Web Agents

Web agents control access to content on web servers and proxy servers. The content that web agents can protect include a multitude of services and web resources based on policies configured by an administrator. When a user points a browser to a URL deployed on a protected web or proxy server, the agent intercepts the request and validates the user’s session token, if any exists. If the token’s authentication level is insufficient (or none exists), the appropriate Authentication Service is called for a login page, prompting the user for (further) authentication. The Authentication Service verifies that the user credentials are valid. For example, the LDAP service verifies that the user name and password are stored in an LDAP v3 compliant directory server, such as Sun Java System Directory Server. After the user’s credentials are properly authenticated, the agent examines all the roles and groups (which contain the policies) assigned to the user. Based on the aggregate of all policies assigned to the user, the individual is either allowed or denied access to the URL.