Websphere Portal on Z/OS

This chapter discusses security aspects for WebSphere Portal and how those relate to the z/OS and OS/390 platform, and also how to use the existing RACF userids with WebSphere Portal. Note: Chapter 4., "Portal administration" on page 121 provides information about how the portal administrator can create users and groups and assign access rights to view, edit, or manage portal places, portal pages, and portlets.

7.1 WebSphere Portal security

WebSphere Portal Server on the distributed platforms has the option to use operating system (OS) level security or a Directory Server, that is, LDAP server for user authentication. The LDAP Directory Server from IBM uses DB2 database as its repository. The Portal server, LDAP server, and the database server can be co-located on the same physical machine or installed on three separate machines.

Security services for the z/OS and OS/390 platforms are usually provided by RACF or ACF2. However, WebSphere Portal server on z/OS configures the J2EE server used by Portal with a Custom User Registry (CUR) to use LDAP with a DB2 repository. Refer to LDAP Server Administration and Usage manual, SC24-5923, for further information on setting up LDAP on z/OS and OS/390.