Simulated single sign-on

Simulated single sign-on is provided for ease of setup in Rational Application Developer where the portlet developer can be up and running without enabling security and without using LDAP. Speed of setup takes precedence over security in a development environment. This option allows the use of a predetermined WebSphere Commerce user ID and the system will automatically use that credential to perform authentication through a WebSphere Commerce Web service, without the WebSphere Portal user being aware of this operation.

This diagram outlines an example configuration for the single sign-on authentication solution. This solution is explained in more detail in the text that follows this diagram.

Typically this configuration requires:

A WebSphere Portal test server in Rational Application Developer, and its database containing the predetermined user.
WebSphere Commerce Developer Version 7.0 and its database containing the predetermined user.

When a WebSphere Portal user logs on to the WebSphere Portal server, the MVC Portlet uses the preconfigured user name and password to authenticate against the WebSphere Commerce Server on behalf of the user. This authentication is done to achieve the single sign-on experience. Regardless of the user that is used to login to the WebSphere Portal server, you will always see the WebSphere Commerce content for the single predetermined user that you have configured for simulated single sign on.

Note: Simulated single sign-on is only intended for use within the portlet development environment in Rational Application Developer and is not meant to be used in the production environment.