Secure Global Desktop Administration Guide > Users and authentication > Trusted users and third party authentication

Trusted users and third party authentication

Third party authentication gives users access to Secure Global Desktop without having to authenticate to a Secure Global Desktop server. Secure Global Desktop is able to trust the third party authentication mechanism because client applications (such as the browser-based webtop) and the Secure Global Desktop server have a shared secret: the username and password of a trusted user.

In a standard installation, there is just one trusted user. However, you might want to create additional trusted users if you:

• relocate the browser-based webtop to a different JavaServer Pages (JSP) container on a different host.
• develop your own client applications, using the Secure Global Desktop com.tarantella.tta.webservices.client.views package, either on the same host as Secure Global Desktop or on a different host.
• have concerns about the security of the default trusted user.

You create and maintain the "database" of trusted users on the Secure Global Desktop server. Usually client applications only use the credentials of a single trusted user to access Secure Global Desktop services.

To create a new trusted user:

1. Stop the Secure Global Desktop Web Server: tarantella webserver stop.
2. Add the new trusted user to the "database" of trusted users on the Secure Global Desktop server.
   • Think of a username and password for the trusted user.
   • Use tarantella webserver add_trusted_user username to create the trusted user. When prompted, type the password.
   • Use tarantella webserver list_trusted_users to check the user has been created.
   • Check that the trusted user works by visiting http://server/axis/services/rpc/externalauth. When prompted, log in as the trusted user.
3. Add the new trusted user to the webtop web application.
   • Change to the /opt/tarantella/webserver/tomcat/version/webapps/sgd/WEB-INF/classes directory.
   • Run the following command to encode the username/password of the trusted user:

     /opt/tarantella/bin/jre/bin/java \
        com.tarantella.tta.webservices.client.views.SgdPasswd \ 
        --encode trusted_username:password

   • Copy the output.
   • Edit the /opt/tarantella/webserver/tomcat/version/webapps/sgd/WEB-INF/classes/com/tarantella/tta/webservices/client/views/Resources.properties file.
   • Replace the text after sgdaccess= with the output obtained above.
   • Save the changes.

   Note If you have relocated the webtop, you must perform this step on the remote host.

4. Start the Secure Global Desktop Web Server: tarantella webserver start.
5. Repeat these steps on each member of the array.

To change the password of an existing trusted user, you must first delete the user (tarantella webserver delete_trusted_user) and then follow the above steps to create the user again.

Information for application developers

If you are using Secure Global Desktop web services to develop your own applications, the ITarantellaExternalAuth web service is used for third party authentication. This web service is protected with Basic web server authentication so that you can only access it using the credentials of a trusted user:

• The http://server/axis/services/rpc/externalauth URL is protected in the configuration file for the Axis web application: /opt/tarantella/webserver/tomcat/version/webapps/axis/WEB-INF/web.xml
• The Tomcat component of the Secure Global Desktop Web Server is configured to support Basic web server authentication using Tomcat's MemoryRealm and SHA digested passwords. This is in the Tomcat configuration file: /opt/tarantella/webserver/tomcat/version/conf/server.xml.
• The list of trusted users is stored in the Tomcat users configuration file: /opt/tarantella/webserver/tomcat/version/conf/tomcat-users.xml

The tarantella webserver add_trusted_user command is the only supported way to store trusted users on the Secure Global Desktop server.

If you have developed your own client applications using the com.tarantella.tta.webservices.client.views package, you can store the trusted user credentials for the application in the same way as the browser-based webtop (see step 3 above). Otherwise, you need to develop your own methods for storing the credentials.

Every time you make a change to a trusted user, you must restart the Secure Global Desktop Web Server.

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