Approaches for Authentication through Web Services

Question

Hi All,
I am calling a webservice through my portal service. This web service is on the (DI) Data Integration box which is not SAP.
I need to know approaches with which I can authenticate users when they use this webservice call. I mean how do I authenticate users who will be using this application which will call a web service on the DI box.
So when the user clicks on the submit button, this web service on the DI box is invoked, I want to authenticate users at this point, so that no unauthorized users are able to post data to DI box.
Also, I do not want any kind of login window popping up. It should be something like a SSO.
Please auggest approaches that I can use.
Thanks

Answer 1

HI Gopala,
I have gone through the pdf. My requirement is a little different. Instead of authenticating the users on the portal, I wan to authenticate them on the Data Integration box.
It will be something like this:
Step 1. User logs on the portal.
Step 2. User uses my custom applicatioon that calls a webservice.
Step 3. When the webservice is being called (after the user clicks on the submit button), I want to ensure that authorized users are using this application and also that authorized users are posting the data to the Data Integration box, which is IBM data stage.
Step 4. When the request reaches the datastage box, it authenticates the user before posting the data.
Step 5. If the user is valid, the data is posted, if not, a message is returned saying "Unauthorized".
I know that the authentication logic will be in IBM Datastage (Data Integration box) but what my question is that how do I pass the userid and password of the logged in user in the portal to Data Integration box through the webservice.
Im calling the webservice exposed by the Data Integration box through my portal service.
Are there any other way for authenticating the users? I read that I could use Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) or digital certificates, but again, how do I use this mechanism.
Any suggestion or direction will be of great help.
Thanks,
S.B