An agent is a software plug-in that can be installed on a Web server (such as Oracle HTTP Server) where the application resides. To secure access to protected resources, a Web server, Application Server, or third-party application must be associated with an agent that is registered with Access Manager. To spare users from re-authenticating when accessing multiple resources, the application delegates the authentication function to the single sign-on (SSO) provider: Access Manager.
During agent registration, the application can be automatically registered and basic policies automatically generated. Alternatively, you can turn off automatic policy generation during Agent registration and manually create policies.
After registration, the Agent acts as a filter for HTTP/HTTPS requests, communicating between the OAM Server and its services. The Agent intercepts requests for resources protected by Access Manager and works with Access Manager to fulfill access requirements. The following sections introduce the types of agents.
With Access Manager 11.1.2, each Agent acts as a filter for requests.
Your deployment can include the agent types described in Table 14-1, in any combination.
Table 14-1 Agent Types
| Agent Type | Description |
|---|---|
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OAM Agents Note: Unless explicitly stated, the terms Webgate and Access Client are used interchangeably. |
OAM Agents must be installed independently, following Oracle Access Management installation. After registering the agent with Access Manager, the agent communicates directly with registered OAM Servers and Access Manager services. OAM Agents communicate with Access Manager using the OAM Proxy to "sanitize" the request and respond identically for all agents. The following OAM Agents types are available:
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IAMSuiteAgent a Pre-registered OAM 10g Agent |
This pre-registered 10g agent provides single sign-on functionality for the IAM suite of consoles. The IAM Suite Agent includes a companion Application Domain (IAMSuite) and basic policies that should not be modified. See Also: About the Pre-Registered 10g WebGate IAMSuiteAgent |
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Legacy OSSO Agents |
mod_osso is part of the OracleAS 10g single sign-on (OSSO) solution that authenticates users at a central OSSO Server. The mod_osso module is an Oracle HTTP Server module that provides authentication to OracleAS applications. After registration with Access Manager, OSSO 10g Agents communicate directly with Access Manager 11g services through an OSSO proxy. The OSSO proxy supports existing OSSO agents when upgrading to Access Manager. The OSSO proxy handles requests from OSSO Agents and translates the OSSO protocol into a protocol for Access Manager 11g authentication services. Access Manager gives mod_osso the redirect URL for the user based on the authentication scheme associated with the OAM policy defined for the resource See Also: Registering and Managing Legacy OSSO Agents as well as the following topics: |
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Legacy OpenSSO Agents |
Java Agents are deployed J2EE containers to work with the OpenSSO server. Web Agents can be deployed on any Web or Servlet container. Each OpenSSO Agent is a filter that is plugged into the container (Oracle WebLogic Server, JBoss, Apache, and so on) that hosts applications. Access Manager provides an OpenSSO Proxy to handle requests for resources protected by OpenSSO Agents:
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Table 14-2 introduces Access Manager features that support agent registration, configuration, management, and single-sign on. Links to topics providing more information are included.
Table 14-2 Agent Registration and SSO Support
| Oracle Provides | Description |
|---|---|
|
Oracle Access Management Console |
Agent Registration, Configuration, Management. See Also: "Registering an OAM Agent Using the Console" |
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oamreg tool |
Remote Agent Registration and Management See Also: "Acquiring and Setting Up the Remote Registration Tool". |
|
SSO Implementations |
Access Manager supports numerous SSO scenarios. See Also: "Access Manager Single Sign-On Components" |
|
Protocols that secure information exchange on the Internet |
This depends on the credential collector you choose. See Also: Table 22-5 |
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Login and Logout Forms |
The location of the login and logout forms depends on the credential collector. See Also: Table 22-5 and Configuring Centralized Logout for Sessions Involving 11g WebGates |
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Cryptographic keys |
One key is generated and used per registered mod_osso or 11g Webgate. However, one single key is generated for all 10g Webgates. See Also: Table 1-2 |
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Keys storage |
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Table 14-3 provides run time processing information for OAM Agents.
See Also:
Table 14-3 Run Time Processing Overview for Access Manager
| Agent Type | Description |
|---|---|
|
11g WebGates 11g Access Clients |
After installation and registration, 11g WebGates communicate with Access Manager using the OAM Proxy to "sanitize" the request and respond identically for all agents. Process overview, Authentication Request without OAMAuthnCookie: When a request for a resource protected by Basic authentication scheme comes without an authorization header (credentials)
Process overview, Basic Authentication: When a request for a resource protected by Basic authentication scheme comes without an authorization header (credentials)
See Also: "About 11g WebGate Configured as a Detached Credential Collector" |
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10g Webgates 10g Access Clients |
After installation and registration, 10g WebGates communicate directly with Access Manager using the OAM proxy, which acts as a bridge. See Also:
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OpenSSO Agents |
See Also: "Runtime Processing Between OpenSSO Agents and Access Manager". |
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OSSO Agent (mod_osso 10g) |
With Oracle Access Manager 11.1.1, the Embedded Credential Collector (ECC) is the default. The ECC was and is integrated with the OAM Server.
Access Manager 11.1.2 also supports the ECC by default. However, Access Manager 11.1.2 also enables you to configure an 11g WebGate to use a detached credential collector (DCC). The DCC is considered more secure when compared to the default ECC.
An 11g WebGate configured to act as a DCC is known as an Authenticating WebGate. WebGates that protect resources are known as Resource WebGates.
WebGates interact with the client to perform authentication and authorization; this involves redirection to collect credentials, set the cookie to hold the session, report errors, and so on. WebGates work with browser clients, which usually have all the support required for this interaction end to end.
However, there are cases where a non-browser client making REST calls directly needs to access resources and perform authentication and authorization. This use case can be addressed with Mobile and Social.
Mobile and Social support is enabled using two user-defined parameters within the WebGate agent registration page. Mobile and Social services use a programmatic non-browser client with Access Manager. For details, see the following documentation.
The 10g WebGate and the companion Application Domain provides single sign-on functionality for the IDM Administration Console. IAMSuiteAgent is installed and pre-configured for this purpose as part of the initial OAM Server installation and configuration.
Oracle strongly recommends that you do not alter IAMSuiteAgent and the companion Application Domain. However, you can replace the IAMSuiteAgent with a fresh 10g WebGate. For details, see the following sections.