javax.resource.spi.work

Class SecurityContext

java.lang.Object

javax.resource.spi.work.SecurityContext

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable, WorkContext

public abstract class SecurityContext
extends Object
implements WorkContext

A standard WorkContext that allows a Work instance to propagate security related context information from an EIS to an application server.

This allows an EIS/resource adapter to flow-in security context information and execute a Work instance, and call methods on a MessageEndpoint interface, to effect message inflow, within that Work instance, in the context of an established identity.

A resource adapter indicates to the WorkManager, that a Work instance needs to be run in a specified security execution context by submitting a Work instance that implements WorkContextProvider interface and ensuring that the List of WorkContexts for that Work instance contains an instance of its subclass of SecurityContext.

It should be noted however that when a resource adapter flows-in an identity to be used by the application server, the propagated identity may or may not belong to the application server's security domain.

There are therefore, two scenarios while a resource adapter propagates a security identity from an EIS to the application server:

• Case 1: Resource adapter flows-in an identity in the application server's security domain: In this case, the application server could just set the initiating principal, flown-in from the resource adapter, as the security context the Work instance executes as.
• Case 2: Resource adapter flows-in an identity belonging to the EIS' security domain: The resource adapter establishes a connection to the EIS and needs to perform a Work in the context of an EIS identity. In this case, the initiating or caller principal does not exist in the application server's security domain and a translation from one domain to the other needs to be performed.

Since:

1.6

Version:

Java EE Connector Architecture 1.6

See Also:

WorkContextProvider, Serialized Form

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
SecurityContext()

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
String	getDescription() Get the brief description of the role played by the WorkContext and any other related debugging information.
String	getName() Get the associated name of the WorkContext.
abstract void	setupSecurityContext(CallbackHandler handler, Subject executionSubject, Subject serviceSubject) The container calls this method to set up the security Context for the Work instance.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

SecurityContext

public SecurityContext()

Method Detail

getDescription

public String getDescription()

Get the brief description of the role played by the WorkContext and any other related debugging information. This could be used by the WorkManager and the resource adapter for debugging purposes.

Specified by:

getDescription in interface WorkContext

Returns:

the associated description of the WorkContext

getName

public String getName()

Get the associated name of the WorkContext. This could be used by the WorkManager and the resource adapter for debugging purposes.

Specified by:

getName in interface WorkContext

Returns:

the associated name of the WorkContext

setupSecurityContext

public abstract void setupSecurityContext(CallbackHandler handler,
                                          Subject executionSubject,
                                          Subject serviceSubject)

The container calls this method to set up the security Context for the Work instance.

The handler argument must not be null, and the argument handler and the CallbackHandler passed to this method must support the following Callbacks defined in JSR 196: Java Authentication SPI for Containers specification:

• CallerPrincipalCallback
• GroupPrincipalCallback
• PasswordValidationCallback

The following Callbacks may be supported by the container.

• CertStoreCallback
• PrivateKeyCallback
• SecretKeyCallback
• TrustStoreCallback

A resource adapter might use the CallerPrincipalCallback “to set the container's representation of the caller principal. The CallbackHandler must establish the argument Principal as the caller principal associated with the invocation being processed by the container. When the argument Principal is null, the handler will establish the container's representation of the unauthenticated caller principal.”

A resource adapter might use the GroupPrincipalCallback “to establish the container's representation of the corresponding group principals within the Subject. When a null value is passed to the groups argument, the handler will establish the container's representation of no group principals within the Subject. Otherwise, the handler's processing of this callback is additive, yielding the union (without duplicates) of the principals existing within the Subject, and those created with the names occuring within the argument array. The CallbackHandler will define the type of the created principals.”

A resource adapter might use the PasswordValidationCallback “to employ the password validation facilities of its containing runtime.”

The executionSubject argument must be non-null and it must not be read-only. It is expected that this method will populate this executionSubject with principals and credentials that would be flown into the application server.

The serviceSubject argument may be null. If it is not null, it must not be read- only. It represents the application server’s credentials and it may be used by the Work implementation to retrieve Principals and credentials necessary to establish a connection to the EIS (in the cause of mutual-auth like scenarios). The serviceSubject may contain the credentials of the application server or the SecurityContext implementation may collect the service credentials, as necessary, by using the CallbackHandler passed to it.

When this method is called, the method implementation

• identifies the security context that needs to be flown-in to the application server to serve as the execution context of the Work instance.
• populates the executionSubject with the EIS Principals and Credentials that it wants to serve as the security context for the Work instance to be executed in.
• adds instances of the necessary Callbacks , usually a subset of the ones listed above, to an array and invokes the handle() method in the container's CallbackHandler implementation passing in the array of Callback instances.
• on sucessful return from the CallbackHandler.handle() method the setSecurityContext returns after ensuring that the executionSubject is populated with the valid Principals and Credentials that represent the execution context of the Work instance

Parameters:

handler - A CallbackHandler provided by the WorkManager that supports the Callbacks described above

executionSubject - A Subject that represents the security identity that needs to be established as the context for the Work instance. It is used by the method implementation to store Principals and credentials that needs to be used as the security context of the Work instance.

serviceSubject - A Subject that represents the application server It may be used by the method implementation as the source of Principals or credentials to be used to validate a connection to the EIS. If the Subject is not null, the method implementation may add additional Principals or credentials (pertaining to the recipient of the service request) to the Subject.

See Also:

196: Java Authentication SPI for Containers specification and related JavaDoc