Connecting to Qaptiva Access
The class QLMaaSConnection is used to connect to a remote Qaptiva machine.
This class requires some information to connect:
the IP address of the remote server
the port listened to by the server
the authentication method used to authenticate the user. The authentication could be based on a pair username / password or using a SSL certificate
A number of parameters are used to configure this connection, they can be provided in two ways with the following order of priority:
Passed as parameters to the constructor of
QLMaaSConnection.Set into a configuration_file (recommended)
Configuring the connection
The client configuration file of Qaptiva Access is located in the configuration folder of QLMaaS. By default, this configuration folder is $HOME/.qlmaas but this location can be overrided by using the environment variable QLMAAS_DIR.
In this folder, the configuration file shoud be named config.ini and looks like:
Example of configuration
[Server]
hostname=qlmaas.atos.net
port=443
check_host=True
authentication=password
proxy_port=
proxy_host=
timeout=1000
# Here this section is ignored since "authentication" is set to "password"
[SSL]
certificate=/path/to/ssl_cert.crt
key=/path/to/ssl_key.key
[Server]
# URL of the server (str)
hostname = ...
# Port listen by the server (int)
port = ...
# Should the server certificate be checked (True or False)
check_host = ...
# Authentication method (if "ssl": authentication with SSL certificate, if "password":
# authentication with username / password)
authentication = ...
# Hostname and port of an optional HTTPS proxy (SSL authentication is incompatible with proxy)
proxy_host = ...
proxy_port = ...
# Duration before timeout of the client connection (int, value in seconds)
timeout = ...
# This part is only used if "authentication" is set to "ssl"
[SSL]
# SSL certificate and key used to connect to the server (path x2)
certificate = ...
key = ...
An easy way of creating a configuration file is by using create_config().
This method creates a squeleton configuration file $HOME/.qlmaas/config.ini, mostly filled in with the information
from the instanciated QLMaaSConnection.
If a configuration file is set, myQLM will be able to automatically connect to the Qaptiva server.
Having a configuration enables the qlmaas module. This module can be used
to instanciate remote QPUs or Plugins without instancing any
QLMaaSConnection objects. Please refer to the documentation
of the qlmaas module for more information.
Authenticating to the server
QLMaaS supports 3 authentication methods to connect to a remote Qaptiva Access server, but it can also supports custom authentication methods added by your administrator:
By using a pair username/password (default method)
Through custom authentication method added by your administrator
Authenticating with username/password (default)
Connecting with credentials (username and password) is available as soon as your account has been created.
- Parameters required for connecting with this authentication method:
authentication = password (default value)
Saving credentials
Typing the password for every connection could be painful. To avoid typing the credentials every time, you can use either of two methods, the first one having precedence over the second:
a netrc file containing the credentials used to connect to the Qaptiva Access server
two environment variables containing the username and the password used to connect to the Qaptiva Access server. These two environment variables are:
QLM_USER: this environment variable contains the username
QLM_PASSWD: this environment variable contains the password
Changing your password
from qat.qlmaas import QLMaaSConnection
connection = QLMaaSConnection(...)
# will trigger interactive inputs allowing to change one's password
connection.change_password()
Changing an account password can be done with the change_password() interactive
method, which does not take any argument, allowing for setting a new password when prompted.
This method requires for the user to have a way of connecting to the Qaptiva Access server in the first place. If you forgot your password and do not have an alternative way to connect, please contact an admin.
Note
This authentication method can be disabled by your administrator. Please ensure this authentication method is enabled for your account before login with credentials.
Authenticating with a known certificate
A SSL certificate can be used by a user to login on a Qaptiva Access server, even if this certificate has not been signed by a Certificate Authority. For this method, the user certificate must be uploaded on the server.
- Parameters required for connecting with this authentication method:
authentication = ssl
certificate = /path/to/ssl_cert.crt
key = /path/to/ssl_key.key
Uploading SSL certificate
from qat.qlmaas import QLMaaSConnection
connection = QLMaaSConnection(...)
connection.save_certificate("/path/to/certificate.cer")
The save_certificate() method can be used to save an SSL certificate into your
account (requires to login with credentials beforehand) if this hasn’t already been done by your administrator.
If another certificate is already saved for this account, it will be overrided by the new one.
Note
This authentication method can be disabled by your administrator. Please ensure this authentication method is enabled for your account before using this authentication method.
Authenticating with a trusted certificate
This authentication method requires you to possess a certificate trusted by the Qaptiva Access server. For this method, your certificate must have its SSL DN (Distinguished name) saved into your account.
- Parameters required for connecting with this authentication method:
authentication = ssl
certificate = /path/to/ssl_cert.crt
key = /path/to/ssl_key.key
Uploading your DN
from qat.qlmaas import QLMaaSConnection
connection = QLMaaSConnection()
# save the DN of the provided certificate
connection.save_ssl_dn(certificate="/path/to/certificate.cer")
# change the DN value directly
connection.save_ssl_dn(dn="my DN text")
The save_ssl_dn() method allows you to save an SSL DN into
your Qaptiva Access account, if this hasn’t already been done by your administrator.
If another SSL DN is already saved for this account, it will be overrided by the new one.
This method can take one of two keywords arguments:
dn: used for providing the DN directly
certificate: path to a certificate, which DN will be used
It is recommended to use the certificate keyword, since this will make sure that the DN uses the correct name convention.
Note
This authentication method can be disabled by your administrator. Please ensure this authentication method is enabled for your account before using this authentication method.
Authenticating with custom authentication method
Your administrator can also configure custom authentication method to the remote Qaptiva Access server. In this case, please refer to your administrator for the authentication method’s name, and also the required parameters to establish the connection.
Connecting to a Qaptiva Access server
The class QLMaaSConnection is used to connect, get information and submit
requests to a Qaptiva Access server.
from qat.qlmaas import QLMaaSConnection
# if using a configuration file
connection = QLMaaSConnection()
# if not, provide the necessary arguments
connection = QLMaaSConnection(hostname="...", port=...)