PingIntelligence

ASE to ABS connectivity

To connect the API Security Enforcer (ASE) to API Behavioral Security (ABS), configure the ABS address (IPv4:<port> or <hostname>:<port>), access key, and secret key in the abs.conf file located in the /<ASE installattion path>/pingidentity/ase/config directory.

The enable_abs parameter must be set to true in the ase.conf file. When ABS is in a different AWS security group, use a private IP address.

The following table includes the parameter values and descriptions.

Parameter Description

deployment_type

The ABS deployment mode. Valid values arecloud or onprem. The default value is onprem.

gateway_credential

This parameter is used when ABS is deployed in cloud mode. The credential generated in PingOne while creating a PingIntelligence connection is assigned here so that PingOne can authenticate the data sent by ASE during runtime.

For more information on PingOne connections, see Connections.

abs_cloud_endpoint

Use this parameter to assign an endpoint other than the one decoded by the gateway credentials. It’s used when ABS is deployed in cloud mode.

abs_endpoint

The parameter has two possible configurations:

  • When ABS is deployed with a load balancer - Configure the host name and port or the IPv4 and port of the load balancer.

To allow the load balancer to bind ASE’s session to a specific ABS node, enable cookie stickiness in the load balancer with PISESSIONID cookie.

  • When ABS is deployed without a load balancer -Configure the parameter with the host name and port or the IPv4 and port of all the ABS nodes in a cluster. If later a new ABS node is added to the cluster, add its host name or IPv4 to the list and restart ASE.

access_key

The access key or the username for the ABS nodes. It is the same for all the ABS nodes. The same value has to be configured in ABS MongoDB database. This value is obfuscated during the start of ASE. This parameter is used when ABS is deployed in onprem mode.

":" is a restricted character and allowed in access key.

secret_key

The secret key or the password for the ABS nodes. It is the same for all the ABS nodes. The same value has to be configured in ABS MongoDB database. This value is obfuscated during the start of ASE. This parameter is used when ABS is deployed in onprem mode.

":" is a restricted character and allowed in secret key.

enable_ssl

Set the value to true for SSL communication between ASE and ABS. The default value is true. ASE sends the access log files in plain text if the value is set to false. This parameter is used when ABS is deployed in onprem mode.

abs_ca_cert_path

Location of the trusted certificate authority (CA) certificates for SSL/TLS connections from ASE to ABS.

If the path parameter value is left empty, then ASE does not verify the validity of CA certificates. However, the connection to ABS is still encrypted. This parameter is used when ABS is deployed in onprem mode.

The access_key and secret_key are configured in ABS. For more information, see ABS Admin Guide.

The following is a sample abs.conf file:

; API Security Enforcer ABS configuration.;
 This file is in the standard .ini format.
The comments start with a semicolon (;).;
Following configurations are applicable only if ABS is enabled with true.
; Configure ABS deployment type. Supported values (onprem/cloud)
deployment_type=onprem

; PingIntelligence Gateway Credentials
gateway_credential=

; ABS endpoint for cloud
abs_cloud_endpoint=

; a comma-separated list of abs nodes having hostname:port or ipv4:port as an address.
abs_endpoint=127.0.0.1:8080

; access key for abs node
access_key=OBF:AES://ENOzsqOEhDBWLDY+pIoQ:jN6wfLiHTTd3oVNzvtXuAaOG34c4JBD4XZHgFCaHry0

; secret key for abs node
secret_key=OBF:AES:Y2DadCU4JFZp3bx8EhnOiw:zzi77GIFF5xkQJccjIrIVWU+RY5CxUhp3NLcNBel+3Q

; Setting this value to true will enable encrypted communication with ABS.
enable_ssl=true

; Configure the location of ABS's trusted CA certificates. If empty, ABS's certificate
; will not be verified
abs_ca_cert_path=

Configuring ASE to ABS encrypted communication

Steps

  1. To enable SSL communication between ASE and ABS so that the access logs are encrypted and sent to ABS, set the value of enable_ssl to true.

    The abs_ca_cert_path is the location of ABS AI engine’s trusted CA certificate.

    If the field is left empty, ASE does not verify ABS AI engine’s certificate, but the communication is still encrypted.

  2. Check and open ABS ports.

    The default port for connection with ABS is 8080.

    1. To determine ABS accessibility, run the check_ports.sh script on the ASE machine.

      Example:

      /opt/pingidentity/ase/util ./check_ports.sh {ABS IPv4:[port]}

    2. Input ABS host IP address and ports as arguments.