Mobile Web Server Authentication

• Group permissions
• Authentication mechanisms
  
  • List of users mechanism
  • LDAP query mechanism
  • SPNEGO (Single-Sign-On) mechanism
    
    • SPNEGO Troubleshooting
    
    

Group Permissions

Mobile Server authentication has been redesigned to include LDAP/Active Directory (AD) authentication and Single-Sign-On (SPNEGO) mechanisms.

Each server request goes through a security check first and if it is authorized, the request is processed and a proper response is sent back to the client.

Authorization permissions may be added to anonymous users and authentication groups. Permissions cannot be added for each individual user. To make sure a user has specific permissions you need to create a group with those permissions and add the user to that group.

Omniscope Mobile web server allows you to configure per folder authorization/permissioning configuration.

To enable this feature, just create a folder.xml configuration file and put it into your sharing folder (or subfolder).
You can start by using the folder.xml.default file, present into the mobile sharing folder, as template.

Remember, the settings present into the folder.xml file will override the default anonymous/folder permissions, and the default authentication groups and permissions. As a note for system administrators, folder.xml works like Apache .htaccess file.

Editing tip for folder.xml

Instead of manually editing the folder.xml file we suggest you copy an existing folder.xml into the correct folder and then use Omniscope Mobile Web Server UI main toolbar (Settings > Edit folder.xml configuration...) to edit the folder.xml.

Permissions

Here follows the main aspects you have to knowledge to properly configure the folder.xml file.

These are permissions you can set on a folder or per group basis:

• listDirectory : allow users to list existing files and subfolders
  
• downloadFile : allow users to download the IOK files
  
• viewInMobile : allow users to launch the Omniscope Mobile app for the existing IOK files
  
• fileManagement : allow users to upload IOK files, rename and delete resources, create new folders in the folder and save. Also used to control if mobile is in "Viewer" mode.
  
• getStatic : allow users to get/access static resources from the folder, and to customise default styles (e.g. logo, icons, css files)
  
• viewServerState : allow users to view the server state through a monitoring page
  
• exportData : allow users to export a view's data as a CSV file.
  

N.B. A missing permission in the configuration is equivalent to deny

folder.xml file structure

• Anonymous section
  The <anonymous> element describes the unauthenticated permissions, and is also used as default values for per-group permissions.
  Unauthenticated public access will be given these permissions. Any false/missing permissions will require authentication.
  
• Groups section
  The <group> element describes the authentication group and its permissions, and is made by the following elements/attributes:
  
  • Enabled : whether or not the group is enabled. Disabled groups are not considered during authentication
    Note: If the enabled attribute is missing the group will be enabled by default. A group is disabled only if the enabled attribute is present and is set to false
    
  • Name: specifies the group name e.g. Data Analysts, Guests, Administrators, Employees, etc
    
  • Permissions: the group permissions that will override the anonymous ones
    
  • Mechanisms: a list of authentication mechanisms to be used when authenticating users for this group e.g. LDAP Query, List Of Users, SPNEGO (Single-Sign-On)
    
    • ListOfUsers: defining a list of users, e.g. :
      <listOfUsers>
<users>
<credentials username="test" password="098f6b627b4f6" />
<credentials username="visokio" password="72261efef7c41" />
</users>
</listOfUsers>

      Credentials element has two attributes: username and password (the MD5 encrypted password).
      To generate password MD5s, visit this link
      
      
    • ldapQuery: LDAP Query mechanism enables Omniscope Server to query an LDAP/AD server to validate user credentials
      Attributes:
      
      • distinguishedName: LDAP group distinguished name E.g. CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com
      • url: A full URL pointing to your LDAP/AD server
        Example 1: 'LDAP://ldapserver.example.com:389'
        where LDAP is protocol name, ldapserver.example.com is the LDAP/AD server and 389 is the default port for LDAP protocol
        Example 2: 'LDAPS://ldapserver.example.com:636' where LDAPS is LDAP over SSL protocol,
        ldapserver.example.com is the LDAP/AD server and 636 is the default port for LDAPS protocol
        
      • ignoreSslIssues: false most of the time. Set true only if your LDAP/AD server has not been configured to use a trusted certificate and you are using LDAPS protocol
      • securityAuthentication: Security authentication type supported by your LDAP/AD server. By default, LDAP/AD server uses a simple security type. However, you should contact your administrator to check whether you need to use a different type (CRAM-MD5, or DIGEST-MD5, or none)
      • principalNameFormat: can have only one the the following values:
        
        1. {Name} : User's simple name will be used to authenticate. e.g. 'username' and 'password' will be used
        2. DOMAIN\{Name}: User's simple name will be added the DOMAIN name automatically e.g 'EXAMPLE.COM\username' and 'password' will be used to authenticate the user
        3. {Name}@DOMAIN: User's simple name will be appended the DOMAIN name automatically e.g. 'username@EXAMPLE.COM' and 'password' will be used to authenticate the user
        
        
      • principalDomain: must be set only if 'principalNameFormat' contains a domain name, otherwise it will be disregarded. e.g. 'EXAMPLE.COM'
      
      
    • spnegoMechanism: a Single-Sign-On authentication mechanism e.g.:
      <spnegoMechanism>
<userNames>
<userName userName="johnsmith" />
<userName userName="johndoe" />
</userNames>
</spnegoMechanism>

      spnegoMechanism element has a list of user names to be verified once users authenticate successfully on LDAP/AD server and are assigned group permissions (roles).
      WARNING: spnegoMechanism will be disregarded during authentication if SPNEGO global settings are not set in config.xml
      
    
    
  
  

folder.xml example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mobilefolder>
<anonymous>
<permissions listDirectory="false" downloadFile="false" viewInMobile="false"
fileManagement="false" getStatic="false" viewServerState="false"
exportData="false" />
</anonymous>
<groups>
<group enabled="true" name="Data Analysts">
<permissions>
<permissions listDirectory="true" downloadFile="true" viewInMobile="true"
fileManagement="false" getStatic="false" viewServerState="false"
exportData="false" />
</permissions>
<mechanisms>
<spnegoMechanism>
<userNames>
<userName userName="john" />
</userNames>
</spnegoMechanism>
<ldapQuery
distinguishedName="CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com"
url="ldap://ldapserver.example.com:389"
ignoreSslIssues="false"
securityAuthentication="simple"
principalNameFormat="{Name}@DOMAIN"
principalDomain="example.com">
</ldapQuery>
<listOfUsers>
<users>
<credentials username="Tester" password="f5d1277e04873b9" />
</users>
</listOfUsers>
</mechanisms>
</group>
</groups>
</mobilefolder>


Common use cases:

• Anonymous access not allowed, Admin user full permissions, Guest users browse and play IOK files
  
  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mobilefolder>
<anonymous>
<permissions listDirectory="false" downloadFile="false" viewInMobile="false"
fileManagement="false" getStatic="false" viewServerState="false"
exportData="false" />
</anonymous>
<groups>
<group enabled="true" name="Administrators">
<permissions>
<permissions listDirectory="true" downloadFile="true" viewInMobile="true"
fileManagement="true" getStatic="true" viewServerState="true"
exportData="true" />
</permissions>
<mechanisms>
<listOfUsers>
<users>
<credentials username="admin" password="5d141e04873b9" />
</users>
</listOfUsers>
</mechanisms>
</group>
<group enabled="true" name="Guests">
<permissions>
<permissions listDirectory="true" viewInMobile="true"
getStatic="true" />
</permissions>
<mechanisms>
<listOfUsers>
<users>
<credentials username="guest" password="f5d1ee04873b9" />
<credentials username="visitor" password="43ffge14197e45" />
</users>
</listOfUsers>
</mechanisms>
</group>
</groups>
</mobilefolder>

  
• Anonymous access not allowed, admin users authenticating with their LDAP accounts, employees browse and play IOK files and authenticate with their LDAP accounts, a new employee user authenticating with List Of Users mechanism if an LDAP account is not yet available and a user authenticating with a Single-Sign-On (SPNEGO) mechanism
  
  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mobilefolder>
<anonymous>
<permissions listDirectory="false" downloadFile="false" viewInMobile="false"
fileManagement="false" getStatic="false" viewServerState="false"
exportData="false" />
</anonymous>
<groups>
<group enabled="true" name="Administrators">
<permissions>
<permissions listDirectory="true" downloadFile="true" viewInMobile="true"
fileManagement="true" getStatic="true" viewServerState="true"
exportData="true" />
</permissions>
<mechanisms>
<ldapQuery
distinguishedName="CN=Administrators,DC=example,DC=com"
url="ldap://ldapserver.example.com:389"
ignoreSslIssues="false"
securityAuthentication="simple"
principalNameFormat="{Name}@DOMAIN"
principalDomain="example.com">
</ldapQuery>
</mechanisms>
</group>
<group enabled="true" name="Employee">
<permissions>
<permissions listDirectory="true" downloadFile="true" viewInMobile="true"
fileManagement="false" getStatic="true" viewServerState="false"
exportData="false" />
</permissions>
<mechanisms>
<spnegoMechanism>
<userNames>
<!-- User 'john' with password 'SomePassword' is defined on the
LDAP server and logged in the client machine to test SPNEGO -->
<userName userName="john" />
</userNames>
</spnegoMechanism>
<ldapQuery
distinguishedName="CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com"
url="ldap://ldapserver.example.com:389"
ignoreSslIssues="false"
securityAuthentication="simple"
principalNameFormat="{Name}@DOMAIN"
principalDomain="example.com">
</ldapQuery>
<listOfUsers>
<users>
<credentials username="NewEmployee" password="d1274e417e04" />
</users>
</listOfUsers>
</mechanisms>
</group>
</groups>
</mobilefolder>