Web Services
Web services are distributed applications developed using open technologies such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML), SOAP, and HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Enterprises use these technologies as a mechanism for allowing their applications to cross network boundaries and communicate with those of their partners, customers and suppliers. Access Manager implements the Liberty ID-WSF which is designed to operate in concert with a federated identity framework, such as the Liberty Identity Federation Framework (Liberty ID-FF). Previous releases of Access Manager implemented the Liberty ID-WSF version 1.0. This current release of Access Manager 7.1 extends the implementation to include version 1.1. Access Manager includes the following Liberty ID-WSF web services:
Authentication Web Service
The Authentication Web Service adds authentication functionality to the SOAP binding. It provides authentication to a WSC, allowing the WSC to obtain security tokens for further interactions with other services at the same provider. These other services may include a discovery service or single sign-on service. Upon successful authentication, the final Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) response contains the resource offering for the Discovery Service. For more information, see Chapter 6, Authentication Web Service.
Caution – Do not confuse the Liberty-based Authentication Web Service with the proprietary Access Manager Authentication Service discussed in the Sun Java System Access Manager 7.1 Technical Overview.
Liberty Personal Profile Service
The Liberty Personal Profile Service is a data service that supports storing and modifying a principal's identity attributes. It maps attributes defined in a user's personal profile to LDAP attributes in a data store. These identity attributes might include the user's first name, last name, home address, or emergency contact information. The Liberty Personal Profile Service is queried or updated by a WSC acting on behalf of the principal. For more information, see Chapter 7, Data Services.
Discovery Service
The Discovery Service is a framework for describing and discovering identity web services. It allows a requesting entity, such as a service provider, to dynamically determine a principal's registered web services provider (WSP), such as an attribute provider. Typically, a service provider queries the Discovery Service, which responds by providing a resource offering that describes the requested WSP. (A resource offering defines associations between a piece of identity data and the service instance that provides access to the data.) The implementation of the Discovery Service includes Java and web-based interfaces. The service is bootstrapped using Liberty ID-FF single sign-on or the Liberty ID-WSF Authentication Web Service. For more information, see Chapter 8, Discovery Service.
Note –
By definition, a discoverable service is assigned a service type URI, allowing the service to be registered in Discovery Service instances. The service type URI is typically defined in the Web Service Definition Language (WSDL) file that defines the service.
SOAP Binding Service
The SOAP Binding Service is the method of transport used to convey identity data between web services. It includes a set of Java APIs used by the developer of a Liberty-enabled identity service. The APIs are used to send and receive identity-based messages using SOAP, an XML-based messaging protocol. The service invokes the correct request handler class (specified by a service endpoint) to handle the messages. For more information, see Chapter 9, SOAP Binding Service.
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