PingFederate Server

Integrating with Entrust nShield Connect HSM

PingFederate supports multiple hardware security modules (HSMs), including Entrust nShield Connect HSM.

Steps

  1. Ensure the PingFederate server has a supported Java virtual machine (JVM) installed.

    For more information, see Installing Java.

  2. Install and configure your Entrust nShield Connect HSM client software.

    As part of the installation, install the optional Java Support (including KeySafe) and nCipherKM JCA/JCE provider classes components.

  3. After installation, see the HSM documentation from Entrust to make your PingFederate server a client of an HSM server.

    PingFederate supports both Operator Card Set (OCS) protected keys and module-protected keys.

    For OCS, note the password. You need the password for your installation of PingFederate.

    For module-protected keys, edit the pingfederate/server/default/data/config-store/com.pingidentity.crypto.NCipherSettings.xml file to add the following entries:

    <con:item name="protect">module</con:item>
<con:item name="ignorePassphrase">true</con:item>

  4. To enable the Java interface, copy the NFAST_HOME/java/classes/nCipherKM.jar file to the <pf_install>/pingfederate/startup directory.

  5. If you’re upgrading from PingFederate 11.1 or earlier, revert any previous changes to the JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security/java.security file and remove the nCipherKM.jar file previously copied to JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/ext.

  6. Set up a new PingFederate installation on the network interconnected to the HSM.

    Skip to the next step to integrate an existing PingFederate installation with your HSM.

  7. Edit the <pf_install>/pingfederate/server/default/conf/service-points.conf file.

    1. Go to the # Crypto provider services section.

    2. Change the jce.manager and certificate.service service endpoints to the following:

      ...
jce.manager=com.pingidentity.crypto.NcipherJCEManager
...
certificate.service=com.pingidentity.crypto.NcipherCertificateServiceImpl
...

      In clustered PingFederate environments, you must manually edit the service-points.conf file on each node because cluster replication can’t replicate this change to other nodes.

  8. Update the <pf_install>/pingfederate/bin/run.properties file.

    1. Change the value of pf.hsm.mode from OFF to NCIPHER.

    2. If you are configuring a new PingFederate installation, set the value of pf.hsm.hybrid to false to store newly created or imported certificates on your HSM.

    3. If you are configuring an existing PingFederate installation, set the value to true, which provides the flexibility to store each relevant key and certificate on the HSM or the local trust store. This capability allows you to transition the storage of keys and certificates to your HSM without the need to deploy a new PingFederate environment and to mirror the setup. For more information, see Transitioning to an HSM.

  9. From the <pf_install>/pingfederate/bin directory, run the hsmpass.bat batch file for Windows or the hsmpass.sh script for Linux.

    Enter the Operator Card Set password when prompted. See [step2].

    This procedure securely stores the password for communication to the HSM from PingFederate.

  10. If you’re not using the default slot for OCS protection, specify the slot in <pf_install>/pingfederate/server/default/data/config-store/com.pingidentity.crypto.NCipherSettings.xml.

  11. If you are setting up a new or configuring an existing PingFederate cluster, repeat these steps on each node.

    When finished, use the following steps to replicate nShield data to the connected nodes in the cluster.

    1. On the console node, go to the <pf_install>/pingfederate/server/default/data directory and create a sub directory named ncipher-kmdata-local.

    2. Copy to the ncipher-kmdata-local directory all files from the NFAST_KMDATA\local directory, where NFAST_KMDATA is an environment variable created during the nShield Connect installation.

    For example, NFAST_KMDATA could be set to C:\ProgramData\nCipher\Key Management Data.

    1. Create a new environment variable named NFAST_KMLOCAL and set it to <pf_install>/pingfederate/server/default/data/ncipher-kmdata-local.

      You must define this environment variable on all servers within the cluster.

    2. Restart the nShield Connect hardserver on all PingFederate servers in the cluster. For instructions on restarting the hardserver, see the HSM documentation from Entrust.

    3. Sign on to the PingFederate administrative console and go to System → Server → Cluster Management.

    4. To push the configuration changes, including the nShield data, to the engine nodes, click Replicate Configuration.

  12. Start the new PingFederate server or restart the existing PingFederate server.