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• The Credential Store (CS) allows sensitive data to be encrypted and stored securely and independently of the application(s) such as YADE and the JobScheduler YADE JITL Jobs that use this data. Access to the CS is only possible with access methods such as a key file and/or password.
• The CS requires the use of a .kdb or .kdbx database and the installation of a kdbxkdb-compatible user interface such as "KeePass", "KeePass 2" or "KeePass-X".
• The advantage of using a CS is that the CS stores sensitive information such as credentials in a standardized, secure and fully encrypted database and sensitive authentication information is not exposed in use. Applications access the CS database by using password, encryption-key file or a combination of both.
• The CS can be used to securely store information of parameters, database connection URLs, private key files and other sensitive data.

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This article describes the use of the Credential Store with the YADE Client.A

description The configuration of the use of the Credential Store for use with the YADE JITL job can be found in the Jobs JADEJob & JADE4DMZJob article.

Configuration Procedure

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Example Description

The example The examples presented in this article are based on the illustrates the configuration and use of the Credential Store in a simple file transfer operation that is carried out with the YADE Client.

The file transfer operation is based on the file transfer example described in The YADE Client Command Line Interface example described in the The YADE Client Command Line Interface - Tutorial 1 - Getting Started article. The tutorial describes the configuration required to download a number of files from a an online server provided by the SOS GmbH and save these files on the user's local file system. Using this server means that users can get a working example up and running with a minimum of effort. A simplified version of the configuration used in the tutorial (only specifying transfer by FTP) is available as a download: sos-berlin_demo_2_local.xml. Instructions for installing and configuring the YADE Client can be found in the YADE - Tutorials article.

The configuration provided in the download file will cause six files in the root server folder to be copied to a local /jade_demo/transfer_receive folder, generating the target folder in the user's home or profile directory if required and permissions are available. The files will be transferred by FTP and authentication for the server (user name and password) is specified in the download file.

The example described in this article uses 

In the current example, the Credential Store is to store configuration information for the online server - i.e. for the file transfer source. The principle described can be equally well used for the configuration of multiple file transfer source, target, proxy and jump-host servers and for the other file transfer protocols that can be used by the YADE Client.

Note that a YADE Client is required to carry out the example file transfer. Instructions for installing and configuring the YADE Client can be found in the YADE - Tutorials article.

Configuration Procedure

Installing the Credential Store and configuring the database

KeePass 2 has been used in the current article to implement the Credential Store database. The installation of and use of KeePass is described on the KeePass Web Site.

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The Credential Store has to use a .kdbx database to be able to access all Credential Store features.

Secure, Credential Store features such as secure, compliant and password-free use of the Credential Store requires as well as compatibility with Keepass .kdb databases require the YADE Client in version 1.12.2 or newer.

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• Path: %USERPROFILE%\jade_demo\keepass\demo_cred_store.kdbx
• Master Password: sos

In addition Note that a Master Key file (not used in the example below) can be generated using the Files/Change Master Key KeePass menu option and then selecting the Show expert options checkbox.

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Adding

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the configuration information to the Credential Store

The following screenshot shows that two Groups have been configured for the current example, named "demo" and "ftp", along with the Entry "demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com". Entries are added using the Edit / Add Entry menu item.

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Configuration information is stored in the Credential Store as an Entry and Entries can be organized into Groups.

The following information can be stored in a CS EntryThe following information can be retrieved from standard KeePass CS fields:

• Title: The identifier CS database, this for the Entry This could be string e.g. a string containing, for example, the host name/server name.
  
• User name: The user identification of a user who is authenticated for the operation.
• Password: Assigned password for a user account or passphrase for a private key.
• URL: The host name/server  name or IP address of the server.
• Notes: This block can be used to specify additional parameters for the file transfer. The syntax ... 

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• File Attachment & Custom Fields: Files such as PGP or SSH private keys can be stored as attachments. A first attachment is added as an attachment and further attachments are added using my_custom_field parameters
  YADE will retrieve the contents of an attached file at run-time - intermediate or temporary files are not created when reading attachments.
  Note that attachments are specified in the KeePass GUI via the AdvancedEdit Entry tab.

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The following information was needs to be specified for the current example in the database:

• Groups: demo,ftp (optional)
• Title: demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com
• User name: demo
• Password: demo
• URL: test.sos-berlin.com (Alternatively, the IP address could have been specified here.)

Integrating the Credential Store in a File Transfer Configuration

The use of the Credential Store is specified in YADE Client file transfer configuration files, which are written in XML. We recommend using the SOS XML Editor to edit these files. Instructions for downloading, installing and using the XML Editor are linked from this page.

The following screenshot shows that two Groups have been configured for the current example, named "demo" and "ftp", along with the Entry "demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com".

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The next screenshot shows the configuration of the parameters in the "demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com" Entry:

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Integrating the Credential Store in a File Transfer Configuration

The use of the Credential Store is specified in YADE Client file transfer configuration files, which are written in XML. We recommend using the SOS XML Editor to edit these files. Instructions for downloading, installing and using the XML Editor are linked from this page.

In the remainder of the current article, it is assumed that readers have made themselves familiar with the organization of the YADE Client file transfer configurations into Profiles and Fragments. This is described in The YADE Client Command In the remainder of the current article, it is assumed that readers have made themselves familiar with the organization of the YADE Client file transfer configurations into Profiles and Fragments. This is described in The YADE Client Command Line Interface - Tutorial 1 - Getting Started article mentioned above.

The following current example uses the XML configuration from the Getting Started tutorial article above and adds describes the necessary configuration elements required to replace the "standard" authentication elements with elements stored in the Credential Store.

The following XML configuration elements are required to specify the use of the Credential Store:

The CredeitialStoreFragments element will have nececesery information (e.g. location of Credential store, access password etc.) required by YADE to retrrive the encrypted inforation. 

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Users wishing implement the current example should download the tutorial file transfer configuration file linked above and open it in their XML Editor.

The information required to use the Credential Store falls into two "areas":

• Information about the Credential Store itself (location, how to access its contents, etc.).
  This information is configured in the XML file in a CredentialStoreFragment.
• Information about how the information in the Credential Store (server address, password, etc.) is to be accessed for the file transfer.
  This information is stored as a string in each of the relevant XML ProtocolFragment child elements (Hostname, Account. etc.).

In addition, the ProtocolFragment element has a reference specifying that the Credential Store is to be used.

Specifying the Credential Store

• Fragments
  
  • ProtocolFragments
    • FTPFragment name=""
      
      • ....
      • CredentialStoreFragmentRef ref ="ftp_demo"
  • CredentialStoreFragments
    • CredentialStoreFragment name ="ftp_demo"
      
      • CSFile file path ....
      • CSAuthentication
        
        • ...
      • CSEntryPath

• A CredentialStoreFragments element at the same level in the XML hierarchy as the Protocol Fragments elements.
  
  • This element can have one or more child Credential Store Fragment elements (described below).
• A CredentialStoreFragment element that is referenced from the ProtocolFragment. This Fragment specifies the location of and authentication required for the Credential Store.
  • Password, key file and combined password/key file authentication methods are possible.
• A CredentialStoreFragmentRef element as a child element of the Protocol Fragment element - in the current example this is the FTPFragment. 
  • The values of the connection and authentication elements are modified to refer to elements stored within the Credential Store.

Addressing the information in the Credential Store

Parameters stored in a Credential Store database Entry can be addressed in the CredentialStoreFragment XML element as follows:

• The CSEntryPath element is used to specify the base path in the Credential Store database to the Entry.
  In the current example this is would be set to:
  
  • demo/ftp/demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com
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     please change it to base path
    Where where demo and ftp are (optional) Group names, as specified abovealready mentioned, and demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com is the Title of the KeePass database Entry.

The Credential Store Entry parameters are addressed using the following syntax: 

• relative:
  • cs://@parameter_name, where the parameter_name is the name of the relevant parameter specified for the Entry - for example, url and the CSEntryPath element is filled as shown above
• fully specified:
  • cs://demo/ftp/demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com@parameter_name
  is the name of the relevant parameter specified for the Entry.
  • , and where the CSEntryPath element, which is a required element, is left blank

The following parameters are set in the Credential Store in the current example:

• Hostname: cs://demo/ftp/demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com@url (where @url specifies the URL element stored in the database )
• Account: cs://demo/ftp/demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com@user (where @user specifies the User name element stored in the database)
• Password: cs://demo/ftp/demo_on_test.sos-berlin.com@password (where @password specifies the Password element stored in the database)

Note that a full list of parameters is described in the Adding an Entry to the Credential Store section above.

Alternative Syntax

Note also that although the CSEntryPath element is a required element, it can be left empty and that fully specified paths can be used for each parameter. For example, the Password could be specified using:

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