Web Agent Guides › Web Agent Configuration Guide › Basic Web Agent Configuration › Set the Agent Name and Default Agent Name Identities

Set the Agent Name and Default Agent Name Identities

The AgentName parameter specifies the identity of the agent. The Policy Server uses this identity to tie policies to a Web Agent. You can define the name of an agent with the following parameters:

AgentName

Defines the identity of the web agent. This identity links the name and the IP address or FQDN of each web server instance hosting an Agent.

The value of the DefaultAgentName is used instead of the AgentName parameter if any of the following events occur:

• The AgentName parameter is disabled.
• The value of AgentName parameter is empty.
• The values of the AgentName parameter do not match any existing agent object.

Note: This parameter can have more than one value. Use the multivalue option when setting this parameter in an Agent Configuration Object. For local configuration files, add each value to a separate line in the file.

Default: No default

Limit: Multiple values are allowed.

Limits: Must contain 7-bit ASCII characters in the range of 32-127, and include one or more printable characters. Cannot contain the ampersand (&) and asterisk (*) characters. The value is not case-sensitive. For example, the names MyAgent and myagent are treated the same.

Example: myagent1,192.168.0.0 (IPV4)

Example: myagent2, 2001:DB8::/32 (IPV6)

Example: myagent,www.example.com

DefaultAgentName

Defines a name that the agent uses to process requests. The value for DefaultAgentName is used for requests on an IP address or interface when no agent name value exists in the AgentName parameter.

If you are using virtual servers, you can set up your SiteMinder environment quickly by using a DefaultAgentName. Using DefaultAgentName means that you do not need to define a separate agent for each virtual server.

Important! If you do not specify a value for the DefaultAgentName parameter, then the value of the AgentName parameter requires every agent identity in its list. Otherwise, the Policy Server cannot tie policies to the agent.

Default: No default.

Limit: Multiple values are allowed.

Limits: Must contain 7-bit ASCII characters in the range of 32-127, and include one or more printable characters. Cannot contain the ampersand (&) and asterisk (*) characters. The value is not case-sensitive. For example, the names MyAgent and myagent are treated the same.

If you are configuring virtual server support, you must specify a value for the AgentName or DefaultAgentName parameter.

Follow these steps:

1. Specify the agent name identities by doing either of the following:
   • For central agent configurations, open the Agent Configuration Object on the Administrative UI, and then add the values that you want to the AgentName parameter.
   • For local agent configurations, open the local configuration file on your web server. Add the values you want on a separate lines in the file.
2. Specify a default agent name identity by doing either of the following:
   • For central agent configurations, open the Agent Configuration Object on the Administrative UI, and then add the value that you want to the DefaultAgentName parameter.
   • For local agent configurations, open the local configuration file on your web server. Add the value you want to the DefaultAgentName parameter.

   The agent name and default agent name identities are set.

More Information

How to Set Up Virtual Server Support

Ensure that Agent Names Match

SiteMinder rules and policies are tied to Agent names. If a request is made to a host with an Agent name that is unknown to the Policy Server, the Policy Server cannot implement policies. Therefore, the value for the Web Agent’s DefaultAgentName or AgentName parameter must match the name of an Agent entry defined at the Policy Server.

You define an Agent at the Policy Server using the Administrative UI. The value you enter in the Name field of the Agent Properties dialog box is the value that must match the name defined for the DefaultAgentName or AgentName setting, whether the Web Agent is configured locally (Agent configuration file) or centrally from the Policy Server (Agent Configuration Object).

Encrypt the Agent Name

The Web Agent, by default, adds its name to the URL that redirects a user to a forms, SSL, or NTLM credential collector. You can control whether the Agent encrypts its name in the URL and whether the credential collector decrypts the name when it receives the URL with the EncryptAgentName parameter.

The default setting for the EncryptAgentName parameter is yes. You should set this parameter to no in either of the following situations:

• If a third-party application is working with the credential collector and it must be able to read the Agent name for processing.
• If you configure a Web Agent as a Forms Credential Collector (FCC) for forms authentication, and direct users to a single resource to be authenticated. The procedure to configure a single resource target requires an un-encrypted Agent name.

To encrypt the Web Agent name, set the EncryptAgentName parameter to yes.

More Information

Configure the FCC to Use a Single Resource Target