News & comment
● Integrating BMC ITSM with Symphony Identity Federation Manager
posted by John B on 24th May 2012
SSO Plugin 3.5.12 has been validated against Symphony Identity Federation Manager. Whilst SAML integrations can be a painful process, SSO Plugin worked out of the box despite never previously integrating with this platform.
Another BMC customer has now expanded their ITSM offering with SSO Plugin and SAML.
● SSO Plugin newsletter
posted by John B on 10th May 2012
Welcome to a newsletter from Java System Solutions. In our newsletter you will find recent SSO Plugin product developments, information on how to reduce BMC licensing costs, partner news, and feedback from SSO Plugin clients.
Charitable work
We were recently approached by Action for Children to provide an SSO solution.
Danny Kellett commented, "After discovering the good work AfC perform for disadvantaged children in the UK, I recommended a free production license."
Brychan Watkins, head of IS at the charity, provided the following feedback:
At Action for Children we help over 150,000 vulnerable children and young people, with over 430 sites across the UK. Providing an efficient IT support infrastructure is key to our current and future success. A central part of providing this support is the BMC Remedy ITSM system.
To help improve our Remedy system we required a robust and efficient SSO solution and that's where Java Systems Solutions with their SSO Plugin came in.
It took just three days from our initial contact to having it installed on our test system. With guidance from Danny it took us less than an hour to install and configure, and it worked first time. We now have a working environment with SSO enabled in a fraction of the time that I had expected from an SSO integration. This is not only a testament to the product but also to the efficiency and expertise of the Java Systems Solutions' staff. They have also kindly donated the license for the product to us for which we are extremely grateful.
I would like to end this by saying thank you to John, Danny and all those at Java Systems Solutions for their help and support.
Product news
Every day, BMC and HP professionals contribute ideas to improve SSO Plugin. Some of the highlights are detailed below.
SSO Plugin certified for HP Service Manager
We're very pleased to announce that SSO Plugin has been formally certified by HP as a solution for the Service Manager and Service Request Catalog ITSM product set.
Users of the HP ITSM suite can now enjoy the same quality SSO solution that is available for the BMC ITSM platform, with a consistent user interface and feature set across both platforms, ensuring administrators can transfer their skills if necessary.
SSO Plugin for HP Service Request Catalog
The HP Service Request Catalog product is a very attractive SRM product and popular in the ITSM market. Previously, the SSO Plugin integration was driven from HP Service Manager. Users asked us to simplify the deployment and SSO Plugin now provides an SSO integration with no dependency on HP Service Manager.
SSO Plugin's Integrated Windows Authentication continues to evolve
There are always new 'edge cases' being presented to JSS with respect to IWA support (ie open IE, sign in to HP or BMC ITSM and do not get prompted for a login) and a number of interesting (to us!) cases have been addressed in the 3.5.10 release. If you are using a list of AD controllers in the SSO Plugin configuration, it's worth upgrading.
The work on the IWA support demonstrates that JSS are the industry leading provider of SSO for the Java platform.
Integration to BMC Analytics/SAP Business Objects and BMC Dashboards
We received feedback that whilst the user synchronisation between these products removed vast amounts of duplicated work, because BMC do not provide a single user repository between products, there was no single group in which a user must be a member to gain access to other products.
In SSO Plugin 3.5.10, administrators can now create a group in which a user must exist in order to gain access to third party products.
Replacement login page for BMC Mid Tier and the end of the BMC AREA LDAP plugin
Administrators told us that the default BMC login page is unattractive and confusing. Users had no idea which credentials to enter into the 'authentication' field.
Administrators have reminded us that setting up the BMC AREA LDAP is more effort than deploying SSO Plugin, which removes the need for the BMC AREA LDAP plugin in most cases, because it already has access to the Active Directory when AD integration has been configured.
In SSO Plugin 3.5.10, users without SSO access are directed to an attractive login page supplied by JSS. The login page allows for users to enter Active Directory or AR System credentials, without the need for the BMC AREA LDAP plugin. And the login page is well designed, making customisations an easier task.
The same feature also exists for the HP Service Manager version of SSO Plugin.
Bringing Ping Federate to BMC AR System and HP Service Manager
Many companies will proclaim that their SSO product supports SAML, but in reality SAML is complicated because implementations interpret the SAML standard. That's why products need to be validated against SAML providers.
We recently reported compatibility with Microsoft ADFS, and we are delighted to announce compatibility with Ping Federate, one of the most popular SAML Identity Providers in the market today.
We've worked with Ping to ensure SSO Plugin was fully compatible, and we were also interested to hear that they have little faith in OpenSSO as a useful SAML Service Provider.
Integrating BMC ITSM with OpenSSO
One of BMC's professional services consultants was asked to provide SSO for BMC ITSM in an OpenSSO environment. He selected SSO Plugin as the proven solution for BMC ITSM and built an integration to both BMC ITSM and Analytics. We have therefore brought a quality OpenSSO integration to the BMC product set where none currently existed.
SSO Plugin for Kinetic Request
Many BMC administrators will know of Kinetic's range of products, including Kinetic Request. We're pleased to report that after working with Kinetic, we can now provide SSO Plugin for Kinetic Request. Please contact Kinetic for more details of this package.
Reducing logging
Administrators told us they don't like to manage log files, and that whilst SSO Plugin informational logging was useful, it would also be great to see just warnings and errors. We've therefore added a 'warnings only' feature to SSO Plugin 3.5.10 for those who want to see nothing but messages of concern.
Reduce your BMC licensing costs today
If you're concerned that you're paying too much in BMC licensing, the License Manager application from Missing Pieces Software may be worth an evaluation. It will build a report on your license usage and identify waste, and if you're an existing SSO Plugin customer, it can be configured to provide more accurate results through SSO usage information.
Tip for BMC Administrators and Windows 2008
Danny Kellett has written a small article on how to disable Data Execution Prevention on Windows 2008 when installing AR System and ITSM.
BMC employee blogs about SSO Plugin
We discovered a blog entry on the BMC Communities website and, like us, we believe you will conclude the author was only thinking about SSO Plugin.
Compfort Meridian product manager wins Motorola Xoom tablet
Compfort Meridian have establsihed a successful SSO Plugin implementation team in eastern Europe. Piotr Orlanski, product manager at Compfort Meridian, has won a Motorola Xoom for his efforts in promoting and securing new SSO Plugin customers.
John Baker commented, "It's great to see BMC partners going the extra mile to deliver a quality SSO solutions for BMC clients. With no quality out of the box functionality, and a huge demand from customers for a quality solution, Compfort Meridian have shown a determination to deliver an excellent product with an excellent service".
Feedback from our customers
We put customer service first and would like to share a recent quote received after the JSS support team provided a rapid and accurate response to a question received on a Saturday afternoon:
"That did the trick. We appreciate your quick support. I think your company should take over BMC support as we would never get the same fast and personal support from them.
In addition, the product is great. Have a great weekend." (David A, US client)
And one received after a shared desktop training session:
"Thank you very much for your time today, it was extremely helpful. Lots of great information in that, I learned quite a bit!" (Walker H, US client)
Danny Kellett commented, "Our customers continue to explain why JSS support is considered far more valuable than others in the industry".
● SSO Plugin for HP Asset Manager
posted by John B on 8th April 2012
We are pleased to announce the first release of SSO Plugin for HP Asset Manager 9.3+. We've worked on this solution in conjunction with HP and will continue to develop it as we receive community feedback.
You can download it as part of the HP for Service Manager package.
● JSS donate SSO Plugin to UK children's charity
posted by John B on 4th April 2012
We were recently approached by Action for Children to provide an SSO solution for BMC ITSM.
Danny Kellett commented, "After discovering the good work the charity provides for disadvantaged children in the UK, I recommended a free production license."
Brychan Watkins, head of IS at the charity, provided the following feedback:
At Action for Children we help over 150,000 vulnerable children and young people, with over 430 sites across the UK. Providing an efficient IT support infrastructure is key to our current and future success. A central part of providing this support is the BMC Remedy ITSM system.
To help improve our Remedy system we required a robust and efficient SSO solution and that's where Java Systems Solutions with their SSO Plugin came in.
It took just three days from our initial contact to having it installed on our test system. With guidance from Danny it took us less than an hour to install and configure, and it worked first time. We now have a working environment with SSO enabled in a fraction of the time that I had expected from an SSO integration. This is not only a testament to the product but also to the efficiency and expertise of the Java Systems Solutions' staff. They have also kindly donated the license for the product to us for which we are extremely grateful.
I would like to end this by saying thank you to John, Danny and all those at Java Systems Solutions for their help and support.
● Disable DEP when installing BMC applications
posted by Danny Kellett on 8th March 2012
As some of you may know, installing the BMC applications on a Windows 2008 server means you need to add the setup.exe to the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) list for every installation. This can become annoying when you have the whole AR System and ITSM suite of applications to install. Using the bcdedit command line utility can provide a quick and easy way to disable this. Here is the official Microsoft page.
Open a command prompt on the server and type:
bcdedit /set nx alwaysoff
Then enter. Restart your server and you will not be prompted again.
● Bringing Ping Federate to BMC and HP ITSM
posted by John B on 9th February 2012
There's a (mistaken) belief that SAML is easy, and that a product with SAML support will integrate with other SAML products.
This is not correct.
Each vendor implements the standard how they see fit and products need to be validated to ensure compatibility.
Ping Federate is a well known SAML Identity Provider implementation that's used for providing Internet based SSO. SSO Plugin (3.5.6) has been validated against Ping Federate and JSS will support this deployment.
If Internet SSO is a requirement, you can now rely on Ping Federate and SSO Plugin to provide a solution.
● SSO Plugin newsletter
posted by John B on 26th January 2012
Welcome to a newsletter from Java System Solutions. In our newsletter you will find recent SSO Plugin technical developments, partner news, and feedback from SSO Plugin clients.
What's new in SSO Plugin
Every day, new features are being added to SSO Plugin. Here are a selection of recent features.
SSO Plugin (version 3.5) introduces SSO for BMC IT Business Management (BMC ITBM)
Working closely with a global investment bank based in North America, JSS listened to the needs of the BMC market and SSO enabled another BMC application, BMC ITBM.
SSO Plugin gains popularity in the cloud with SAML and ADFS
As we see more clients gaining the benefit of cloud based services, single sign on over the internet needs to be secure. SAML provides that level of security confidence and SSO Plugin can utilise this to interface with Microsoft Active Directory Federation Service (ADFS).
John Baker has written an explanation of SAML.
Continued MS Active Directory integration improvements
As Microsoft continue to develop their Integrated Windows Authentication implementation, SSO Plugin continues to evolve. For customers introducing Windows 7, please consider an upgrade to SSO Plugin 3.5 in order to ensure the most complete AD integration support.
Partner news
Our partners are actively promoting and deploying SSO Plugin.
Helios IT publish a huge cost saving due to SSO Plugin at HCFB
Helios IT, a Russian BMC partner company, has deployed SSO Plugin to Home Credit and Finance Bank. They've written an article on the ITSM implementation and how SSO Plugin helped increase usage of the BMC ITSM application by 40%.
An English version of the article is available with thanks to Google Translate.
Materna continue to publicise the benefits of SSO Plugin
Materna, a respected European BMC partner, report on another successful year with SSO Plugin and have written an article in their industry magazine Materna Monitor.
You can find it on page 32 of Materna Monitor.
Exciting times for SSO Plugin and the HP Enterprise Management Alliances Program
During the last five years, JSS has worked tirelessly to gain a reputation in the BMC market for an excellent product and superb support. This achievement had not gone unnoticed in other markets, and SSO Plugin is now available for HP Service Manager and the HP Service Request Catalog.
We've produced a video of this functionality.
Thrilled with this new addition to the HP ITSM product set, HP have invited JSS to join the HP Enterprise Management Alliances Program and meet HP customers at the “HP Discover” Vegas event in June 2012.
If any BMC partners are attending this event, please let us know if you'd like to meet us and discuss this new opportunity.
Feedback from our customers
JSS put customer service first. With our offer of free professional services and dedication to SSO Plugin, we continue to receive good feedback and would like to share a couple recent quotes:
We had issues with SSO on our upgrade go-live weekend and the technical support team had answers to our questions within 5 minutes of contacting them. And the fix recommended by them solved our problem. The level of support provided by them is of premium quality. They know their product very well which is evident infs the quality of the support.” (Anusha D, US)
It’s inconceivable to me that Remedy does not support single sign on out of the box; while pretty much every competing product does. Customers expect to have this fundamental functionality, and we were shocked when we heard Remedy didn't. Users were extremely disappointed and immediately disliked Remedy. Thankfully we came across JSS and it they have made our lives easier in that regard.” (Osama S, UAE)
● Security experts putting more demands on users with longer more complex passwords
posted by Danny Kellett on 23rd January 2012
JSS keep abreast of publications regarding passwords and security and this article on the popular CSO site caught our attention.
Christopher Frenz, CTO at See-Thru and a faculty member at Mercy College, both in New York, says:
"the problem is not because of passwords being obsolete, but because of the prevalence of bad passwords and bad password practices." He admits that high-quality passwords are difficult for users to remember, especially if users (as they should) have different ones for possibly dozens of sites."
Furthermore, Owain Rees, information security officer for BBC-TV in the UK, agrees:
"The only way to make a password more effective is to make it longer. In most cases a very long simple password is more difficult to break than a smaller complex password,"
Matthew Walker, manager at ShieldPass in Singapore comments,
"The current trend among IT administrators is to insist that users increase the complexity of their passwords and change them at regular intervals. This makes managing online passwords a living hell; and yet it makes not one bit of difference to the malware that commonly intercepts and copies them."
While the security and administration experts spend endless hours and millions of dollars figuring the best approach to teach our users to use and remember long, complex passwords while, as stated above creating a “living hell” for everyone involved, JSS will continue to invest in removing all the living nightmares stated above by removing the need for passwords.
It sounds quite simple: If managing passwords is a “living hell”, leaves your applications open to lazy passwords, cost time and money to maintain, then maybe it’s time to implement single sign on.