Step 6. Configuring the Server With Different Security Providers

In this section:

How to:

You can run the server in any of the following security provider modes:

The default security provider mode is OPSYS if you have satisfied the OPSYS requirements. Otherwise, the default provider mode is OFF. To apply a different security mode, To apply a different security provider, use the Web Console. To configure the server security provider, access the Control Menu, right-click Security Providers, and then select Change Providers.

Note: To revert to OFF, if OPSYS was previously set up, additional steps are required as outlined in the OPSYS setup steps below to properly revert.

If a 7.7.04 or higher refresh is performed on a prior server of 7.7.03 or lower and the EDAEXTSEC variable was used to control the security modes of DBMS, PTH, or LDAP, the variable should be removed from wherever it was set. The server security should be re configured using the Web Console method of setting the security provider.

To use OPSYS, you must satisfy the requirements described in How to Satisfy Security Provider Mode OPSYS Requirements.

Some security modes need additional information before they can be configured and activated, such as the various LDAP parameters involved in connecting to and using a LDAP directory. The various parameters are displayed within the Web Console configuration page for each mode with help icons next to them. You can also find Web Console help in the Server Administration for UNIX, Windows, OpenVMS, IBM i, and z/OS manual. To access the manual on the Web Console:

  1. From the Web Console menu bar, select Help, then Contents and Search.

    The Web Console Help window opens.

  2. In the left pane, expand Server Administration. The various mode topics will appear under the Server Security topic.

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Procedure: How to Satisfy Security Provider Mode OPSYS Requirements

To run a server in security provider OPSYS mode in IBM i, you must satisfy the following requirements. You must do this once after installing and after each refreshing of the server with fixes.

Certain files must be owned and run under the QSECOFR profile or a QSECOFR-authorized ID (such as iserver) that allows impersonation for the OPSYS security mode. Running with security mode OPSYS requires users to send a password to connect to the server, or to use some other form of verification. Although general installation of the server software is done by iadmin (an ordinary user ID), this step requires QSECOFR authority.

To change ownerships, do the following:

  1. Log on as QSECOFR.
  2. Using the library specified during the installation, change the file ownership by entering the following commands:
    CHGOBJ    OBJ(SRV77/TSCOM300) USRPRF(*OWNER)
    CHGOBJOWN OBJ(SRV77/TSCOM300) OBJTYPE(*PGM) NEWOWN(QSECOFR)

The CHGOBJ and CHGOBJOWN steps will need to be repeated after any server upgrade since the tscom300.out file is replaced during upgrade and the attributes are lost.

Note: If this Security Provider OPSYS step has been done and the site later decides to switch to Security OFF, then special steps must be done to ensure the mode remains after a full server shutdown, where edastart -start is used to restart the server.

After the server recycles from the change to OFF, use the Web Console to open the environment configuration file of the server. Select Workspace, Configuration Files, Miscellaneous, and then select Environment -edaenv. Next, double-click to edit, add the variable EDAEXTSEC=OFF, and then save.

After the next full server shutdown, be sure to do an edastart -cleardir before restarting the server. This will clear any root owned files that would prevent a security OFF server from starting.


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Preventing Unsecured Server Starts After Upgrades

If the explicit environment variable EDAEXTSEC is set to OPSYS (or ON) and the server cannot impersonate users because it lacks platform-specific authorization steps, the server start aborts and error messages are written to the edaprint log.

This feature prevents an unsecured server start after a software upgrade if any of the required post-upgrade, reauthorization steps are missed on a UNIX, IBM i, or z/OS HFS deployment. This is not applicable to other platforms. The setting may be placed in any normal server start-up shell or profile that a site is using or in the server edaenv.cfg configuration file. The messages vary slightly by platform.

The edaprint messages are:

Configured security is 'ON' as set by EDAEXTSEC variable.
TSCOM300.PGM has no QSECOFR authority.
Workspace initialization aborted.
(EDA13171) UNABLE TO START SERVER

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