[Go-essp-tech] MyProxy Clients for ESG

Jim Basney jbasney at ncsa.uiuc.edu
Tue Oct 27 08:57:38 MDT 2009


Hi Phil,

I'll just observe that if you do key generation on the client-side, then
you lose your feature of working directly with wget, rather than
requiring a custom client.

If you're doing a custom client, there are many MyProxy clients already
available:

  http://grid.ncsa.illinois.edu/myproxy/devguide.html

Also, we have a MyProxy Apache module which you might be able to
re-purpose to fit your needs:

  http://grid.ncsa.illinois.edu/myproxy/apache/

Regards,
Jim

philip.kershaw at stfc.ac.uk wrote:
> Hi Rachana,
> 
> Thanks for making some enquiries about this.  I did post a query to the myproxy-user list a few weeks ago but it didn't come through.  There must be a problem with my registration.
> 
> The NVO work does look along the similar lines but without looking at in depth I'm not sure if it's intended as a web front end to a MyProxy logon or also a dedicated web service interface.  I was thinking along the lines of the latter.  I think having a HTTP based interface for MyProxy would open a lot of options for clients.
> 
> Jim made the point,
>>>>>> The main issue with his design is that it violates the 
>> proscription 
>>>>>> against generating private keys on behalf of subscribers and
>>>>>> sending
>>>>>> them over the network. That's why the MyProxy and GridShib CA  
>>>>>> protocols
>>>>>> generate keypairs on the client-side and send a certificate  
>>>>>> request.
> 
> I'm guessing that the NVO team decided that it's acceptable to pass a private key in this way.  The Identity Provider login service is deemed a trusted intermediary between the MyProxy server and the web client.
> 
> With the web application I've been working on it could changed to avoid passing the private key.  The interface between the client and web application could send a certificate request as MyProxy logon does.   Username and password could still be passed via HTTP Basic Auth as I described earlier.  It would mean the private key would be generated at the client without being handled by the web application or passed over the interface:
> 
>                          HTTPS                                         MyProxy protocol
> HTTP client ----------------------------------> Proxy Web Application ------------------> MyProxy Server
>             HTTP POST Certificate request +                            MyProxy logon
>             username/password (HTTP Basic Auth)
> 
> One other thought would be to write a wrapper to embedd MyProxy in Apache as a module.  This would eliminate the need for an intermediary web application but obviously there would be a little more development work involved :)
> 
> Cheers,
> Phil
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Rachana Ananthakrishnan [mailto:ranantha at mcs.anl.gov] 
>> Sent: 26 October 2009 14:34
>> To: Kershaw, Philip (STFC,RAL,SSTD)
>> Cc: go-essp-tech at ucar.edu
>> Subject: Re: [Go-essp-tech] MyProxy Clients for ESG
>>
>>
>> Hi Phil,
>>
>> Please see thread below, there seems to have been some similar work  
>> with NVO. Does this seem like the functionality you need?
>>
>> Rachana
>>
>>
>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>
>>>> From: Bill Baker
>>>> Date: October 22, 2009 11:35:24 AM CDT
>>>> To: Jim Basney
>>>> Cc: Rachana Ananthakrishnan <ranantha at mcs.anl.gov>
>>>> Subject: Re: MyProxy web login: ESG & NVO
>>>> Reply-To: Bill Baker <bbb at illinois.edu>
>>>>
>>>> Yes, the NVO has a "Save as ..." credential download page at 
>>>> https://nvologin1.ncsa.uiuc.edu/protected/welcome
>>>> .  To use it, you will need to create an SSO account, which is a  
>>>> simple email-based registration.
>>>>
>>>> The script that operates it is written in Perl, and it leverages
>>>> the MyProxy-pubcookie integration.  Ray and I wrote it.
>>>>
>>>> The code is at 
>>>>
>> https://svn.ncsa.uiuc.edu/svn/nvo-security/pubcookie/portal/va
>> r_www/portal/perl/Portal/
>>>>  -- see GetEEC.pm
>>>>
>>>> The PEM conversion code seems clumsy to me -- I was serving PEM
>>>> credentials straight out of MyProxy, but our partners who 
>> actually  
>>>> use the PEM credentials were having trouble with the 
>> encryption (or  
>>>> something -- I don't remember exactly what the problem was) and  
>>>> suggested the approach that the script currently uses.
>>>>
>>>> Bill
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Jim Basney"
>>>> To: "Rachana Ananthakrishnan" <ranantha at mcs.anl.gov>, "Bill Baker"
>>>> Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 10:13:14 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada
>>>> Central
>>>> Subject: MyProxy web login: ESG & NVO
>>>>
>>>> Hi Bill,
>>>>
>>>> Rachana pointed out to me some work in ESG to put a simple HTTPS 
>>>> interface in front of myproxy-logon that retrieves a 
>> certificate and 
>>>> private key. It made me think of the NVO login design that 
>> lets you 
>>>> download your certificate and private key from the browser 
>> (via "Save 
>>>> Link As..." if I understand correctly).
>>>>
>>>> I see some documentation for the NVO SSO system at:  
>>>> http://mywiki.ncsa.uiuc.edu/wiki/NVO_SSO
>>>>
>>>> Are there other details you could share with Rachana? Maybe there's
>>>> an
>>>> opportunity for some code sharing between ESG and NVO.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Jim
>>>>
>>>> Rachana Ananthakrishnan wrote:
>>>>> Hi Jim,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for the quick response.
>>>>>
>>>>> Good point about about the keys sent on the wire. I am presuming
>>>>> that
>>>>> with SSL they deem it acceptable to push private key 
>> information.  
>>>>> Is the
>>>>> NVO work separate module that can be leveraged?
>>>>>
>>>>> Rachana
>>>>>
>>>>> On Oct 22, 2009, at 9:58 AM, Jim Basney wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Rachana,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I wasn't aware of this work. The closest thing to it I'm aware of
>>>>>> is the
>>>>>> NVO portal login, that also delivers the user certificate and  
>>>>>> private
>>>>>> key over HTTPS. Certainly it'd be very nice for Phil to 
>> share his  
>>>>>> work
>>>>>> with the MyProxy community.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The main issue with his design is that it violates the 
>> proscription 
>>>>>> against generating private keys on behalf of subscribers and
>>>>>> sending
>>>>>> them over the network. That's why the MyProxy and GridShib CA  
>>>>>> protocols
>>>>>> generate keypairs on the client-side and send a certificate  
>>>>>> request.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -Jim
>> On Oct 22, 2009, at 8:52 AM, <philip.kershaw at stfc.ac.uk> 
>> <philip.kershaw at stfc.ac.uk 
>>  > wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Rachana,
>>>
>>> I've literally just finished developing it hence my question.  - I
>>> don't want to take it further at this stage if there's something  
>>> else that will do the same thing.
>>>
>>> The application simply fronts a MyProxy logon call with a HTTPS
>>> interface.  The client sends a HTTP GET call to a web 
>> server hosting  
>>> an application which fronts a MyProxy server translating the HTTP  
>>> request into a MyProxy logon call.
>>>
>>> HTTP client --<HTTP Basic Auth over HTTPS>--> Proxy Application --
>>> <MyProxy logon>--> MyProxy server
>>>
>>> Username and password are passed in the HTTP header using 
>> HTTP Basic  
>>> Auth.   The proxy application is configured to receives the 
>> request  
>>> and passes it on to a MyProxy service to perform the usual logon  
>>> process.   The application receives the response back from MyProxy  
>>> and passes certificate(s) and key back to the HTTP client in plain/ 
>>> text format.   As it's over SSL, HTTP client and server can  
>>> authenticate each other.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Phil
>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Rachana Ananthakrishnan [mailto:ranantha at mcs.anl.gov]
>>>> Sent: 21 October 2009 17:18
>>>> To: Kershaw, Philip (STFC,RAL,SSTD)
>>>> Cc: go-essp-tech at ucar.edu
>>>> Subject: Re: [Go-essp-tech] MyProxy Clients for ESG
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hi Phil,
>>>>
>>>> This sound interesting. Can you send out pointers to this work?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Rachana
>>>>
>>>> On Oct 21, 2009, at 9:57 AM, <philip.kershaw at stfc.ac.uk> 
>>>> <philip.kershaw at stfc.ac.uk
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> Dean mentions a improved MyProxy client below.  I'd be 
>> interested to 
>>>>> find out more about it.
>>>>>
>>>>> We had some discussion about the ease of use of MyProxy 
>> clients at 
>>>>> GO-ESSP.  I've been looking at this and have developed an
>>>> add on to
>>>>> our interface here to enable MyProxy logon via a https call.  It 
>>>>> would mean the logon step could be carried out with 
>> something like 
>>>>> wget without the need for a specialist client.  Does anyone else 
>>>>> know of any similar work?  Are you looking to add an specific 
>>>>> utilities in the Gateway for MyProxy integration?
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> Phil
>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: go-essp-tech-bounces at ucar.edu 
>>>>>> [mailto:go-essp-tech-bounces at ucar.edu] On Behalf Of Dean
>>>> N. Williams
>>>>>> Sent: 20 October 2009 14:41
>>>>>> To: Pascoe, Stephen (STFC,RAL,SSTD)
>>>>>> Cc: go-essp-tech at ucar.edu
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Go-essp-tech] next telco: ESG data node
>>>> progress, 4pm
>>>>>> UT,20th October
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Stephen,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 	Bob and Gavin will be on the call today, so these 
>> questions will 
>>>>>> be answered in great detail. Gavin, Eric, and Neill are 
>> working to
>>>>>> include GridFTP and a new improved MyProxy client. Bob
>>>> will point you
>>>>>> to the publisher commands. Bob and Gavin will discuss the
>>>> testing of
>>>>>> the publication installation and process. Finally, we 
>> will discuss 
>>>>>> updated material on the DN development, deployment, and 
>> publication 
>>>>>> timelines.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>>> 	Dean
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Oct 20, 2009, at 6:21 AM, <stephen.pascoe at stfc.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Some items I'd like to discuss at the telco. today:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> * datanode deployment update
>>>>>>> * Data publication timelines -- I can report on our expected 
>>>>>>> publication timeline of UKMO data.
>>>>>>> * Testing the publication process.  How should testing
>>>> "esgpublish"
>>>>>>> work?  Are the constraints on what metadata we give our
>>>>>> test datasets?
>>>>>>> How do we unpublish test datasets, including removal from
>>>>>> the gateway?
>>>>>>> * Documentation.  Is there any documentation on the
>>>> esgcet command-
>>>>>>> line tools ($CDAT_HOME/bin/esg*)?  If not lets we start a wiki
>>>>>> page on it.
>>>>>>> * GridFTP -- I'm not clear how this is meant to be
>>>> configured on the
>>>>>>> node.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>> Stephen.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>> Stephen Pascoe  +44 (0)1235 445980
>>>>>>> British Atmospheric Data Centre
>>>>>>> Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: badc-nmwg-bounces at zonda.badc.rl.ac.uk
>>>>>>> [mailto:badc-nmwg-bounces at zonda.badc.rl.ac.uk] On 
>> Behalf Of Bryan 
>>>>>>> Lawrence
>>>>>>> Sent: 19 October 2009 14:55
>>>>>>> To: go-essp-tech at ucar.edu
>>>>>>> Subject: [badc-nmwg] [Go-essp-tech] next telco: ESG data node 
>>>>>>> progress,4pm UT, 20th October
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Folks
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As announced, the next telco will be 4pm UT, 20th of October.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> (Yes, that's 0300 in Canberra, 0900 in San Francisco,
>>>> 1000 Denver,
>>>>>>> 1200 in NYC, 1700 in the UK, 1800  in Europe, and the time will
>>>>>> change for
>>>>>>> most of us the following week).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The telco will be limited to one hour in duration.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Telco number is US +1-925-424-8105 access code 305757#.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Because of the antisocial hour in the Antipodes, we're
>>>> planning to
>>>>>>> record the meeting ...  so that we don't get sued because
>>>>>> of potential
>>>>>>> damage from massive caffeine spikes ... if anyone has a
>>>>>> problem with
>>>>>>> that (the recording that is), please speak out asap.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Topic of the day: progress on installing and configuring
>>>>>> the ESG data
>>>>>>> node. I think the actual agenda will be constructed in the
>>>>>> first five
>>>>>>> minutes of the call.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Dean has produced the attached document which will
>>>> eventually appear
>>>>>>> on the CMIP5 site.  Do feel free to provide constructive
>>>>>> criticism, so
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> document can be as useful as possible for those following
>>>>>> us down this
>>>>>>> road.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Cheers
>>>>>>> Bryan
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Bryan Lawrence
>>>>>>> Director of Environmental Archival and Associated 
>> Research (NCAS/ 
>>>>>>> British Atmospheric Data Centre and NCEO/NERC NEODC) STFC,
>>>>>> Rutherford Appleton
>>>>>>> Laboratory Phone +44 1235 445012; Fax ... 5848;
>>>>>>> Web: home.badc.rl.ac.uk/lawrence
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Scanned by iCritical. 
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> GO-ESSP-TECH mailing list
>>>>>>> GO-ESSP-TECH at ucar.edu 
>>>>>>> http://*mailman.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/go-essp-tech
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> GO-ESSP-TECH mailing list
>>>>>> GO-ESSP-TECH at ucar.edu 
>>>>>> http://mailman.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/go-essp-tech
>>>>>>
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>>>>> http://mailman.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/go-essp-tech
>>>>
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