Sun Microsystems OpenSSO Express FAQ

Q: What is OpenSSO?

The Open Web Single Sign-On Project, referred to as OpenSSO, is an open development effort based on the source code for Sun Java^TM System Access Manager and Sun Java System Federation Manager, two commercial identity and federation products offered by Sun Microsystems, Inc. The goal of OpenSSO is to provide an extensible foundation for an identity services infrastructure in the public domain, facilitating single sign-on (SSO) and federation for web applications hosted on web and application servers. The OpenSSO codebase will form the basis for the next Sun Microsystems commercial identity and federation product release.

Q: What is Sun Java System Access Manager?

Sun Java System Access Manager is the commercial Sun Microsystems access control release from which the OpenSSO code was taken.

Q: What is Sun Java System Federation Manager?

Sun Java System Federation Manager is the commercial Sun Microsystems federation release from which the OpenSSO code was taken.

Q: Is the OpenSSO codebase different from that of Access Manager or Federation Manager?

The code base is the same. After the commercial products were released, Sun donated the code and launched the OpenSSO open source project. Since then, Sun engineers and the OpenSSO community have developed the code, in the open, with nightly builds and periodic, stable downloads available to test and use the latest features. A new commercial release of the OpenSSO code will be released later this year.

Q: How does Sun Microsystems support for OpenSSO work?

Starting on July 23, 2008, to get support for either Sun Java System Access Manager or OpenSSO, you must:

1. Purchase a perpetual license for Sun Java System Access Manager, or a subscription to the Sun Identity Management Suite or Java Enterprise System.
2. Download either Sun Java System Access Manager or an OpenSSO Express build.

Q: What is an OpenSSO Express build?

The two most recent, stable nightly builds are deemed OpenSSO Express builds. An OpenSSO Express build has undergone extensive manual and automated testing by the Sun Quality Assurance (QA) engineering team. Reporting an issue through Sun Customer Support channels requires that you have a supported OpenSSO Express build deployed.

Q: How often are new OpenSSO Express builds made available?

New OpenSSO Express builds are made available approximately every 3 months.

Q: What is an OpenSSO Community Build?

Nightly builds available on OpenSSO are referred to as Community Builds. Community Builds have the most up-to-date code but have not undergone extensive testing by the Sun Microsystems QA engineering team.

Q: Is support available for an OpenSSO Community Build?

Support for OpenSSO Community Builds is only available from the OpenSSO community via IRC, email aliases, member blogs, the OpenSSO wiki, or documentation and articles posted on the OpenSSO web site.

Q: Do I have to upgrade to the latest OpenSSO Express build when it is released?

You do not have to upgrade to the latest build. You can stay on any build as long as you would like and upgrade to a future OpenSSO build or commercial release at any time, as long as your support contract is valid. Be aware though that, if you find an issue and need to contact the support team, upgrading to the latest build is the first thing they will ask you to do.

Q: How do I receive support on an OpenSSO Express Build?

Ensure that the build you are using is listed under ???OpenSSO Express on opensso.org??? at the time you report an issue. If yes, you'll be able to use regular Sun Customer Support channels for support queries. If no, you are using an older build and will need to move to a currently supported OpenSSO Express build and test for the issue again before availing of support. Current and closed issues can be found using Issue Tracker. Anyone can search the database.

Q: What type of QA testing is done on OpenSSO Express builds?

The Sun QA engineering team conducts extensive automated and manual tests as well as interoperability tests with supported third party products.