Application servers such as the WebLogic server available from BEA Systems of San Jose, Calif. allow users to do a number of functions. One of the functions that can be allowed by the application servers is to provide access to a database. In one embodiment, a connection pools, such as a Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) connection pools, are provided. Such connection pools allow for a number of objects in the application server to access the database through the connection. The connection pool uses a number of connections that are already set up with the database. When a connection is needed, an object at the application server uses the connection in the connection pool to connect up with the database.
In one embodiment, at least one credential for the database indicates a user to a greater specificity than an anonymous connection pool ID.
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In the example of
In one embodiment, the application server uses threads which are associated with the security context such as the thread 302. Some of the threads can access the database 310 using at least one credential for the database obtained from the credential mapper 312. The credential mapper is adapted to map at least one credential for the security context of the thread 302 into at least one credential for the database.
The use of the credential mappers 312 for the connection pool 314 can be as an extension of a JDBC implementation.
A number of database manufacturers provide application programming interfaces (APIs) for accessing the database. A disadvantage of these APIs is that certain objects such as EJBs may not know the specific credential information to provide to the APIs. Since threads have their own associated security contexts, the credential mapper can be used without needing to have the ultimate user provide an additional user name and password. For example, the EJB or other object can connect to a database through the connection pool and obtain a specific username/password associated with that user through the credential mapper without ever requiring the thread to independently maintain credential information for the database.
The following description gives one non-limiting implementation of one embodiment. The discussion below gives one embodiment, but those skilled in the art will understand that other implementations of the above-described concepts can be done. Any potentially limitating language given below is to be interpreted in the context of the specific non-limiting implementation and is not meant to limit the general concepts.
A database-server specific identity (username/password) can be specified in the Pool's definition. Consequently, application clients that borrow and use these connections from the Pool remain anonymous to the database server. The latter is unable to perform user-specific tasks like auditing, access-control, etc.
Database vendors offer proprietary solutions to propagate client credentials over anonymous JDBC connections to solve this problem. These solutions are typically exposed through extensions to the standard JDBC API interfaces.
By virtue of the a dynamic wrapper technology, applications can automatically have access to all vendor-specific extensions to the JDBC API. Thus, applications will be able to cast to the vendor type and invoke these extension APIs.
There exist another class of applications that do not obtain JDBC connections directly from Pools. Middle-tier layers, such as Oracle TopLink, EJB CMP containers, etc, obtain the connections. WLS will be required to internally lookup the corresponding RDBMS-specific identities and invoke the vendor extension APIs in this case.
Existing vendor-specific APIs to set the client identities are not secure. They do not validate the identities being propagated. Hence, using a new CREDENTIAL_MAP would be the more secure method for applications to enable this functionality.
New configuration attribute “CredentialMappingEnabled” can be provided. Applications wanting to enable this feature will set this attribute to true. When this attribute is enabled, the server software can internally invoke the required vendor APIs. Currently, Oracle & DB2 offer such extensions:
They also can be required to configure the JDBC credential mapper via an administration Console. The JDBC credential mapper can do the mapping between server-& database-specific identities.
In one embodiment, A credential mapper JPI can be as follows:
One embodiment may be implemented using a conventional general purpose or a specialized digital computer or microprocessor(s) programmed according to the teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the computer art. Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the software art. The invention may also be implemented by the preparation of integrated circuits or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventional component circuits, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
One embodiment includes a computer program product which is a storage medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be used to program a computer to perform any of the features presented herein. The storage medium can include, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical discs, DVD, CD-ROMs, micro drive, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, Rams, EPROM's, EPROM's, Drams, Rams, flash memory devices, magnetic or optical cards, Nan systems (including molecular memory ICs), or any type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/or data.
Stored on any one of the computer readable medium (media), the present invention includes software for controlling both the hardware of the general purpose/specialized computer or microprocessor, and for enabling the computer or microprocessor to interact with a human user or other mechanism utilizing the results of the present invention. Such software may include, but is not limited to, device drivers, operating systems, execution environments/containers, and user applications.
The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the present invention has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant arts. For example, steps performed in the embodiments of the invention disclosed can be performed in alternate orders, certain steps can be omitted, and additional steps can be added. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with various modifications that are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims and their equivalents.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/643,753 entitled “Credential Mapping of WebLogic and Database User Ids” by Fei Luo et al., filed Jan. 13, 2005.
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