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Securing
This section describes IBM® Domino® security features, including execution control lists, IDs, and SSL.
SSL security
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a security protocol that provides communications privacy and authentication for Domino® server tasks that operate over TCP/IP.
Setting up SSL on a Domino® server
Set up SSL on a Domino® server so that clients and servers that connect to the server use SSL to ensure privacy and authentication on the network. You set up SSL on a protocol-by-protocol basis. For example, you can enable SSL for mail protocols -- such as IMAP, POP3, and SMTP -- and not for other protocols.
Signing server certificates
The Certificate Authority (CA) creates a digital signature over the server certificate request using the CA's private key. This action creates a server certificate. Essentially, the act of signing the certificate request turns the request into a certificate. The server certificate is then considered valid.

Securing
This section describes IBM® Domino® security features, including execution control lists, IDs, and SSL.
- Overview of Domino security
  Setting up security for your organization is a critical task. Your security infrastructure is critical for protecting your organization's IT resources and assets. As an administrator, you need to give careful consideration to your organization's security requirements before you set up any servers or users. Up-front planning pays off later in minimizing the risks of compromised security.
- Server access for Notes® users, Internet users, and Domino® servers
  To control user and server access to other servers, Domino® uses the settings you specify on the Security tab in the Server document as well as the rules of validation and authentication. If a server validates and authenticates the Notes® user, Internet user, or server, and the settings in the Server document allow access, the user or server is allowed access to the server.
- The database access control list
  Every .NSF database has an access control list (ACL) that specifies the level of access that users and servers have to that database. Although the names of access levels are the same for users and servers, those assigned to users determine the tasks that they can perform in a database, while those assigned to servers determine what information within the database the servers can replicate. Only someone with Manager access can create or modify the ACL.
- Domino® server and Notes® user IDs
  Domino® uses ID files to identify users and to control access to servers. Every Domino server, Notes® certifier, and Notes user must have an ID.
- The execution control list
  You use an execution control list (ECL) to configure workstation data security. An ECL protects user workstations against active content from unknown or suspect sources, and can be configured to limit the action of any active content that does run on workstations.
- Domino® server-based certification authority
  You can set up a Domino® certifier that uses the CA process server task to manage and process certificate requests. The CA process runs as a process on Domino servers that are used to issue certificates. When you set up a Notes® or Internet certifier, you link it to the CA process on the server in order to take advantage of CA process activities. Only one instance of the CA process can run on a server; however, the process can be linked to multiple certifiers.
- SSL security
  Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a security protocol that provides communications privacy and authentication for Domino® server tasks that operate over TCP/IP.
  - Setting up SSL on a Domino® server
    Set up SSL on a Domino® server so that clients and servers that connect to the server use SSL to ensure privacy and authentication on the network. You set up SSL on a protocol-by-protocol basis. For example, you can enable SSL for mail protocols -- such as IMAP, POP3, and SMTP -- and not for other protocols.
    - Setting up the Server Certificate Admin application
      Domino® automatically creates the Server Certificate Admin application during server setup.
    - Creating a server key ring file
      Before you request a certificate from a CA, you must create a key ring file to store the certificates. A key ring file is a binary file that is password-protected and stored on the server's hard drive.
    - Requesting an SSL server certificate
      When you request an SSL server certificate, you use Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) format, an industry-standard format that many CAs, including Domino®, understand. Before you request a certificate from a third-party CA, make sure the CA uses the PKCS format, not some other format, such as Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM). If you are unsure of the format required by a third-party CA, check with that CA.
    - Merging a CA certificate as a trusted root
      The server certificate must contain the CA certificate as a trusted root. The trusted root allows servers and clients that have a common CA certificate to communicate. Before you merge a server certificate signed by a CA, merge the CA certificate into your key ring file as a trusted root.
    - Default Domino® SSL trusted roots
      Domino® includes several trusted root certificates by default when you create a server key ring file. You do not need to merge a third-party CA's certificate as a trusted root if it exists in the key ring file by default. You can view the list of trusted root certificate names, their organizations, organizational units, and countries.
    - Signing server certificates
      The Certificate Authority (CA) creates a digital signature over the server certificate request using the CA's private key. This action creates a server certificate. Essentially, the act of signing the certificate request turns the request into a certificate. The server certificate is then considered valid.
    - Merging a server certificate into the key ring file
      After you merge the CA's certificate as a trusted root and the CA approves your server certificate request, merge the signed certificate into the server's key ring file.
    - SSL port configuration
      The SSL protocol always provides an encrypted, integrity-checked, communications channel and authenticated server identity. SSL servers can be optionally configured to request various forms of client identity authentication.
    - Configuring a port for SSL
      You can configure a port to use only server authentication or to use both server and client authentication.
    - Requiring an SSL connection to a server
      Require SSL connections when you want to make sure that clients use a secure connection to access databases on the server. You do this by redirecting connection requests that come in over the TCP/IP port to the SSL port. If you do not require an SSL connection, clients can use either SSL or TCP/IP to connect to the server.
  - Setting up database access for SSL clients
    After you set up SSL on a Domino® server, you must give the clients access to databases on the server.
  - Managing server certificates and certificate requests
    Administrators perform a number of tasks in managing the certificate lifecycle. This topic provides a high-level view of the process, with links to additional information on how to view certificates, change the password of a key ring file, specify the trusted root for a certificate authority, view certificate requests, and renew expired certificates.
  - Creating a self-certified certificate to test SSL certification
    You can create a self-certified certificate to test the certificate procedure at your organization. Because this certificate is not certified by a CA, use it only for testing purposes.
  - Creating an Internet cross-certificate for server-to-server SSL
    One server can obtain an Internet cross-certificate from another server for the purposes of establishing trust. For example, if one server needs to access Directory Assistance on another server.
  - Modifying SSL cipher restrictions
    SSL uses public, private, and negotiated session keys. Every SSL certificate has one pair of keys -- a public key and private key -- that are created when the SSL certificate is generated, and enable certificate owners to identify themselves over the network and to use S/MIME to encrypt and sign messages. Certificates contain only the public key. The private key is kept in the ID file for the Notes® client, and is kept in the key ring in the case of the SSL server.
  - Authenticating Web SSL clients in secondary Domino® and LDAP directories
    When a Web client authenticates with a server, by default, the server checks the primary IBM® Domino® Directory to see if the client certificate exists in the Person document. If your organization uses a secondary Domino Directory and/or an LDAP directory to verify client certificates, you can set up Domino to check those additional directories. To do so, you set up the secondary Domino and LDAP directories as trusted domains in the Directory Assistance database.
  - SSL session resumption
    SSL session resumption greatly improves performance when using SSL by recalling information from a previous successful SSL session negotiation to bypass the most computationally intensive parts of the SSL session key negotiation. HTTP is the protocol that benefits the most from SSL session resumption, but other Internet protocols may benefit as well.
- SSL and S/MIME for clients
  Clients can use a Domino® certificate authority (CA) application or a third-party CA to obtain certificates for secure SSL and S/MIME communication.
- Encryption
  Encryption protects data from unauthorized access.
- Name-and-password authentication for Internet/intranet clients
  Name-and-password authentication, also known as basic password authentication, uses a basic challenge/response protocol to ask users for their names and passwords and then verifies the accuracy of the passwords by checking them against a secure hash of the password stored in Person documents in the Domino® Directory.
- Multi-server session-based authentication (single sign-on)
  Multi-server session-based authentication, also known as single sign-on (SSO), allows Web users to log in once to a Domino® or WebSphere® server, and then access any other Domino or WebSphere servers in the same DNS domain that are enabled for single sign-on (SSO) without having to log in again.
- Using Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) to configure federated-identity authentication
  Federated identity is a means of achieving single sign-on, providing user convenience and helping to reduce administrative cost. In Domino® and Notes®, federated identity for user authentication uses the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) standard from OASIS.
- Using a credential store to share credentials
  In this release, the on-premises Domino® server can use a credential store application (credstore.nsf). The credential store is a secure repository for document encryption keys and other tokens necessary for Notes® client users to grant access to applications that use the OAuth (open authorization) protocol. OAuth allows user credentials to be shared with compliant applications so that users avoid extra password prompts.

Signing server certificates

The Certificate Authority (CA) creates a digital signature over the server certificate request using the CA's private key. This action creates a server certificate. Essentially, the act of signing the certificate request turns the request into a certificate. The server certificate is then considered valid.

The method used to sign a server certificate depends on whether the certificate was issued by a Domino® or third-party CA.

For more information on how a Domino® server-based certification authority signs certificates, see the related topic on using the Certificate Requests database.

Signing methods for third-party CAs vary. If you want to use a third-party CA, check with that CA for information about how they sign certificates.