Chapter 3. Securing the Management Console
Abstract
The Management Console has authentication enabled by default. You can optionally enable SSL/TLS security to provide message encryption, thereby protecting username/password credentials from on-the-wire snooping.
Overview
There are two main aspects to securing the Management Console:
- Authentication (enabled by default)
- SSL/TLS security
Authentication
Authentication is enabled by default on the Management Console and is required in order for the Management Console to function correctly. For your information, the authentication mechanism consists of the following key elements:
- HTTP BASIC authentication protocol—the standard HTTP protocol for transferring username/password credentials is the BASIC authentication protocol. This protocol sends username/password credentials in plaintext, so these credentials are vulnerable to snooping, unless you enable SSL/TLS security.
- JAAS authentication—the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) is a pluggable framework for authenticating credentials on the server side. The Jetty servlet container (which hosts the Management Console) is configured to use the
karafJAAS realm by default. This ensures that the Management Console uses the same pool of user credentials as the other standard container services (where the user credentials are usually stored in theetc/users.propertiesfile by default, in a standalone container).
SSL/TLS security
SSL/TLS security is not enabled by default for the Management Console. It is recommended that you enable SSL/TLS security on the Management Console to protect username/password credentials from snooping. For detailed instructions on how to enable SSL/TLS security, please see the following reference:
