JACC registration of the provider implementation classes

The JACC specification states that providers can plug in their provider using the javax.security.jacc.policy.provider and the javax.security.jacc.PolicyConfigurationFactory.provider system properties.

The javax.security.jacc.policy.provider property is used to set the policy object of the provider, while the javax.security.jacc.PolicyConfigurationFactory.provider property is used to set the provider PolicyConfigurationFactory implementation.

Although both system properties are supported in WebSphere® Application Server, it is highly recommended that you use the configuration model that is provided. You can set these values using either the JACC configuration panel (see Authorizing access to Java EE resources using Tivoli Access Manager for more information) or by using wsadmin scripting. One of the advantages of using the configuration model instead of the system properties is that the information is entered in one place at the cell level, and is propagated to all nodes during synchronization. Also, as part of the configuration model, additional properties can be entered, as described in the JACC configuration panel.

Using the configuration model is especially recommended in the case of a WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment (ND) environment where multiple application servers can exist in the configuration. If the system properties are used, you must ensure that each of the Java virtual machine (JVM) processes in the configuration set these properties. If the configuration model is used, the information is propagated to all processes through the synchronization process of the application server.