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Security Description

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A security desciption is represented by a WS_SECURITY_DESCRIPTION structure, and an instance of a security description is supplied when you call the WsCreateChannel function to create a secure channel or the WsCreateListener function to create a listener.

Structure of a Security Description

The basic model of channel security is that a channel is secured with one or more security tokens. Reflecting this model, the WS_SECURITY_DESCRIPTION structure contains a list of security bindings, represented by WS_SECURITY_BINDING structures, and each security binding describes how one security token is obtained and used on the channel. The kind of security used on a channel is decided by the selection of security binding subtypes that are included in the security description.

Optional security settings that are specific to a security binding are specified as security binding settings in the security binding structure; however, channel-wide settings independent of security bindings are directly specified as security channel settings in the properties field of the security description itself.

Diagram showing the structure of a security description.

The following API elements are used with security descriptions.

Structure Description
WS_SECURITY_DESCRIPTION The top-level structure used to specify the security requirements for a channel (on the client side) or a listener (on the server side).