Implementation Guide › Implementation Overview › SiteMinder Components › Agents

Agents

(Required) A SiteMinder Agent can reside on a web server, a J2EE application server, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, or custom application. An Agent acts as the Policy Enforcement Point (PEP), intercepting user requests for resources and communicating with a Policy Server to determine if the resource is protected.

If the resource is not protected, the Agent allows access. If the resource is protected, the Agent continues to communicate with the Policy Server to authenticate and authorize users. A successful authorization prompts the Agent to let the resource request proceed to the server. Agents also:

• Provide information to web applications to enable content personalization
• Cache information about authenticated users and protected resources to allow quicker access to resources
• Enable single sign–on (SSO)