Introduction

Connections from the JOC Cockpit to Controllers use the JS7 - REST Web Service API and can be secured by HTTPS with TLS/SSL certificates.
- Should If the JOC Cockpit and Controller be are operated on the same server and network interface then no HTTPS connection between components is required.
- Should If the JOC Cockpit and Controller be are operated on different servers or network interfaces then this connection should be secured by HTTPS.
This article describes the steps required to set up secure HTTPS communication from the JOC Cockpit to a Controller. This includes to use a standalone Controller or a Controller cluster with a primary and standby instance.
- Consider See the JS7 - System Architecture article for an overview of components and connections.
- Consider to set up Follow the instructions in the JS7 - JOC Cockpit HTTPS Connections for article to set up secure connections from clients (user browser / REST API client) to the JOC Cockpit.
- Consider See the JS7 - Agent HTTPS Connections for article for information about securing the connections between Controller instances and Agents.

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Explanation:

Keystore and truststore shown in orange color are required for any connections of JOC Cockpit to a Controller.
- The Controller's private key and certificate for Server Authentication are added to the Controller's keystore. In case of a If the certificate is self-signed certificate the certificate is , then it has to be added to the JOC Cockpit's truststore tooas well.
- This step can be skipped if a CA-signed certificate is used as the Root Certificate in the JOC Cockpit's truststore is sufficient to verify Controller certificates.
Keystore The keystore and truststore shown in green color are required if mutual authentication is in place for certificate based client authentication (default).
The Controller's truststore in green color is truststore shown in green is required should secure connections be used by a Controller to access Agents. It is therefore recommended to set up the Controller's truststore is set up.
Certificate Similar certificate management applies similarly to for any additional standby JOC Cockpit instances acting in a cluster.

Secure Connection Setup

In the following, the placeholders JOC_HOME, JETTY_HOME and JETTY_BASE are used which locate to describe the location of three directories. If you install Jetty with the JOC Cockpit installer then:

JOC_HOME is the installation path that is specified during the JOC Cockpit installation:
- /opt/sos-berlin.com/js7/joc (default on Unix)
- C:\Program Files\sos-berlin.com\js7\joc (default on Windows)
JETTY_HOME = JOC_HOME/jetty
JETTY_BASE is Jetty's base directory that is specified during the JOC Cockpit installation:
- /home/<setup-user>/sos-berlin.com/js7/joc (default on Unix)
- C:\ProgramData\sos-berlin.com\js7\joc (default on Windows)

For Controller instances the The following placeholders are used for Controller instances:

JS7_CONTROLLER_HOME points to the Controller instance's installation directory
- /opt/sos-berlin.com/js7/controller (default on Unix)
- C:\Program Files\sos-berlin.com\js7\controller (default on Windows)
JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR points to the Controller instance's configuration directory
- /var/sos-berlin.com/js7/controller/config (default on Unix)
- C:\ProgramData\sos-berlin.com\js7\controller\config (default on Windows)

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This configuration is applied in order to secure the connection if the JOC Cockpit and Controller are not operated on the same server and network interface.

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By default JOC Cockpit and Controller use mutual authentication:
- the JOC Cockpit verifies the Controller certificate for Server Authentication.
- the Controller verifies the JOC Cockpit certificate for Client Authentication.
- For details details see the JS7 - Configuration for mutual HTTPS Server Authentication and Client Authentication article.
If mutual authentication cannot be applied, e.g. in case of use with wildcard certificates, for example, when wildcard certificates are used:
- Consider to use using password based authentication.
- For details see JS7 - Configuration for HTTPS Server Authentication with Passwords.

For the complete list of related configuration items see JS7 - Controller Configuration Items.

The following chapters sections assume mutual authentication to be in place.

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On the Controller instance's server create the keystore using the keytool from your Java JRE or JDK or some a third party utility.

For use with a third party utility create a keystore, e.g. https-keystore.p12, in PKCS12 format and import:
- Controller private key and certificate for Server Authentication
- Root CA certificate
- Intermediate CA certificates

For use with keytool create the keystore with the private key and certificate for Server Authentication from the command line. The examples below examples suggest show one possible approach for certificate management , - however, there may be other ways how to achieve of achieving similar results.

Example for the use of private key and CA-signed certificate with PKCS12 keystore:

Code Block

language	bash
title	Example how to add a private key and CA-signed certificate to a PKCS12 keystore

# shouldIf the Controller's private key and certificate are to be provided with a .jks keystore (keypair.jks) then temporarily convert the keystore to pkcs12 (keystore.p12)
#   for later use with openssl, assuming the alias name of the Controller's private key beingto be "controller-https"
# keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore keypair.jks -srcstoretype JKS -destkeystore keystore.p12 -deststoretype PKCS12 -srcalias controller-https

# assuming the Controller's private key from a pkcs12 keystore (keystore.p12), store the Controller's private key toin a .key file in PEM format (controller-https.key)
openssl pkcs12 -in keystore.p12 -nocerts -out controller-https.key

# concatenate CA Root certificate and CA Intermediate certificate to a single CA Bundle certificate file (ca-bundle.crt)
cat RootCACertificate.crt > ca-bundle.crt
cat CACertificate.crt >> ca-bundle.crt

# Export the Controller's private key (controller-https.key), Controller's certificate (controller-https.crt) and CA Bundle (ca-bundle.crt) in PEM format to a new keystore (https-keystore.p12)
#   assumeassuming the fully qualified hostname (FQDN) of the Controller server beingis "controller.example.com"
openssl pkcs12 -export -in controller-https.crt -inkey controller-https.key -chain -CAfile ca-bundle.crt -name controller.example.com -out JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-keystore.p12

# shouldIF you require use of a .jks keystore type then convert the pkcs12 keystore, assuming the alias name of the Controller private key being "controller-https"
# keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore https-keystore.p12 -srcstoretype PKCS12 -destkeystore JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-keystore.jks -deststoretype JKS -srcalias controller-https

Example for the use of private key and self-signed certificate with PKCS12 keystore:

Code Block

language	bash
title	Example how to generate a private key and self-signed certificate for import into a PKCS12 keystore
collapse	true

# generate the Controller's private key with alias name "controller-https" in a keystore (https-keystore.p12)
#   use the fully qualified hostname (FQDN) and name of your organization for the distinguished name
#   consider that PKCS12 keystores require tothe use of the same key password and store password
keytool -genkey -alias "controller-https" -dname "CN=hostname,O=organization" -validity 1461 -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -keypass jobscheduler -keystore "JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-keystore.p12" -storepass jobscheduler -storetype PKCS12

Example for the use of private key and self-signed certificate with JKS keystore:

Code Block

language	bash
title	Example how to generate a private key and self-signed certificate for import into a JKS keystore
collapse	true

# generate the Controller's private key with the alias name "controller-https" in a keystore (https-keystore.jks)
#   use the fully qualified hostname (FQDN) and name of your organization for the distinguished name
keytool -genkey -alias "controller-https" -dname "CN=hostname,O=organization" -validity 1461 -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -keypass jobscheduler -keystore "JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-keystore.jks" -storepass jobscheduler -storetype JKS

Explanation:
- The -dname option specifies the certificate issuer, therefore use your own set of CN, O, OU, DC that specify the issuer's distinguished name. The O setting is required for the issuer.
- The -keypass option accepts the password that you will need later on to manage your private key.
- The -keystore option specifies the location of the keystore file. The keystore file should be in reach of the Controller, it is recommended to use using the private sub-folder private in the JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR directory.
- The -storepass option specifies the password for access to the keystore file.
- The -storetype option is used to specify the PKCS12 or JKS keystore format.

With the keystore being set up, specify respective the relevant properties with the JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/private.conf configuration file:

Example

Code Block

language	text
title	Example for private.conf file specifying the Controller keystore

js7 {
    web {
        # keystore location for https connections
        https {
            keystore {
                # Default: ${js7.config-directory}"/private/https-keystore.p12"
                file=${js7.config-directory}"/private/https-keystore.p12"
                key-password="jobscheduler"
                store-password="jobscheduler"
            }
        }
    }
}

Explanation:

js7.web.https.keystore.file is used for the path to the keystore.
js7.web.https.keystore.key-password is used for access to the private key.
js7.web.https.keystore.store-password is used for access to the keystore.

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By default mutual authentication is in place.
- The JOC Cockpit is challenged by the Controller to present its Client Authentication certificate that is then verified by the Controller.
  - In addition the distinguished name of the JOC Cockpit, the Client Authentication certificate is checked and a password is used to identify the JOC Cockpit instance.
  - Consider Note that any number of clustered JOC Cockpit instances can connect to a Controller.
- If a Controller cluster is used then connections from the partnering Controller instance are authenticated by the distinguished name of the instance's Client Authentication certificate.

The JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/private.conf configuration file should include authentication details like thissuch as:

Code Block

title	Example for private.conf file specifying JOC Cockpit authentication

js7 {
    auth {
        users {
            # History account (used for release events)
            History {
                distinguished-names=[
                    "DNQ=SOS CA, CN=apmacwin_joc_client, OU=IT, O=SOS, L=Berlin, ST=Berlin, C=DE"
                ]
                password="sha512:B793649879D61613FD3F711B68F7FF3DB19F2FE2D2C136E8523ABC87612219D5AECB4A09035AD88D544E227400A0A56F02BC990CF0D4CB348F8413DE00BCBF08"
            }
            # JOC account (needs UpdateItem permission for deployment)
            JOC {
                distinguished-names=[
                    "DNQ=SOS CA, CN=apmacwin_joc_client, OU=IT, O=SOS, L=Berlin, ST=Berlin, C=DE"
                ]
                password="sha512:3662FD6BF84C6B8385FC15F66A137AB75C755147A81CC7AE64092BFE8A18723A7C049D459AB35C059B78FD6028BB61DCFC55801AE3894D2B52401643F17A07FE"
                permissions=[
                    UpdateItem
                ]
            }
            # Controller ID for connections by primary/secondary controller instance
            jobscheduler {
                distinguished-names=[
                    "DNQ=SOS CA, CN=apmacwin_secondary_client, OU=IT, O=SOS, L=Berlin, ST=Berlin, C=DE"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Explanation:

The History and JOC user accounts are used by the JS7 - History Service and by the JS7 - REST Web Service API.
- The distinguished-names property offers to add allows the addition of a number of distinguished names as available from the subject of the Client Authentication certificates that which are used by JOC Cockpit instances when connecting to the Controller.
  - Except for whitespace between attributes, the precise sequence and values as available from the certificate's subject has to match this property value.
- The password is used for authentication of the History and JOC service accounts with the Controller. Both accounts are typically are running in the same JOC Cockpit instance.
  - If HTTP connections are used then the password is the only means for authentication. If HTTPS connections with mutual authentication are used then the password is not relevant as certificate based authentication is in place.
  - The symmetric password is specified with the section joc of the Settings page of the JOC Cockpit and in the private.conf file.
    - User Input to the Settings page of the JOC Cockpit can look like this:
      
      Input to the GUI simply accepts the password and does not require to use the prefixes sha512: or plain:.
  - In the private.conf file a hashed value or a plain text value can be specified like this:
    - password="sha512:B793649879D6..."
    - password="plain:JS7-History"
  - If the password is modified in the private.conf file then it has to be modified in the JOC Cockpit settings too to make as well, so that the passwords match.
  - The password setting cannot be omitted, however. However, an empty password can be specified, for example, with mutual authentication HTTPS connections , like thissuch as:
    - password="plain:"
  - From the private.conf file that ships by default the plain text value and the hashed values are:
    - History:
      - Plain Text: JS7-History
      - Hash: sha512:B793649879D61613FD3F711B68F7FF3DB19F2FE2D2C136E8523ABC87612219D5AECB4A09035AD88D544E227400A0A56F02BC990CF0D4CB348F8413DE00BCBF08
    - JOC:
      - Plain Text: JS7-JOC
      - Hash: sha512:3662FD6BF84C6B8385FC15F66A137AB75C755147A81CC7AE64092BFE8A18723A7C049D459AB35C059B78FD6028BB61DCFC55801AE3894D2B52401643F17A07FE
The jobscheduler user account is an example for of a Controller ID that is used by a partnering Controller instance.
- This setting is not required if a standalone Controller is used.
- For a Controller cluster the Controller ID is specified during installation.

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On the JOC Cockpit server create the truststore using the keytool from your Java JRE or JDK or some a third party utility.

For use with a third party utility create a truststore, e.g. https-truststore.p12, in PKCS12 format and import:
- Root CA certificate

For use with keytool create the truststore in PKCS12 or JKS format with the Root CA certificate. The examples below examples suggest show one possible approach for certificate management , - however, there may be other ways how to achieve similar results.

Example for showing the import of a Root CA certificate to a PKCS12 truststore:

Code Block

language	bash
title	Example how to import a CA-signed certificate into a PKCS12 truststore

# import Root CA certificate in PEM format to a PKCS12 truststore (https-truststore.p12)
keytool -import -alias "root-ca" -file "RootCACertificate.crt" -keystore "JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/https-truststore.p12" -storetype PKCS12

Example for showing the use of a self-signed Controller certificate with a PKCS12 truststore:

Code Block

language	bash
title	Example for import of a self-signed Controller certificate to a PKCS12 truststore
collapse	true

# on the Controller server: export Controller's certificate from keystore (https-keystore.p12) identified by its alias name (controller-https) to a file in PEM format (controller-https.crt)
keytool -exportcert -rfc -noprompt -file "controller-https.crt" -alias "controller-https" -keystore "JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-keystore.p12" -storepass jobscheduler -storetype PKCS12

# on the JOC Cockpit server: import the Controller's certificate from a file in PEM format (controller-https.crt) identified by its alias name (controller-https) to the JOC Cockpit PKCS12 truststore (https-truststore.p12)
keytool -importcert -noprompt -file "controller-https.crt" -alias "controller-https" -keystore "JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/https-truststore.p12" -storepass jobscheduler -storetype PKCS12 -trustcacerts

Example for showing the use of a self-signed Controller certificate with a JKS truststore:

Code Block

language	bash
title	Example for import of a self-signed Controller certificate to a JKS truststore
collapse	true

# on the Controller server: export Controller's certificate from keystore (https-keystore.jks) identified by its alias name (controller-https) to a file in PEM format (controller-https.crt)
keytool -exportcert -rfc -noprompt -file "controller-https.crt" -alias "controller-https" -keystore "JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-keystore.jks" -storepass jobscheduler -storetype JKS

# on the JOC Cockpit server: import the Controller's certificate from a file in PEM format (controller-https.crt) identified by its alias name (controller-https) to the JOC Cockpit JKS truststore (https-truststore.jks)
keytool -importcert -noprompt -file "controller-https.crt" -alias "controller-https" -keystore "JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/https-truststore.jks" -storepass jobscheduler -trustcacerts -storetype JKS

The location of the truststore is added to the JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/joc.properties configuration file like this:

Example for a PKCS12 truststore

Code Block

language	text
title	Example how to specify a PKCS12 truststore location with the joc.properties file

### Location of the truststore that contains the certificates of all
###   Controllers used for HTTPS connections. The path can be absolute or
###   relative to joc.properties

truststore_path = ../../resources/joc/https-truststore.p12 
truststore_type = PKCS12
truststore_password = jobscheduler

Example for a JKS truststore

Code Block

language	text
title	Example how to specify a JKS truststore location with the joc.properties file
collapse	true

### Location of the truststore that contains the certificates of all
###   Controllers used for HTTPS connections. The path can be absolute or 
###   relative to joc.properties

truststore_path = ../../resources/joc/https-truststore.jks
truststore_type = JKS
truststore_password = jobscheduler

Hostname verification by default is in place with the JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/joc.properties configuration file.

Code Block

title	Example how to specify hostname verification with the joc.properties file

################################################################################
### Specifies if hostname verification should be carried out for HTTPS connections.
### Default true

https_with_hostname_verification = true

...

This configuration is applied in order to enable mutual authentication:

from JOC Cockpit to the Controller:
- the JOC Cockpit verifies the Controller's certificate for Server Authentication
- the Controller verifies the JOC Cockpit's certificate for Client Authentication
from pairing Controller instances.

...

This can be simplified by the use of a private key/certificate pair that is created for both extended key usages Server Authentication and Client Authentication. In this case a single private key and certificate is stored with the JOC Cockpit's keystore as indicated with described in the JS7 - JOC Cockpit HTTPS Connections article.
If separate private key/certificate pairs should are be used for Server Authentication and Client Authentication purposes then use of separate certificate stores for the JOC Cockpit is recommended:
- The keystore holds the private key/certificate for Server Authentication. The location of the keystore is configured with JETTY_BASE/start.ini.
- The client keystore holds the private key/certificate for Client Authentication. The location of the client keystore is configured with JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/joc.properties.

The following steps are applied if a separate client keystore is used with the JOC Cockpit.

On the JOC Cockpit server create the client keystore using the keytool from your Java JRE or JDK or some a third party utility.
- For use with a third party utility create a client keystore, e.g. https-client-keystore.p12, in PKCS12 format and import:
  - the JOC Cockpit private key and certificate for Client Authentication
  - the Root CA certificate
  - Intermediate CA certificates
- For use with keytool create the client keystore in PKCS12 or JKS format according to the steps indicated with JS7 - JOC Cockpit HTTPS Connections: Step 2: Create JOC Cockpit Keystore chapter.
  - Apply the steps indicated steps to the client keystore and use the private key/certificate pair for Client Authentication.

The location of the client keystore is added to the JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/joc.properties configuration file like this:

Example for a PKCS12 client keystore:

Code Block

language	text
title	Example how to specify the PKCS12 client keystore location with joc.properties file

### Location of the client keystore that contains the private key and 
###   certificate for JOC Cockpit client authentication relative to
###   joc.properties

keystore_path = ../../resources/joc/https-client-keystore.p12 
keystore_type = PKCS12
keystore_password = jobscheduler

Example for a JKS client keystore:

Code Block

language	text
title	Example how to specify the JKS client keystore location with joc.properties file
collapse	true

### Location of the client keystore that contains the private key and 
###   certificate for JOC Cockpit client authentication relative to
###   joc.properties

keystore_path = ../../resources/joc/https-client-keystore.jks
keystore_type = JKS
keystore_password = jobscheduler

...

On the Controller server create the truststore using the keytool from your Java JRE or JDK or some a third party utility.

For use with a third party utility create a truststore, e.g. https-truststore.p12, in PKCS12 format and import:
- Root CA certificate

For use with keytool create the truststore in PKCS12 or JKS format with the Root CA certificate. The below examples suggest one possible approach for certificate management, however, there may be other ways how to achieve similar results.

Example for import of a Root CA certificate to a PKCS12 truststore:

Code Block

language	bash
title	Example how to import a CA-signed certificate into a PKCS12 truststore

# on Controller server: import Root CA certificate in PEM format to a PKCS12 truststore (https-truststore.p12)
keytool -import -alias "root-ca" -file "RootCACertificate.crt" -keystore "JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-truststore.p12" -storetype PKCS12

Example for export/import of self-signed client authentication certificate to a PKCS12 keystore:

Code Block

language	bash
title	Example how to export/import a self-signed certificate to a PKCS12 truststore
collapse	true

# on JOC Cockpit server: export JOC Cockpit's certificate from client keystore (https-client-keystore.p12) identified by its alias name (joc-client-https) to a file in PEM format (joc-client-https.crt)
keytool -exportcert -rfc -noprompt -file "joc-client-https.crt" -alias "joc-client-https" -keystore "JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/https-client-keystore.p12" -storepass jobscheduler -storetype PKCS12

# on Controller server: import JOC Cockpit's certificate in PEM format to a PKCS12 truststore (https-truststore.p12)
keytool -import -alias "joc-client-https" -file "joc-clent-https.crt" -keystore "JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-truststore.p12" -storetype PKCS12

Example for export/import of self-signed client authentication certificate to a JKS keystore:

Code Block

language	bash
title	Example how to export/import a self-signed certificate to a JKS truststore
collapse	true

# on JOC Cockpit server: export JOC Cockpit's certificate from client keystore (https-client-keystore.jks) identified by its alias name (joc-client-https) to a file in PEM format (joc-client-https.crt)
keytool -exportcert -rfc -noprompt -file "joc-client-https.crt" -alias "joc-client-https" -keystore "JETTY_BASE/resources/joc/https-client-keystore.jks" -storepass jobscheduler

# on Controller server: import JOC Cockpit's certificate in PEM format to a JKS truststore (https-truststore.jks)
keytool -import -alias "joc-client-https" -file "joc-client-https.crt" -keystore "JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-truststore.jks" -storetype JKS

Show If

match	all
user	ap

Risk Mitigation

The descriptions above explanations indicate use of a Root CA certificate for verification of Client Authentication certificates when it comes to mutual authentication.

In fact use of a Root CA certificate allows any clients that dispose of a Client Authentication certificate signed by the same Root CA certificate or Intermediate CA to be authenticated. This implication might allow an unwanted number of clients to access a Controller. By design the only clients to access a Controller should be JOC Cockpit instances.
Coping strategies include:
- to use using a separate certificate authority to sign Client Authentication certificates for access to Controllers.
- to import importing individual Client Authentication certificates to the Controller truststore instead of using a Root CA certificate.

Notes

A restart of the respective relevant component is required to apply modifications to the JS7_CONFIG_DIR/private/private.conf file of the Controller or to configuration files of JOC Cockpit .

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Secure Connection Setup

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