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Configure TLS for IAM Console

Introduction

The TLS protection of Soffid IAM Console is applied through the configuration of the Apache TomEE embedded in the installation.

This solution is running under java technology therefore we need a jks file (Java Key Store) or a PKCS#12 file with the information of your certificate.

Once you have the Console installed and your certificate in jks format you can follow this steps to configure it the first time or for an update.

Mind that sometimes, the network encryption algorithm is named SSL, in fact, the configuration file still displays the word SSL. However, SSL protocol is now outdated, and TLSv1.2 is used instead.

Load a PKCS#12 (.PFX) file

There are many standard ways to store and transfer private keys and certificates, but the most common one is the PKCS#12 format. Its main advantage is that it contains, in a single file, both the private key and the public certificate.

To transform the .PFX file to a java key store (.JKS), and can use the next command (you have to adapt it to your system):

keytool -v -importkeystore -srckeystore <YOUR_FILE.PFX> -srcstoretype PKCS12 \
  -destkeystore /opt/soffid/iam-console-3/conf/yourcert.jks \
  -deststoretype JKS \
  -destkeypass 123456 -srcstorepass 1234 -deststorepass 123456

Next, you will be asked for the PFX encryption password. It must be provided to you along the PFX file.

Next, you will be asked (probably twice) for the password to be used to encrypt the .JKS file.  This password must be written down in the server.xml file. At the sample SSL configuration file placed at the top of this page, the sample password is 123456.

Configuration

The configuration file to modify is the following one:

/opt/soffid/iam-console-3/conf/server.xml

It can contain one or more connectors. Uncomment or add the following one, that enables the TLS configuration:


These are the attributes that you have to configure.

Attribute
Comment
port You can choose the standard 443 or another custom port
certificateKeystoreFile The source by default starts from /opt/soffid/iam-console-3/ (the installation directory)
certificateKeystorePassword The password used to encrypt the jks file
certificateKeyAlias The alias to identify your key and certificate

To know the Key Alias, you can run: 

keytool -list -keystore yourcert.jks


Then, copy or replace your jks file into to the file /opt/soffid/iam-console-3/conf/yourcert.jks

After that, you have to restart the iam-console services.

sudo systemctl restart soffid-iamconsole

If you have some configuration error, you can search for more information in the Console log (the current day log):
/opt/soffid/iam-console-3/logs/soffid-YYYY-MM-DD.log

Example server.xml
............
<!-- Define a SSL/TLS HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8443
         This connector uses the NIO implementation. The default
         SSLImplementation will depend on the presence of the APR/native
         library and the useOpenSSL attribute of the
         AprLifecycleListener.
         Either JSSE or OpenSSL style configuration may be used regardless of
         the SSLImplementation selected. JSSE style configuration is used below.
    -->
    
    <Connector port="8443" protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11NioProtocol"
               maxThreads="150" SSLEnabled="true">
        <SSLHostConfig>
            <Certificate certificateKeystoreFile="conf/yourcert.jks" certificateKeystorePassword="XXXXXX" 
                         certificateKeyAlias="1" type="RSA" xpoweredBy="false" server="Apache TomEE" />
        </SSLHostConfig>
    </Connector>
............

Further information

Additional information can be found at Tomcat website: https://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-7.0-doc/ssl-howto.html

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/TLS

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