Policy Server Guides › Policy Server Configuration Guide › Responses and Response Groups › Responses

Responses

A response passes static text, user attributes, DN attributes, customized active responses, or the runtime values of defined variables from the Policy Server to a SiteMinder Agent. Responses can be used by servlets, Web applications, or other custom applications to display customized content, change SiteMinder settings, or redirect users to different resources. When working with Web applications, responses can be used as privileges or entitlements for fine-grained access control.

A policy contains rules and responses which are bound to users and user groups. In a policy, responses are bound to specific rules or rule groups. When a rule fires, the associated response returns information to a SiteMinder Agent.

Responses take the form of name/value pairs. When a rule is triggered, the Policy Server returns the paired response to the SiteMinder Agent.

For example, if a user attempts to access a protected Web page, but is not authorized to view the contents of the page, a response can redirect the user to an HTML page that indicates the user does not have access, and provide details for contacting a system administrator.

For Web Agents, SiteMinder adds response attributes to HTTP header variables or HTTP cookie variables so that the responses are available to the Web resource or application named in the rule. In a RADIUS environment, the response is returned to the RADIUS client.