Web Services Security Guides › CA SiteMinder® Web Services Security Agent for IBM WebSphere Guide › Install the SiteMinder WSS Agent for WebSphere on a Windows System › How to Configure Agents and Register a System as a Trusted Host

How to Configure Agents and Register a System as a Trusted Host

A trusted host is a client computer where one or more SiteMinder WSS Agents can be installed. The term trusted host refers to the physical system.

To establish a connection between the trusted host and the Policy Server, register the host with the Policy Server. When registration is complete the SmHost.conf file is created. After this file is created successfully, the client computer becomes a trusted host.

Gather Information Required for SiteMinder WSS Agent Configuration

The following information must be supplied during Trusted Host registration:

SM Admin User Name

The name of a Policy Server administrator allowed to register the host with the Policy Server.

This administrator should already be defined at the Policy Server and have the permission Register Trusted Hosts set. The default administrator is SiteMinder.

SM Admin Password

The Policy Server administrator account password.

Trusted Host Name

Specifies a unique name that represents the trusted host to the Policy Server. This name does not have to be the same as the physical client system that you are registering; it can be any unique name, for example, mytrustedhost.

Note: This name must be unique among trusted hosts and not match the name of any other Agent.

Host Configuration Object

The name of the Host Configuration Object in the Policy Server that defines the connection between the trusted host and the Policy Server. For example, to use the default, enter DefaultHostSettings. In most cases, you will have created your own Host Configuration Object.

Note: This value must match the Host Configuration Object entry preconfigured on the Policy Server.

Policy Server IP Address

The IP address, or host name, and authentication port of the Policy Server where you are registering the host. The default port is 44442. If you do not provide a port, the default is used.

You can specify a non-default port number, but if your Policy Server is configured to use a non-default port and you omit it when you register a trusted host, the following error is displayed:

Registration Failed (bad ipAddress[:port] or unable to connect to Authentication server (-1)

Note also that if you specify a non-default port, that port is used for the Policy Server’s authentication, authorization, and accounting ports; however, the unified server responds to any Agent request on any port. The entry in the SmHost.conf file will look like:

policyserver="ip_address,5555,5555,5555"

FIPS Encryption Mode

Determines whether the Agent communicates with the Policy Server using certified Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 compliant cryptographic libraries.

FIPS Compatibility Mode (Default)

Specifies non-FIPS mode, which lets the Policy Server and the Agents read and write information using the existing CA SiteMinder® encryption algorithms. If your organization does not require the use of FIPS-compliant algorithms, the Policy Server and the Agents can operate in non-FIPS mode without further configuration.

FIPS Only Mode

Specifies full-FIPS mode, which requires that the Policy Server and Web Agents read and write information using only FIPS 140-2 algorithms.

Important! A CA SiteMinder® installation that is running in Full FIPS mode cannot interoperate with, or be backward compatible to, earlier versions of CA SiteMinder®, including all agents, custom software using older versions of the Agent API, and custom software using PM APIs or any other API that the Policy Server exposes. You must re-link all such software with the corresponding versions of the respective SDKs to achieve the required support for Full FIPS mode.