy decisions to the PEP which, in turn, passes them in headers to an application. The application typically uses these attributes for customizing pages such as a portal page. Access Manager includes one implementation, the IDResponseProvider. You can implement custom response providers by using the Policy APIs.

Referral Policy

A Realm Administrator or Policy Administrator at the root or top level of the Access Manager information tree can create policy for any resource. A referral policy enables a Realm Administrator or a Policy Administrator to delegate policy configuration tasks. A referral policy delegates both policy creation and policy evaluation, and consists of one or more rules and one or more referrals.

• A rule defines the resource whose policy creation or evaluation is being referred.

• A referral defines the identity object to which the policy creation or evaluation is being referred.

Referral policies delegate policy management privileges to another entity such as a peer realm, a subrealm, or even a third-party product. (You can implement custom referrals by using the Policy APIs.) For example, a top-level realm exists named ISP. It contains two subrealms: company1 and company2. The Top-Level Administrator for ISP can delegate policy management privileges so that a Realm Administrator in company1 can create and manage policies only within thecompany1 realm, and a Realm Administrator in company2 can create and manage policies only within the company2 realm. To do this, the Top-Level Administrator creates two referral policies, defining the appropriate realm in the rule and the appropriate administrator in the referral.

An administrator or Policy Administrator for realms configured below the root level of the Access Manager information tree have permission to create policies only for resources delegated to that realm.