Configuring HTTPS Communication

By default the Spectrum™ Technology Platform server uses HTTP for communication with Enterprise Designer, browser applications such as Management Console and Metadata Insights, as well as for handling web service requests and API calls.

You can configure Spectrum™ Technology Platform to use HTTPS if you want to secure these network communications.
Note: Spectrum™ Technology Platform uses TLS 1.2 to encrypt communication. Applications that access Spectrum™ Technology Platform web services or the API must support TLS 1.2 in order to connect over HTTPS.

This procedure describes how to enable HTTPS communication on a single-server installation of Spectrum™ Technology Platform. If you want to use HTTPS and you are running Spectrum™ Technology Platform in a cluster, do not follow this procedure. Instead, configure the load balancer to use HTTPS for communication with clients. Communication between the load balancer and the Spectrum™ Technology Platform nodes, and between the nodes themselves, will be unencrypted because Spectrum™ Technology Platform clustering does not support HTTPS. The load balancer and the Spectrum™ Technology Platform servers in the cluster must be behind a firewall to provide a secure environment.

To configure HTTPS communication for a single-server installation of Spectrum™ Technology Platform:

  1. Stop the Spectrum™ Technology Platform server.
    • To stop the server on Windows, right-click the Spectrum™ Technology Platform icon in the Windows system tray and select Stop Spectrum™. Alternatively, you can use the Windows Services control panel and stop the Pitney Bowes Spectrum™ Technology Platform service.
    • To stop the server on Unix or Linux, source the SpectrumDirectory/server/bin/setup script then execute the SpectrumDirectory/server/bin/server.stop script.
  2. Create a certificate signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA).
    Note: The certificate must meet the requirements for encryption and length for the version of Java used by Spectrum™ Technology Platform. To find out the version of Java, open Management Console and go to System > Version. For more information, see java.com/en/jre-jdk-cryptoroadmap.html.
  3. Load the certificate into a JSSE keystore. For more information, see Loading Keys and Certificates (jetty://).
  4. Using a text editor, open the file spectrum-container.properties located in SpectrumDirectory/server/conf. Set these properties:

    spectrum.http.default.protocol=https
    spectrum.https.enabled=true
    spectrum.https.port=8443
    spectrum.encryption.validateCerts=false
    spectrum.encryption.trustAllHosts=true
    spectrum.encryption.selfSignedCert=true

    Important: Set spectrum.encryption.selfSignedCert=true only for a self-signed certificate that does not use a signing authority.
  5. Import your self-signed certificates. For example:
    keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore "C:\Pitney Bowes\Spectrum\server\conf\certs\keystore.p12" -destkeystore "C:\Pitney Bowes\Spectrum\server\conf\certs\truststore.p12" -deststoretype pkcs12

    For more information, see Implementing self-signed certificates.

  6. If you are configuring HTTPS communication for the Spectrum Spatial Module and services, you must perform an additional configuration prior to restarting the Spectrum™ Technology Platform server.

    In Spectrum Spatial™ Manager, change the URLs in these service configurations to use HTTPS:

    • Mapping (only necessary when accessing the Mapping Service via SOAP and when the ReturnImage parameter for a RenderMap request is False)
    • WFS
    • WMS
    • WMTS

    For instructions, see Spectrum Spatial™ Manager under the Managing Spatial section of the Spectrum Spatial Guide.

  7. Start the Spectrum™ Technology Platform server.
    • To start the server on Windows, right-click the Spectrum™ Technology Platform icon in the Windows system tray and select Start Spectrum™. Alternatively, you can use the Windows Services control panel to start the Pitney Bowes Spectrum™ Technology Platform service.
    • To start the server on Unix or Linux, execute the SpectrumDirectory/server/bin/server.start script.