Configuration Guides › Policy Server Configuration Guide › Agents and Agent Groups › SOA Agent Configuration Overview › SOA Agent Components

SOA Agent Components

On the Agent-side of a SOA Security Manager network, there are several main components involved in SOA Agent operation:

SOA Agent

Virtual interface to a web server, application server, or EJB; triggers rules and enforces policies

Trusted Host

A client computer where one or more SOA Agents is installed. It handles the connection to the Policy Server. The term trusted host refers to the physical system. You can have more than one trusted host on a physical server, but each must be identified by a unique name.

The trusted host is “trusted,” because it is registered with the Policy Server. You must register a trusted host so the SOA Agents installed on that host can communicate with the Policy Server.

A trusted host is identified by the following data:

• Host name
• Host IP address
• Host description
• Shared secret
• Host Object Identifier (OID)

Agent Configuration File (WebAgent.conf or JavaAgent.conf)

Stored on the server where the Agent resides, this file is used for local configuration. It holds the Agent configuration parameters for each SOA Agent.

Host Configuration File (SmHost.conf)

Stored on the server where the SOA Agent resides, this file holds initialization parameters for the trusted host. Once the trusted host connects to a Policy Server, the trusted host uses the settings in the Host Configuration Object stored at the Policy Server. The Host Configuration Object is named in the hostconfigobject parameter of this file.