GCC implemented a project-centric security model for their ADF applications to enable their construction sites to securely access centralized systems. Users are authenticated using Oracle Single Sign-On and assigned roles and privileges at the project and module level by security managers. These privileges are checked using EL expressions to control UI rendering on a per-page and component level. The infrastructure was set up using WebLogic, HTTP Server, and Identity Management integrated with the ADF applications. Reusable task flows, libraries, and templates help manage the growing portfolio of ADF applications.

1. ADF Security in a Project-Centric
Environment
An ADF Case Study
Jean-Marc Desvaux - General Construction Co.Ltd

2. Agenda
GCC Business Case
Security Approach for the overall Ecosystem
Enabling ADF Security
Enabling Per Project & Module Security in ADF
Setting up the Infrastructure

3. The Business Case

4. The GCC Business
Building & Civil Engineering
GCC = Main Contractor = Builders Work mainly
Operations in Mauritius Only
~3000 Workforce, ~400 Staff (200 HQ, 200 on
Sites).

5. The GCC IT Team
4 Engineers & Developers
 1 ADF dedicated since 2 years + Forms/Reports (6yrs)
 1 ADF dedicated since 1 year
 1 Forms/Reports dedicated +20yrs (new/reviews &
upgrades)
 2 of them dealing with overall infrastructure (Installation,
Admin of DB,AS,Storage,DR,Firewalls,...)
2 Desktop & Peripheral Support Technicians
 Sites Networking
Desktop/Clients Configs & Support

6. Dev Started 1990, Kept Updated & Still Growing…
SINGLE ORACLE DATABASE INSTANCE

7. Today ~1500 Forms & 1500 Reports
covering most aspects of line of
services/business units
(Logistics, Professional Support &
Coorporate Services)
each backing up Sites Operations

8. Need for our Sites to be
Active Players
in this
Services Ecosystem
We saw there a good case
for an ADF transition

9. Started with ADF 10g, 2 years ago
Connecting Sites to the GCC System
with ADF Web applications

10. As we grow with ADF we will replace
FORMS slowly across the whole IS

11. Security Approach for the
overall Ecosystem

12. Site User always works under a Project Context
Compared to a Corp.User who works
transversely across projects

13. Security delegated to “Line of Service”
Managers where applicable
•Each “Line of Service” Manager makes service agreements
with Sites defining how they will work :-Who will do what.
•“Line of Service” Manager applies Agreement by setting
roles in a Security Configuration/Management application.

14. Security Model for all applications
(ADF, Forms & Reports)

15. 4 “Levels”: OID/SSO, Database, ADF Security & UI
OID (LDAP) for USERS and MODULE GROUPS
ORACLE Single Sign-On (SSO)
DATA MODEL FOR A SECURITY APPLICATION
TO DRIVE PER MODULE/PROJECT ROLES
ADF SECURITY FOR PAGES ON OID GROUPS
ADF UI COMPONENTS RENDERED OR NOT USING EL :
CUSTOM CLASSES TO CHECK ROLES FROM THE DATABASE

16. Security Application
Built with both Forms & ADF
to support delegation to Line of Service Managers

17. Users stored in Database + mirrored in OID
using dbms_ldap package
OID Data

18. Delegate management of Project/Module Security
Module Security
Manager

19. Who can Manage a Module for one or more Projects
Grant/Revoke Module Roles to User for Project
OID Group
Security Management related Forms
Module Roles & related privileges
Modules
When access granted to a first
Site, OID updated with module
group using dbms_ldap package

20. Other advantages of using the Database is
the integration of security with HR Data
New Users are added to the Site from HR Employees data by the
Security manager.
Auditing Accesses inside the database and Timesheet cross-
checking (Absent but logged on, not assigned to a Site but still
authorized etc..)
When an employee leaves the company, authorization is
automatically revoked
Ability to do more control as & when needed/decided
Security Data is backed up with Database

21. Setting up the Infrastructure
WebLogic, OID & SSO

22. What we need to integrate OID/SSO
with WebLogic
Webcache wls1033.gcc.mu:7785
HTTP 11g wls1033.gcc.mu:7777
WebLogic wls1033.gcc.mu:7007
Oracle Single Sign-on/OID
Oracle WebTier 11g
ADF 11g deployment
Oracle Identity Management 10.1.4
“Forms (11g) will not be specifically coded to use, nor tested with Oracle Access Manager. Other Oracle
products, such as ADF, Web Center and Portal, will also support Oracle Single-Sign-on.
Oracle has plans to support Oracle Access Manager in future versions of Oracle Forms 11g.”

23. Proxying WebLogic with HTTP 11g
WebLogic wls1033.gcc.mu:7007
Webcache wls1033.gcc.mu:7785
HTTP 11g wls1033.gcc.mu:7777

24. Register the weblogic server URL with webcache port (7785) on the
OID/SSO Server :-
1/.Create a wls_osso.conf file from the ssoreg.sh tool on the OID/SSO infra server .
2/.Replace the Weblogic server webtier osso.conf with the generated file
3/.Configure mod_osso.conf to point to the newly copied osso.conf
Register HTTP server
With the OSSO Infra Server

25. Setup WebLogic Security Providers
o Authenticator must be configured
for Oracle Internet Directory (OID)
o Identity Assertion Provider must be
configured for SSO
Oracle WebTier 11g
IdM

26. WebLogic Realm Security Providers

27. Infrastructure Setup Done
Webcache wls1033.gcc.mu:7785
HTTP 11g wls1033.gcc.mu:7777
WebLogic wls1033.gcc.mu:7007
Oracle Single Sign-on/OID
Oracle WebTier 11g
ADF 11g deployment
Oracle Identity Management 10.1.4

28. Enabling ADF Security
Normal ADF Security
(Not Project related yet)
Authentication
&
ADF application pages Authorization using OID Groups

29. Enabling ADF Security

30. Jdeveloper creates :
jazn-data.xml: Set security rules & permissions + dev/test
store for testing only (skipped on deployment)
What it does ..
and updates :
web.xml: Set type of Authentication selected.
weblogic.xml : where users are mapped to role (by default
a generic principal (user) is mapped to a Weblogic role “valid-
users” (authenticated user)
adf-config.xml: To indicate that ADF security is enabled &
handled by JPS (Java Platform Security)

31. Authentication Type (web.xml)
with Oracle Infrastructure Single sign-on
Remember this is due to Forms/Reports integration & the following Oracle statement:

32. Authorization : Roles & Pages Security
oApplication Roles
ADF application specified role, ADF Authorization are set on these roles.
oEnterprise Roles
Roles assigned to the ADF user from the Credential/Identity Store (Oracle
Internet Directory)
oApplication Role is mapped to Enterprise Role allowing
developer to use roles and map them later to final Roles.
oRoles are applied to pages with View permission
Other permissions are only applicable if you use WebCenter

33. Authorization (Jazn-data.xml)

34. What we have at this stage
o A user with an OID account and OID Groups
(enterprise roles) gets a SSO login form to identify
himself when trying to access an ADF application
(all pages being protected by ADF Security).
o Once authenticated, he can navigate to the page if he
has the necessary enterprise role (mapped to the
application role set to protect the page).

35. On each page, we only want
the authorized UI components
to be rendered.

36. UI components level
Rendering or not a UI component
(button, panel etc..)
JSF Expression Language (EL)
CurrentPeriod <= (le for less or equal) Period
#{securityContext.userInRole[‘rolename’]} for “static” role
We will see later how we use EL to apply per project security

37. Enabling Per Project &
Module Security in ADF

38. Before proceeding let’s see a normal
navigation use case demo of the
application

39. Oracle Single Sign-On Login Form
Oracle Infrastructure 10.1.4 Default Login Form
Customized with our logo.
We could (& should) write a custom Login Form

40. List of Projects for which the user
is entitled to at least one Application Module
Was done with ADF 10g, 11g was not yet released. Currently being upgraded to 11g
Last Project accessed by
the User in last session

41. List of Modules to which the user is
entitled to on the selected Project
Was done with ADF 10g, 11g was not yet released. Being upgraded to 11g

42. User can switch Project Context
Within the Same Module
Module
Ex: Button rendered or not
depending on User’s rights
on this specific Project

43. Module

44. Oracle Reports integration
(Report TaskFlow)
Report URL not displayed
Oracle Report Parameter Form

45. What we do
(Guideline only. To Show extensibility/flexibility of the Framework)
1. User Login is fetched from ADF Context.
2. From a “Project List” module and a “Project Switcher” Taskflow,
a selected Project is set in the database. Any direct access to
Module takes the Project from the database.
3. When accessing an application we store in the AM Session our
context parameters: Project Code, User Login, Module Code,etc..
4. Module Access Right for Project is checked from the database
(in case Module accessed directly via Module URL)
5. Database Client Identifier & Module Environment are set in the
Database for Auditing purpose & other needs.

46. 6. A “Module access” audit event is logged in the Database
7. When a page is accessed, session parameters are stored (if
not already done) in a Session bean.
8. User’s Privileges Codes for Module/Project is fetched from
the Security Database and stored in HTTP session as a Map.
9. Bind Variables on our View Objects (VOs) are automatically
replaced by our parameters value to filter data at VO level
when VOs are executed.
10. We have a session bean method (SecurityScope.userinRole)
that is used in EL to check Privileges from our HTTP session
Map to Render or not a Component.

47. Normal EL Expression to check from static role
#{securityContext.userInRole[‘Role Name']}
Custom EL Expression to check from Database
privileges Codes assigned to Role
#{securityScope.userInRole[‘Priv List Code']}

48. Reusability
Task Flows, Libraries & Page Templates

49. ADF Framework Base Classes
TaskFlow Workspace
GCCCommon Workspace
Reusability
Task Flows, Libraries, Page templates..
adf-extensions
project
gcc-security
project
gcc-template
Project
GCC Apps
Module
Task Flows ……
……
……
……
Application
Modules
Workspaces
Task Flows
Workspaces
GCC
Libraries

50. Oracle WebCenter
Application Entry point (Portal) + Customization for tasks shortcuts (Approving Requests etc..)
Improve Application Structure using Catalogs
Content Integration & Web 2.0 features
(ex: Project Site Communications Module extended with Chat/Forum/Workspace)
The Future
Potential grounds for improvements
Move to Oracle Access Manager (When Forms/Reports support it) &
investigate/try to leverage Oracle Entitlement Server
“Oracle Entitlements Server is a fine grained authorization engine that externalizes, unifies,
and simplifies the management of complex entitlement policies”
ADF Mobile
Pervasiveness of our Applications (ex: allowing an approval anywhere on site)

51. Non-Oracle
Lucas Jellema, Andrejus Baranovski, Chris Muir
Oracle
Frank Nimphius, Grant Ronald, Steve Muench, Duncan Mills
And more…
ADF Experts bloggers
Oracle Technology Network (OTN)
ADF Code Corner
JDev/ADF Forum
Tutorials
And more..
ADF books
Our Main Resources

52. ADF EMG
• A place to discuss best practices and methodologies
for JDeveloper ADF enterprise applications
• Founded mid-2008, now 400+ members
• Focus is Fusion Tech Stack (ADF Faces, ADF BC)
• Sessions at ODTUG, OOW
• Expert bloggers
• Sub Groups: Expert Panel (Ex: Inter-Region communication
Expert Panel, Security Expert Panel)
http://groups.google.com/group/adf-methodology

53. Thank You