One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Passwords 2.9 - Administration Guide

Application to Application

In order for third-party applications to use the Application to Application service to integrate with the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords vault, you must first register the application in Safeguard for Privileged Passwords. This can be done using the Administrative Tools | Settings | External Integration | Application to Application pane.

The Application to Application pane displays a list of previously registered third-party applications. From this page, the Security Policy Administrator can add new application registrations, and modify or remove existing registrations.

The Application to Application pane displays the following details about application registrations.

Use these toolbar buttons to manage application registrations.

About Application to Application functionality

Using the Application to Application service, third-party applications can interact with Safeguard for Privileged Passwords in the following ways:

• Credential retrieval: A third-party application can retrieve a credential from the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords vault in order to perform automated functions on the target asset. In addition, you can replace hard coded passwords in procedures, scripts, and other programs with programmatic calls.
• Access request broker: A third-party application can initiate an access request on behalf of an authorized user so that the authorized user can be notified of the available request and log in to Safeguard for Privileged Passwords to retrieve a password or start a session.

Credential retrieval

A credential retrieval request using the Application to Application service allows the third-party application to retrieve credentials from the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords vault without having to go through the normal workflow process.

For example, say you have an automated system that performs a routine system diagnostic on various services in the data center every 24 hours. In order for the automated system to perform the diagnostics, it must first authenticate to the target server. Since all of the credentials for the target servers are stored in the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords vault, the automated system retrieves the credentials for a specified system by calling the Application to Application service.

Access request broker

An access request broker request using the Application to Application service allows the application to create an access request on behalf of another user.

For example, say you have a ticketing system and one of the types of tickets that can be created is to request access to a specific asset. The ticketing system can be integrated with Safeguard for Privileged Passwords through the Application to Application service to create an access request on behalf of the user that entered the ticket into the system. Once the request is created, it follows the normal access request workflow in Safeguard for Privileged Passwords and the user who entered the ticket will be notified when access is granted.

In order for a third-party application to perform one of tasks provided by the Application to Application service, the application must first be registered with Safeguard for Privileged Passwords. This registration will be associated with a certificate user and authentication to the Application to Application service will be done using the certificate and an API key. The registered application will not be allowed to authenticate to Safeguard for Privileged Passwords other than for the purpose specified. The properties associated with an application registration are:

• API key: As part of the registration process, an API key is generated. An administrator must then copy this API key and make it available to the third-party application.

• Certificate user: In addition to the API key, the application registration must be associated with a certificate user. The certificate that is associated with the certificate user must be signed by a certificate authority that is also trusted by Safeguard for Privileged Passwords.

  NOTE: Use your corporate PKI for issuing this certificate and installing it on the third-party application.

The Application to Application service is disabled by default and must be enabled before any credential retrievals or access request broker functions can be performed. An Appliance Administrator can use the desktop client or Safeguard for Privileged Passwords API to enable the service.

Using the desktop client:

1. Navigate to Administrative Tools | Settings | Appliance | Enable or Disable Service.
2. Click the Application to Application Enabled toggle to enable the service ( toggle on).

Using the API, use the following URL:

https://appliance/service/appliance/v2/A2AService/Enable

In addition, you can check the current state of the service using this same desktop client page or using the following URL:

https://appliance/service/appliance/v2/A2AService/Status

Related Topics

Setting up Application to Application

Making a request using the Application to Application service

Adding an application registration

To allow a third-party application to perform one of the tasks provided by the Application to Application service, you must register the third-party application with Safeguard for Privileged Passwords.

Prerequisites:

• User Administrator adds certificate users to Safeguard for Privileged Passwords.
• Asset Administrator adds assets and accounts to Safeguard for Privileged Passwords.

To add an application registration

1. Log into the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords desktop client as a Security Policy Administrator.
2. Navigate to Administrative Tools | Settings | External Integration | Application to Application.

3. Click Add.

   The New Registration dialog displays.

4. On the General tab, specify the following information: 
   1. Name: Enter a name for the application registration.
   2. Description: Enter information about the application registration.

   3. Certificate User: Click Browse to select a certificate user who is associate with the third-party application being registered.

      A certificate user must be specified. If not specified when you initially add an application registration, click Edit on the Application to Application pane to specify the certificate user.

      NOTE: For SignIR, connect as a certificate user using A2A api key for the retrievable account you want to monitor that is assigned an A2A registration for'Retrievable Accounts. The connected certificate user will receive event notifications for any events related to that account (for example, password change, update, and delete). For more information, see Making a request using the Application to Application service.

   4. I want to configure this registration for: Select the tasks to be performed by the Application to Application service:

      • Access Request Broker: Select this check box if you want the third-party application to create an access request on behalf of another user.

      • Credential Retrieval: Select this check box if you want the third-party application to retrieve credentials from the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords vault without having to go through the normal workflow process.

        • Visible to certificate user: Select this check box to make the registration, including the API keys, visible by the certificate user that is configured for the A2A registration.

      Depending on the check boxes selected, additional tabs are displayed.

5. The Access Request Broker tab displays a list of users for which the third-party application can create an access request on behalf of.

   • Click to add a user or user group to the list.

   • Click Edit Restrictions to specify IP address restrictions for all of the users and user groups in the list.

     A restriction is a list of IP addresses or range of IP addresses that are allowed to call the Application to Application service to perform this task. That is, if a restriction is added to a Credential Retrieval or Access Request Broker task, the service will only allow requests that initiate from the IP addresses specified in the restriction list.

     The IP address notation can be:

     • An IPv4 or IPv6 address (for example, 10.5.32.4)
     • An address range in CIDR notation (for example, 10.5.0.0/16)

   • Click to remove the selected user from the list.

6. The Credential Retrieval tab displays a list for which the third-party can retrieve credentials from Safeguard for Privileged Passwords without going through the normal workflow process.

   • Click to add an account to the list.

   • Click Restrictions in the Restrictions column to specify IP address restrictions for the selected account.

     A restriction is a list of IP addresses or range of IP addresses that are allowed to call the Application to Application service to perform this task. That is, if a restriction is added to a Credential Retrieval or Access Request Broker task, the service will only allow requests that initiate from the IP addresses specified in the restriction list.

     The IP address notation can be:

     • An IPv4 or IPv6 address (for example, 10.5.32.4)
     • An address range in CIDR notation (for example, 10.5.0.0/16)

   • Click to remove the selected account from the list.
7. Click Create Registration.

Once an application registration is added to Safeguard for Privileged Passwords, the third-party application can authenticate with Safeguard for Privileged Passwords using the API key that was generated and the certificate that was associated with the registration. To make a request, you must retrieve the relevant API key for the application using an authorized account (that is, using bearer token authentication) and install the correct certificate on the host that will make the request. For more information, see Making a request using the Application to Application service.

Deleting an application registration

Click Delete on the Application to Application pane in the External Integration settings view to delete an application registration from Safeguard for Privileged Passwords.

To delete an application registration

1. Navigate to Administrative Tools | Settings | External Integration | Application to Application.
2. Select the application registration to be deleted.
3. Click the toolbar button.
4. Confirm your request.