4 Other Security Topics

This chapter describes additional BI Publisher security topics including SSL configuration, proxy settings, enabling a local superuser, and enabling a guest user.

It covers the following topics:

• Section 4.1, "Enabling a Local Superuser"

• Section 4.2, "Enabling a Guest User"

• Section 4.3, "Configuring BI Publisher for Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Communication"

• Section 4.4, "Configuring Proxy Settings"

4.1 Enabling a Local Superuser

BI Publisher enables you to define an administration Superuser. Using the Superuser credentials you can directly access the BI Publisher administrative functions without logging in through the defined security model.

Set up this Superuser to ensure access to all administrative functions in case of failures with the configured security model. It is highly recommended that you set up a Superuser.

To enable a local superuser:

1. Click Administration.

2. Under Security Center click Security Configuration.

3. Under Local Superuser, select the box and enter the credentials for the Superuser, as shown in Figure 4-1.

   Figure 4-1 Superuser Credentials

   
   

4. Restart the BI Publisher application.

4.2 Enabling a Guest User

BI Publisher allows you configure public access to specific reports by defining a "Guest" folder. Any user can access the reports in this folder without entering credentials. Note that Guest access is not supported if you are using a shared catalog with Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

Note:

Guest access is not supported with Single Sign-On.

All objects that are required to view a report must be present in the Guest folder because the Guest folder is the only folder the guest user has any access rights to. Therefore the report and the data model must be present in the Guest folder and Sub Templates and Style Templates, if applicable. The guest user must have read access only.

The Guest user must also be granted access to the report data source.

To enable guest access:

1. Under Shared Folders, create the folder to which you want to grant public access.

2. Click Administration.

3. Under Security Center select Security Configuration.

4. Under Guest Access, select Allow Guest Access.

5. Enter the name of the folder that you created for public access. as shown in Figure 4-2.

   Figure 4-2 Public Access Folder

   
   

6. Restart the BI Publisher application.

7. Add the objects to the Guest folder that the guest users can access: folders, reports, data models, Sub Templates and Style Templates.

   Note:

   The report must reference the data model that is stored in the guest folder. Therefore, if you copy a report with its data model from another location, then ensure that you open the report and reselect the data model so that the report references the data model inside the guest folder.

   Similarly, any references to Sub Templates or Style Templates must also be updated.

8. Grant access to the data sources used by data models in your Guest folder. See Chapter 9, "Setting Up Data Sources" for information on granting Guest access to a data source.

Users who access BI Publisher see the Guest button on the log on page. Users can select this button and view the reports in your chosen guest folder without presenting credentials.

4.3 Configuring BI Publisher for Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Communication

If BI Publisher is communicating with other applications over SSL you might need to perform additional configuration to ensure operability.

Note:

It is strongly recommended that you enable Secure Socket Layer (HTTPS) on the middle tier hosting the Web services because the trusted username/password that is passed can be intercepted. This also pertains to Web services that are used for communication between BI Publisher and Oracle BI Presentation Services.

• Point BI Publisher to the System-Wide Keystore

• Import certificates to the Java keystore

• Configure the Delivery Manager

4.3.1 Pointing BI Publisher to the System-Wide Keystore

By default, BI Publisher uses the Java keystore: {java.home}/lib/security/cacerts

If you are using a different location as your keystore, then set the JAVA_OPTS environment variable for your Web server to tell the BI Publisher server where to find the keystore, as follows:

set JAVA_OPTS=-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=<keystore file>

4.3.2 Importing Certificates for Web Services Protected by SSL

If you make calls to Web services that are protected through Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), then you must export the certificate from the Web server hosting the Web service and import it into the Java keystore on the computer that is running BI Publisher.

To import certificates for Web services:

1. Navigate to the HTTPS site where the WSDL resides.

2. Download the certificate by following the prompts; the prompts that you see vary depending on the browser that you are using.

3. Install the Certificate into your keystore using the Java keytool, as follows:

   keytool -import -file <certfile> -alias <certalias> -keystore <keystore file>
   

4. Restart the application server.

These steps should not be required if the server certificate is linked to some certificate authority (such as Verisign). But if the Web service server is using a self-generated certificate (for example, in a testing environment), then these steps are required.

4.3.3 Configuring the Delivery Manager

If you want to use the default certificates built-in with BI Publisher, then no further configuration is required. SSL works with the default certificate if the server uses the certificate signed by a trusted certificate authority such as Verisign.

If the user uses the SSL with a self-signed certificate, then the certificate information must be entered in the Delivery Configuration page. A self-signed certificate means that the certificate is signed by a non-trusted certificate authority (usually the user).

4.4 Configuring Proxy Settings

To use external Web Services or HTTP data sources when the BI Publisher server is configured behind a firewall or requires a proxy to access the internet, you must configure Oracle WebLogic Server to allow the Web service requests and to be aware of the proxy. When configuring the proxy setting, you must also configure WebLogic Server to be aware of any hosts that BI Publisher must connect to directly (not through the proxy) for example, the Oracle BI Enterprise Edition host. Define the proxy host and the non-proxy hosts to WebLogic Server by setting the following parameters:

• -Dhttp.proxyHost - specifies the proxy host. For example:

  -Dhttp.proxyHost=www-proxy.example.com

• -Dhttp.proxyPort - specifies the proxy host port. For example:

  -Dhttp.proxyPort=80

• -Dhttp.nonProxyHosts - specifies the hosts to connect to directly, not through the proxy. Specify the list of hosts, each separated by a "|" character; a wildcard character (*) can be used for matching. For example:

  -Dhttp.nonProxyHosts="localhost|*.example1.com|*.example2.com

To set these proxy parameters and the Web service configuration for your WebLogic Server add the following to the WebLogic setDomainEnv script as follows:.

1. Open the setDomainEnv script (.sh or .bat) in the MW_HOME/user_projects/domains/DOMAIN_NAME/bin/ directory.

2. Enter the following parameters:

   EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES="-Dhttp.proxyHost=www-proxy.example.com -Dhttp.proxyPort=80 -Dhttp.nonProxyHosts=localhost|*.mycompany.com|*.mycorporation.com|*.otherhost.com ${EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES}"
   export EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES
    
    
   EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES="-Djavax.xml.soap.MessageFactory=oracle.j2ee.ws.saaj.soap.MessageFactoryImpl 
   -Djavax.xml.soap.SOAPFactory=oracle.j2ee.ws.saaj.SOAPFactoryImpl -Djavax.xml.soap.SOAPConnectionFactory=oracle.j2ee.ws.saaj.client.p2p.HttpSOAPConnectionFactory  ${EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES}"
   export EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES
   

   where

   www-proxy.example.com is an example proxy host

   80 is the example proxy port

   localhost|*.mycompany.com|*.mycorporation.com|*.otherhost.com are example non-proxy hosts