Configuring SSL for OBIEE 12C

Why SSL for OBIEE

 

This article deals with how to configure SSL for OBIEE 12c. The SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) enables the communication between the application server and the client via an encrypted link.

 

While deploying the OBIEE in an organization, we must ensure the SSL is configured using the client’s certificates in order to make sure the interaction between the browser and application server is private, since the BI dashboards contain data confidential to the organization.

 

1. High-Level Steps to enable SSL for OBIEE 12c

 

Before getting into the hands on, let’s understand the high level steps involved in this configuration:

 

Generating the required certificates and keystores for SSL communication
Configuring Weblogic Admin Server, Node Manager and Managed Server for SSL
Configuring Internal WebLogic Server LDAP to Use LDAPs
Configuring Internal WebLogic Server LDAP Trust Store
Disabling HTTP
Configuring OWSM to use t3s
Enabling Oracle BI EE Internal SSL for BIEE

 

2. Assumptions

 

We assume OBIEE 12c is installed and configured in a Windows/ Linux server with the DSN – obiee12c.clearpeaks.com. The BI services are accessible using the following links with default OBIEE 12c ports:

 

Weblogic Console
EM Console
BI Presentation services

 

3. End to End SSL configuration for OBIEE 12c

 

3.1. Generating the required certificates and keystores for SSL communication

 

Create a folder under Oracle Home where OBIEE 12c is installed. For E.g. /ssl
Set the environment variable PATH to include the JAVA_HOME/bin directory.

 

WINDOWS:

set JAVA_HOME=<path to JAVA install root>

set PATH=%JAVA_HOME%/bin;%PATH%

UNIX:

export JAVA_HOME=<path to JAVA install root>

export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

 

Create Java key store: Invoke the Java keytool utility to create a java key store. For example:

 

keytool -genkey -alias <alias> -keyalg RSA -sigalg SHA256withRSA -keysize <key_size> -keypass <password> -keystore <keystore_name>.jks -storepass <password> -storetype <store_type> -validity <days_of_validity>

 

For example:

 

> keytool -genkey -alias obiee12c -keyalg RSA -sigalg SHA256withRSA -keysize 2048 -keypass Clearpeaks123 -keystore obiee12c.jks -storepass Clearpeaks123 -storetype JKS -validity 365
 What is your first and last name?
 [Unknown]: obiee12c.clearpeaks.com
 What is the name of your organizational unit?
 [Unknown]: admin
 What is the name of your organization?
 [Unknown]: Clearpeaks
 What is the name of your City or Locality?
 [Unknown]: Abu Dhabi
 What is the name of your State or Province?
 [Unknown]: Abu Dhabi

 

Create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). Use the following command to create a Certificate Signing Request:

 

keytool -certreq -v -alias <alias> -keyalg RSA -sigalg SHA256withRSA -file <filename> -keypass <password> -keystore <keystore> -storepass <password>

 

>keytool -certreq -v -alias obiee12c -keyalg RSA -sigalg SHA256withRSA -file root_cert_req.csr -keypass Clearpeaks123 -storepass Clearpeaks123 -keystore obiee12c.jks
Certification request stored in file root_cert_req.csr
 
Submit this to your CA
 

 

Submit this CSR to the signing authority board and in return, the root, intermediate and server certificates will be provided.

 

Import the CA into the Java Keystore. Use the following command to import the root, Intermediate and server certificate to the Java Keystore.

 

» Import Root Certificate

 

keytool -import -trustcacerts -alias <alias> -file <cacert_file> -keystore <keystore> -keypass <password> -storepass <password>

 

>keytool -import -trustcacerts -alias rootca -file rootca.pem -keystore obiee12c.jks -keypass Clearpeaks123 -storepass Clearpeaks123
.....................................
....................................
Trust this certificate? [no]: yes
Certificate was added to keystore.

 

» Import Intermediate Certificate

 

keytool -import -trustcacerts -alias <alias> -file <cacert_file> -keystore <keystore> -keypass <password> -storepass <password>

 

>keytool -import -trustcacerts -alias interca -file interca.pem -keystore obiee12c.jks -keypass Clearpeaks123 -storepass Clearpeaks123

Certificate was added to keystore

 

» Import Server Certificate

 

keytool -import -alias <alias> -file <servercert_file> -keystore <keystore> -keypass <password> -storepass <password>

 

>keytool -import -v -alias server -file server.cer -keystore obiee12c.jks -keypass Clearpeaks123 -storepass Clearpeaks123

Certificate reply was installed in keystore

 

Use the following command to verify whether the keystore contains the certificates

 

keytool -list -keystore <keystore> -storepass <password>

 

>keytool -list -keystore obiee12c.jks -storepass Clearpeaks123

 

In case if the key store contains chain of certificates, use the following command:

 

>keytool -list -v -keystore obiee12c.jks

 

 

3.2. Configuring Weblogic Admin Server, Node Manager and Managed Server for SSL

 

3.2.1. Configuring Weblogic Admin Server for SSL

 

Stop all the BI services using server script – stop.sh

 

 ./stop.sh

 

Start the admin server only by using the following command

 

> ./start.sh –i Adminserver

 

Log in to WebLogic console.
Click Lock and Edit.
Select Environment > Servers. Click on Admin Server.
In the ‘General’ tab, update the Listen Address with the DSN – obiee12c.clearpeaks.com.
Check ‘SSL Listen Port Enabled’. ‘SSL Listen Port’ : e.g. 9501 (make sure the port is available)

 

Image 1

 

Click ‘Save’
Select Keystores’ tab and click the ‘change’ button to select Custom Identity and Custom Trust for keystores.
Update the details as follows.
» ‘Custom Identity Keystore’: <path_to_keystore> eg. <ORACLE_HOME>/ssl/ obiee12c.jks
» ‘Custom Identity Keystore’: JKS
» ‘Custom Identity Keystore Passphrase’: <storepass_pwd> e.g.: Clearpeaks123
» ‘Confirm Custom Identity Keystore Passphrase’: <storepass_pwd> e.g.: Clearpeaks123
» ‘Custom Trust Keystore’: <path_to_keystore> e.g. <ORACLE_HOME>/ssl/obiee12c.jks
» ‘Custom Trust Keystore Type’: JKS
» ‘Custom ‘Custom Trust Keystore Passphrase’: <storepass_pwd> e.g.: Clearpeaks123
» ‘Custom ‘Confirm Custom Trust Keystore Passphrase’: <storepass_pwd> e.g.: Clearpeaks123
» ‘Click ‘Save’.   

 

Image 2

 

Note: In this, example the Custom Identity Trust keystore and Custom Trust Keystore are same.

 

Select the ‘SSL’ tab and enter the relevant information based on Step 1.
» ‘Private Key Alias’: <alias_given_when_creating_key> e.g. obiee12c
» ‘Private Key Password’: <keypass_pwd> e.g. Clearpeaks123
» ‘Confirm Private Key Password’: <keypass_pwd> e.g. Clearpeaks123
» Click ‘Save’

 

Image 3

 

3.2.2. Configure Managed Server for SSL

 

Select Environment > Servers. Click ‘Managed Server bi_server1’
Perform the same changes done on the general tab in the Admin server described in the earlier step, by selecting the 9503 port for SSL (if available)

 

Image 4

 

Select the keystores tab and perform the changes as done in the keystore tab for Admin server and Click ‘Save’

 

Image 5

 

Select the SSL tab and perform the changes as done in then keystore tab for Admin server and Click ‘Save’

 

Image 6

 

3.2.3. Configure Node manager for SSL

 

Update the nodemanager.properties in <DOMAIN_HOME>/nodemanager folder with Custom Identity Keystore and Custom Trust Keystore details

 

KeyStores=CustomIdentityAndCustomTrust

CustomIdentityKeyStoreFileName=&lt;Path to the Keystore&gt;

CustomIdentityAlias=&lt;Keystore Alias&gt;

CustomIdentityPrivateKeyPassPhrase=&lt;Key Passphrase&gt;

CustomTrustKeyStoreFileName=&lt;Path to the Keystore&gt;

 

For example>

 

KeyStores=CustomIdentityAndCustomTrust

CustomIdentityKeyStoreFileName=&lt;oracle_home&gt;/ssl/obiee12c.jks

CustomIdentityAlias=obiee12c

CustomIdentityPrivateKeyPassPhrase=Clearpeaks123

CustomTrustKeyStoreFileName=&lt;oracle_home&gt;/ssl/obiee12c.jks

 

Import the Public certificates (root and intermediate) to Java Standard Trust Store, /jre/lib/security

 

&gt;keytool -import -trustcacerts -alias rootca -file &lt;oracle_home&gt;/ssl/rootca.pem -keystore cacerts -storepass changeit

&gt;keytool -import -trustcacerts -alias interca -file &lt;oracle_home&gt;/ssl/interca.pem -keystore cacerts -storepass changeit

 

3.3. Configuring Internal WebLogic Server LDAP to Use LDAPs

 

Make sure WebLogic Admin and Managed Servers are up and running
Login to EM. Click weblogic domain>Security >Security Provider configuration
Expand the Identity Store Provider
Click ‘Configure’
Click ‘+’ or ‘Add’ to add a new property
Select ‘ldap.url’ from the list. Enter the value’ ldaps://:’
For e.g.: ‘ldaps://obiee12c.clearpeaks.com:9501′

 

Image 7

 

Click ‘Ok’

 

3.4. Configuring Internal WebLogic Server LDAP Trust Store

 

Expand the Identity Store Provider
Click ‘Configure’
Expand the Identity Store Provider
Click ‘Configure’
Click ‘+’ or ‘Add’ to add a new property
Select virtualize from the list. Enter «true» as the value
Click ‘OK
Make sure virtualize=true is set, as you are explicitly pointing the Administration Server
Restart all the BI services
Create LDAP Trust Store «adapters.jks»
Set the following environment variables

 

&gt;export ORACLE_HOME=&lt;Oracle_Home&gt;

&gt;export WL_HOME=&lt;Oracle_home&gt; /wlserver

&gt;export JAVA_HOME=&lt;path to JAVA install root&gt;

&gt;export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

&gt;cd $ORACLE_HOME/oracle_common/bin

 

./libovdconfig.sh -host obiee12c.clearpeaks.com -port 9500 -domainPath &lt;Oracle_home&gt; /user_projects/domains/bi -userName&nbsp;

 

Import the SSL certificates into ‘adapters.jks’ created in the <DOMAIN_HOME>/config/fmwconfig/ovd/default/keystores folder

 

3.5. Disabling HTTP

 

Login to Admin Console
Lock and Edit
Navigate to Environment > Servers > Admin Server
In the Admin Server General tab, uncheck ‘Listen Port’
Click ‘Save’
Navigate to Environment > Servers > bi_server1
In the Managed Server bi_server1 general tab, uncheck ‘Listen Port’. Click ‘Save’
Navigate to Environment > Cluster > bi_cluster
Click Replication Check the ‘Secure Replication’

 

Image 8

 

Click ‘Save’
Activate changes
Restart the BI services

 

3.6. Configuring OWSM to Use t3s

 

Login to EM
Select WebLogic domain, and cross component wiring, components
Select component type, OWSM agent
Select WebLogic domain, and cross component wiring, components
Select the row owsm-pm-connection-t3 status ‘Out of Sync’, and click ‘Bind’.
The HTTP(s) OWSM link is not used when using a local OWSM
Select ‘Yes’ in the pop-up box

 

Image 9

 

Confirm by accessing the policy via the validator: https://obiee12c.clearpeaks.com:9503/wsm-pm/validator

 

3.7. Enabling Internal SSL for OBIEE 

 

Stop all the BI services
Execute the following command – /bitools/bin/ssl.sh | .cmd script to enable internal SSL for OBIEE

 

&gt;./ssl.sh internalssl true

 

Restart the BI services
Validate the internal ssl configuration by running the following command

 

&gt;./ssl.sh report

 

4. Validating the SSL configuration

 

Try accessing the Weblogic console, EM, analytics and visual analyser with the configured SSL ports
» WebLogic Console – https://obiee12c.clearpeaks.com:9501/console

 

Image 10

 

» EM Console – https://obiee12c.clearpeaks.com:9501/em

 

Image 11

 

» BI Presentation services: https://obiee12c.clearpeaks.com:9503/analytics

 

Image 12

 

Image 13

 

» Configure the DSN with ‘use SSL’ checked and try opening the RPD online

 

Image 14

 

In case if you are configuring the SSL for OBIEE 12c – 12.2.1.0.0, Add the following entry to the   file <Oracle_home>/bi/modules/oracle.bi.commandline.tools/scripts/data-model-cmd.sh

 

TRUST_STORE=”&lt;Oracle_Home&gt;/ssl/obiee12c.jks"

TRUST_STORE_PW="Clearpeaks123"

 

Conclusion

 

Configuring SSL in OBIEE 12c is quite a long and tedious process since it involves multiple restarts that may fail if the certificates are not properly imported to the keystore.  Always make sure the server ports to be configured for OBIEE SSL are open and available for clients.

Some organization may not use the intermediate certificates. In such cases, the root and server certificates are sufficient to perform this configuration. Last but not least, make sure the keystore directory has apt permissions set for the BI system to access the keystore and certificates.

Click here if you would you like to know more about how to configurate SSL for OBIEE.

 

Karthigesan V
Karthigesan.Vijayakumar@clearpeaks.com