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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.
• 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 requires the use of a standard open database format (.kdb or .kdbx ), which allows the use of graphical and API interfaces across the most relevant operating systems.

Scope

This article describes a relatively simple example configuration to illustrate is in two parts:

• The first part describes the use of the Credential Store in a relatively simple example file transfer configuration. The

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• configuration described can be used

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• to transfer files from a live server and a download containing the configuration file is available so that users can get a working Credential Store up, running and

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• tested as easily as possible.

This descriptions provided in this article also apply for the configuration of a settings file and Credential Store for use with the YADE instance that is integrated in the JobScheduler and available via the YADE JITL jobs. See the Using the Credential Store with the JobScheduler section below for more information.

Feature Summary

The Credential Store provides the following features: 

• Compliance:
  • All sensitive configuration information is encrypted.
  • Access to the Credential Store can be securely protected by password, key file or password and key file.
    "Password-free" authentication is possible.
  • Connection Authentication files such as public key files are used without being written to the file system.
• Management
  • Configuration information can be centrally managed outside of a file transfer environment.
• Deployment
  • The same file transfer configuration file can be used for development and production environments - only the Credential Store needs to be changed during deployment.
• Scope
  • The Credential Store can be used for the following configuration information:
    • file transfer source, target, proxy and  jump host / DMZ,
    • pre- and post-processing operations.
  • The Credential Store can be used for file transfers carried out with both the YADE Client and the JobScheduler JADEJob and JADE4DMZJob JITL jobs.
• Database Format and Applications
  • The Credential Store uses the standard .kdb or .kdbx open database formats. A number of commercial and open source tools are available for configuring these database formats on a range of operating systems. These tools include KeePass 1.x, KeePass 2.x and KeePassX. 

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

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• The second part of the article describes Credential Store configuration elements not covered by the example configuration. In addition, the use of the Credential Store in with the JobScheduler YADE JITL jobs is described

This article does not attempt to provide a step-by-step description of file transfer configuration, which is available elsewhere in this article, for example, in the tutorials for YADE and the JobScheduler.

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example example

Example Description

The example presented in this article illustrates the configuration and use of the Credential Store as part of a simple file transfer operation - downloading files from an online server to the user's local file system.

The configuration is stored in an XML settings file and includes the elements specifying the Credential store and the file transfer as a whole. This settings file can be used by both the YADE Client and by the YADE JITL jobs that are provided with the JobScheduler.

The example described in this article is based on the simple file transfer example that is described in detail in The YADE Client Command Line Interface - Tutorial 1 - Getting Started article. This tutorial describes the configuration required to download a number of files from an online server provided by the SOS GmbH and save these files on the user's local file system. Using this server together with the downloaded configuration file means that users can get a working example up and running with a minimum of effort.

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 or JobScheduler Master 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. Instructions for installing and configuring the JobScheduler can be found in the JobScheduler Master - Installation Guide series of articles.

The example configuration file can be downloaded here:

• sos-berlin_demo_2_local.xml.

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Configuration Procedure for the Example

Installing the Credential Store

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and configuring the KeePass database

KeePass 2, which is just one of the applications available for creating and configuring .kdb or .kdbx databases, has been used in the current article to implement the Credential Store database and is used in the screenshots. The installation and use of KeePass 2 is described on the KeePass Web Site.

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 KeePass database

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

Feature Availability

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Credential Store databases are stored as either .kdb or .kdbx  files on the file system.

For the examples described in the current article the following database was configured (on a Windows system)The database included with the download files was configured as follows:

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

Note that a Master Key file can be used to provide further protection for the database, either instead of or in addition to the Master Password. This is described in the Advanced Configuration section of this article below but has not been configured for the download database.

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add_entry add_entry

Adding connection information to the Credential Store

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• Title: The identifier for the Entry, this could be a string containing, for example, the host name/server name.
  
• User name: The user identification of a user account 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.
  
• File Attachment & String Fields: Files such as PGP or SSH private keys can be stored as attachments.
  
  • A first file is specified as an attachment .
  • Further files are specified using String field parameter / value pairpairs.
    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 and String Fields are specified in the KeePass GUI via the AdvancedEdit Entry tab.

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The Transfer Target Directory

As can be seen in the The screenshot above , the shows a CopyTarget.Directory parameter is by default set for a Windows environment and set to:

• ${USERPROFILE}\jade_demo\transfer_receive

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Note that the log files neither indicate that a credential store has been use for the transfer nor reveal any passwords. 

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jitl jitl

Using the Credential Store with the JobScheduler JITL YADE

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jobs

Settings XML files such as the sos-berlin_demo_2_local_cs.xml file which was used to configure the example described above can be used for JobScheduler JITL jobs. Here, only two parameters are needed The two parameters used to run the YADE JITL job (settings and profile) can be set for the YADE JITL jobs (JADEjob and JADE4DMZjob) as can be seen in the following next screenshot.

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Advanced Configuration

Key File Authentication

Key file authentication can be used for the Credential Store either alone or together with the password authentication described in the example above.

This option allows the the Credential Store to be used completely securely, yet without passwords, if required.

Note that we recommend that these parameters are set manually using the New button shown in the screenshot below and not using the Wizard button.

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Note also that while the YADE Client runs under the current user account, the JobScheduler generally runs under a predefined account. This means that while paths in the configuration file can use parameters such as %USERPROFILE% when the configuration file is being used with the YADE Client, it is generally necessary to use absolute paths when the configuration file is to be used for JITL jobs.

Advanced Configuration

Key File Authentication

Key file authentication can be used for the Credential Store either alone or together with the password authentication described in the example above.

This option allows the the Credential Store to be used completely securely, yet without passwords, if required.

Key file authentication has to be configured for the Credential Store and in the Key file authentication has to be configured for the Credential Store and in the XML settings file.

Configuring key file authentication in the Credential Store

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A first attachment for, for example, SSH would be configured in the XML settings file by specifying an AuthenticationFile element in the SSHAuthentication element.

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Note that custom parameters can only be used to set parameters in ProtocolFragments - they cannot be used to set ProfileFragments parameters such as Recursive. Show If

See Also

• YADE User Manual - Credential Store

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