Storing and Versioning ALES Policy with ALER

This section describes how to integrate AquaLogic Enterprise Security with AquaLogic Enterprise Repository. It includes the following topics:

Overview

You can use AquaLogic Enterprise Repository to manage ALES policy data as ALER assets. By integrating ALER with ALES, you can:

Share ALES policy information between implementers and designers.
Use the ALER workflow to manage approval of changes made to ALES assets.
Maintain versioning of ALES policy. An ALES asset can have its version number updated in ALER when a change occurs in the policy definition contained within the asset.
Use ALER’s advanced categorization, reports and querying of ALES assets.

Integration Tasks

Set ALER import/export properties as described in Set ALER System Properties for Import and Export.
Import the ALES Policy Asset Type into ALER, as described in Import the ALES Policy Asset Type into ALER.
Manage the ALES Policy Assets as described in Manage ALES Policy Assets (ALER Console).

Set ALER System Properties for Import and Export

In the ALER console, open the Admin tab.
Select System Settings from the left column.
Under Import / Export and Introspection > Import / Export, set Import/Export Client cmee.importexport.enabled to True.
Under Open API > Common, set Open API Enabled cmee.extframework.enabled to True.
Click Save.

Import the ALES Policy Asset Type into ALER

To manage ALES policies in ALER, the ALES Policy asset type must be imported in ALER. This asset type defines ALES metadata, such as privileges, policy, resources, and resource attributes. Follow these steps:

In the ALER console, open the Admin tab.
Select Import Export > Import/Export Client.

Figure 7-1 Starting the ALER Import/Export Client

Starting the ALER Import/Export Client

In the Import tab’s Select file to import field, navigate to ALES_ADMIN_HOME/data/aler and select the appropriate ALES Policy Asset Type zip file. Then click Next twice.

ALES 2.6—ales_policy-asset-type.zipALES 3.0—ales_policy-asset-type-3.0.0.zip

Open the Assets tab and click Edit/Manage Assets.
In the Asset Editor, select Actions > Manage Types and verify that ALES Policy Asset Type appears in the Type Manager.

Figure 7-2 ALER Type Manager

ALER Type Manager

Manage ALES Policy Assets (ALER Console)

The ALER Asset Editor displays ALES Policy Assets in the following tabs (see Figure 7-3):

Overview—Asset name, location, and other general information.
Resources—Name, type, description, attributes, and indicates if it is a virtual resource and/or distribution point.
Authorization Policies—Used to manage Authorization policies, Privileges, and Privilege Groups.
Role Mapping Policies—Used to manage role mapping policies.
Bindings—SCM name, SSM name, and Binding Resources of the asset.
Entitlements Data—Information related to Identities, Identity Schema, Groups, Group attributes, and Group memberships.
Administration—ALER administration information about the asset

Figure 7-3 ALES Policy Asset Editor Tabs

ALES Policy Asset Editor Tabs

Versioning ALES Assets

ALER maintains version information for its assets. ALES Policy Assets use version numbers in the format N.N (1.0, for example). When importing ALES Policy Assets into ALER for the first time, the version number is set to 1.0. When you subsequently import the same assets, the version number increments by 1. You can also modify the version number of an asset within ALER.

Importing/Exporting Policy Data Between ALES and ALER

The policyIX utility can perform direct import/export of policy asset data between ALES and ALER or it can generate files that can be used to import and export in separate steps.

For more information about policyIX itself, see PolicyIX in the ALES Administration Reference

Export from ALES to ALER

To export policy assets directly to ALER, run policyIX with the -exportToALER option:

Importing to ALES from ALER

Generate a file that obtains the data from ALER:

policyIX -importFromALER <config_file> <file_name>

Import the data from the file:

policyIX -import <config_file> <file_name>

Import/Export Configuration Files for ALER

This section describes the configuration files used for imports/exports between ALES and ALER.

<aler_configuration>

<aler_property>

<aler_property name="<property_name>" value=”<value>”/>

server_version—ALER Server version (2.6 or 3.0)
server_url—ALER connection URL
username—user name for connecting to ALER
userPassword—user password
assetName—name of the asset
assetDescription—description of the asset
importAssetVersion—Asset version to import; valid only if the -importFromALER option is used in the policyIX command.

<aler_configuration>
	  <aler_property name="server_version" value=”3.0”/>
  <aler_property name="server_url"
        value=http://123.43.32.3546:7101/aler/services/FlashlineRegistry/>
  <aler_property name="userName" value="admin"/>
  <aler_property name="userPassword" value="tan66kds9"/>
  <aler_property name="assetName" value="MyALESPolicy"/>
  <aler_property name="assetDescription" value="An

ALES Policy asset"/>
  <aler_property name="importAssetVersion" value="2"/>
</aler_configuration>

ALES Integration Guide