Certificate Authentication Workflow
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This pages describes the implementation of certificate-based Authentication. For the API reference of Certificate Session Authenticate and Certificate Key Manager Authenticate, see the following API endpoints:
Session Auth:
Key Manager Auth:
Symphony Messaging allows you to authenticate on the Pod and Key Manager with a client certificate that is signed by a trusted root certificate. When a bot calls the Session Authenticate endpoint, the Pod examines the client certificate provided in the TLS session to identify the bot user and return a Session Token. The same process occurs when a bot authenticates on the Key Manager.
All Symphony Messaging network communications take place over TLS-protected HTTP. The network uses authentication methods that require a client-authenticated TLS connection.
Client certificate authentication in TLS is configured at the port level. Two distinct ports are required for client-authenticated and non-client-authenticated connections. The web and mobile endpoints listen on port 443 (the default port number for HTTPS connections). The API endpoints require a separate port, typically port 8444.
The Admin upload a Signing certificate or Root certificate using the Admin portal.
The Admin provides to the developer a child client certificate derived from the Signing or Root certificate
The developer authenticates the Bot using the client certificate.
Note: It is also possible to directly upload a Client certificate in the Admin portal instead of a Signing or Root certificate.
Please note the below steps can only be performed by a Symphony Messaging Pod Administrator as they will have the necessary administrator privileges to access the Administration Portal.
Once you have obtained a copy of your Root Certificate Authorities (CA) Public "Signing Certificate", you can upload it using the following steps:
Once logged in click the Manage Certificates button then select Import
Drag and drop your Certificate file into the popup window:
Once you have uploaded the certificate file, click Import. If successful you will receive a confirmation message saying that the certificate has been uploaded successfully.
You can use the following commands to generate the service account certificate. The certificate must use 4096 bits length.
USERNAME = Service account username
PASSWORD = Service account key password
CA_CERT = CA certificate file
CA_KEY = CA key file
CA_PASSWORD = CA key password
OUTPUT_PASSWORD = PKCS12 file password
The following table shows the information you will need to provide to your PKI team:
Details
Example Values
Certificate Type
Single Domain Certificate
Common Name (CN)
demo-bot1
Organization
Excelsior Bank
Department
Collaboration Services
admin@bots.symphony.com
Locality
London
State / Province
London
Country
GB
Key Size
2048 bits
The Symphony Messaging Admin then creates a service user with a username that matches the Common Name of the certificate, as you can see in the example below:
A successful response:
A successful response:
Pass the Session Token and Key Manager Token as headers for all subsequent API requests.
Navigate to the Symphony Admin Console for your Pod (e.g. ), then log in with your credentials
To authenticate on the Pod the bot must call the Session Auth endpoint: . Pass along the client certificate provided in the TLS session, returning a Session Token:
To authenticate on the Key Manager, the bot must call the Key Manager Auth endpoint: . Pass along the client certificate provided in the TLS session, returning a Key Manager Token:
