User's Manual

7
1 Preface
This chapter describes the contents and the lay-out of this manual and of WebIdentity distribution.
1.1 About this manual
This manual describes the WebIdentity product, its operation, its integration into web services and client/server
applications.
This manual appeals to the software developers and system integrators who are willing to implement projects based on
data authentication and confidentiality for web services through the development of ASP pages, JSP pages, Servlet Java
and client-server applications at large.
1.2 Environments supported by version 5.0
Version 5.0 of this software does not cover all environments that were supported by version 4.0.
Later versions of the software will support such environments.
To verify the actual coverage please refer to chapter Requirements
1.3 How to use this manual
The basic concept and the architecture of WebIdentity are described herein, as well as its implementation as ActiveX
and Java classes and the possible operating instructions.
Chapter 1: Preface describes the content and the lay-out of the manual.
Chapter 2: Introduction presents WebIdentity features and introduces its practical operation.
Chapter 3: Requirements lists the hardware and software requirements for using WebIdentity.
Chapter 4: Installation and Configuration describes the necessary steps for installing and configuring WebIdentity.
Chapter 5: Features describe the operation and the security specifications of WebIdentity.
Chapter 6: Integration describes the macro activities that are necessary for operating WebIdentity in a project for web
application development.
Chapter 7: Examples provides practical examples for using WebIdentity.
Chapter 8: Appendixes
o Symmetric cryptography
o Hashing algorithms
o Glossary
o Bibliography
1.4 Assumptions
For reading this manual the knowledge of web technologies (ASP, VBScript, JavaScript, JSP, COM, ActiveX, EJB,
Java, Servlet) that are used for developing web-based and client/server applications is required.
Besides the knowledge of security topics based on symmetric key cryptography is required.
A quick introduction to symmetric cryptography is available in Appendix 8.1.
1.5 Font conventions
In this manual the following conventions for the use of Fonts are agreed:
The Italics font is used for:
• Words taking on a specific meaning in the text beyond their own literal meaning. Words that are introduced for the
first time
The Courier font is used for:
• Sources in HTML, VBScript and JavaScript languages