Distributed Authentication User Interface

OpenSSO Enterprise also provides a remote authentication user interface component to enable secure, distributed authentication across two firewalls. A web browser communicates an HTTP request to the remote authentication user interface which, in turn, presents the appropriate module login page to the user. The web browser then sends the user login information through a firewall to the remote authentication user interface which, in turn, communicates through the second firewall with OpenSSO Enterprise. The Distributed Authentication User Interface enables a policy agent or an application that is deployed in a non-secured area to communicate with the OpenSSO Enterprise Authentication Service installed in a secured area of the deployment. Figure 7–3 illustrates this scenario.

Figure 7–3 Distributed Authentication Process

The Distributed Authentication User Interface uses a JATO presentation framework and is customizable. (See screen capture in Authentication Service User Interface.) You can install the Distributed Authentication User Interface on any servlet-compliant web container within the non-secure layer of a OpenSSO Enterprise deployment. The remote component then works with the Authentication client APIs and authentication utility classes to authenticate web users. For a more detailed process, see User Authentication. For detailed installation and configuration instructions, see Chapter 9, Deploying a Distributed Authentication UI Server, in Sun OpenSSO Enterprise 8.0 Installation and Configuration Guide.