Introduction

The JS7 - Profiles hold settings that are specific for a user and that are controlled by the user. 

• Profiles include a number of categories such as Preferences, Permissions etc.
• The profile includes settings used for digitally signing objects such as workflows for JS7 - Deployment.
• The underlying security requirements are explained with JS7 - Secure Deployment.

The JS7 - Security Architecture suggest to operate JOC Cockpit in one of the following security levels:

• Security Level Low
  • Inventory objects are automatically signed with the private key that is stored with the root account.
  • Signing is automatically applied when performing the Deploy operation.
  • The Profile page for Signature Key Management is available for the user account only that is specified as the default profile account with the JS7 - Settings, chapter: JOC Cockpit Settings.
• Security Level Medium
  • Inventory objects are automatically signed with the private key that is stored with the current user's account.
  • Signing is automatically applied when performing the Deploy operation.
  • The Profile page for Signature Key Management is available individually for any user accounts holding a Deploy permission, see JS7 - Default Roles and Permissions.
• Security Level High
  • Inventory objects are signed outside of JOC Cockpit.
  • As a consequence no Profile page for Signature Key Management is available.

The article is intended for a security-aware audience that is technically familiar with digital key management. JS7 supports both X.509 and PGP certificates, the following explanations are focused on use of X.509 certificates.

Profile Page

The Profile page is accessible from the user menu of an account in the right upper corner of any JOC Cockpit view:

The Profile page offers a number of sub-views. The following section explains the Signature Key Management sub-view.

Signature Key Management

The Signature Key Management sub-view offers the following settings:

CA Certificate

• A CA Certificate is required to verify the user account's private key and certificate for digital signing when performing deployments.
  • This includes to check that the user account's certificate is signed with the given CA Certificate or a later CA Intermediate Certificate.
  • This includes to check expiration dates of certificates.
• If an X.509 CA Certificate (Root CA Certificate or Intermediate CA Certificate) is assigned then the certificate's subject is displayed.
• Operations for CA Certificates include to
  • view the CA Certificate by use of the  icon,
  • update the CA Certificate by use of the  icon,
  • import the CA Certificate by use of the  icon.

View CA Certificate

A CA Certificate is displayed like this:

Update CA Certificate

A CA Certificate can be updated by pasting from the clipboard like this:

Import CA Certificate

A CA Certificate can be imported from a file like this:

Keys and Certificates

User accounts have to be equipped with a private key and certificate created for digital signing.

• JOC Cockpit does not offer to sign a user account's certificate for digital signing.
  • For good reasons JOC Cockpit does not implement a CA for digital signatures.
  • Instead, the user's CA should be consulted to sign a respective Certificate Signing Request. The resulting certificate can be added with JOC Cockpit.
  • If users do not operate a CA or do not dispose of certificates then they can continue to use the default private key and certificate that ship with JOC Cockpit.
    • In this situation by default the root account only can be used to deploy scheduling objects such as workflows which suggests to operate JOC Cockpit for Security Level Low as the root account's key and certificate will be used for deployment by any users accounts.
    • For a Security Level Medium each user account has to be equipped with a key and certificate.
• Operations for the user account's private key and certificate include to
  • view the private key and certificate by use of the  icon,
  • update the private key and certificate by use of the  icon,
  • import the private key by use of the  icon,
  • generate the private key by use of the  icon.

View Key and Certificate

The user account's private key and certificate for digital signing is displayed like this:

Update Key and Certificate

A user account's private key and certificate can be created by an external CA and can be updated by pasting from the clipboard like this:

Import Key

A user account's private key can be created by an external CA and can imported from a file like this:

Consider that an X.509 certificate matching the user account's private key has to be signed by a CA and has to be added by use of the Update Key and Certificate operation as explained above.

Generate Key

A user account's private key can be generated like this:

Consider that an X.509 certificate matching the user account's private key has to be signed by a CA and has to be added by use of the Update Key and Certificate operation as explained above.