ALM 12 REST using SpringFramework RestTemplate: "401 QCSession cookie missing" - spring

Question

In ALM 12 we have to explicity call "qcbin/rest/site-session" to get session.
When I GET call "/qcbin/rest/site-session" I receive the following:
"Set-Cookie=[BIGipServerALMAST330P-QC=rd100o00000000000000000000ffff0fe0dd74o8080; path=/, ]""
I extract the cookie as described here:
HP ALM 12 REST not returning QCSession cookie.
Instead of this RestConnector, our project is using RestTemplate from SpringFramework, so I did:
private HashMap getQCSession() throws Exception {
URL url = new URL("https://almxxxx.saas.hp.com/qcbin/rest/site-session?login-form-required=y");
HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
conn.setRequestMethod("POST");
conn.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/xml");
conn.setRequestProperty("Accept", "application/xml");
conn.connect();
HashMap cookies = updateCookies(conn);
return cookies;
}
public HashMap updateCookies(HttpURLConnection conn) {
String cookie2 = conn.getHeaderField("Set-Cookie");
int equalIndex = cookie2.indexOf('=');
int semicolonIndex = cookie2.indexOf(';');
String cookieKey = cookie2.substring(0, equalIndex);
String cookieValue = cookie2.substring(equalIndex + 1, semicolonIndex);
HashMap cookies = new HashMap();
cookies.put(cookieKey, cookieValue);
System.out.println(cookies.toString());
return cookies;
}
To send the cookie in the GET call using the RestTemplate I followed the instructions from http://springinpractice.com/2012/04/08/sending-cookies-with-resttemplate/, so I did:
public <U extends Object> ResponseEntity<U> getFromURL(URI url, Class<U> responseBodyClass) throws Exception {
logger.info("GET na URL: {} esperando classe: {} no response", url, responseBodyClass);
HashMap cookie = this.getQCSession();
HttpHeaders requestHeaders = new HttpHeaders();
requestHeaders.add("Cookie", this.getQCSession().toString());
this.httpEntity = new HttpEntity(null, requestHeaders);
return super.exchange(url, HttpMethod.GET, this.httpEntity, responseBodyClass);
}
The requestHeaders content added to the HttpEntity (SpringFramework) is:
{Cookie=[{BIGipServerALMAST330P-QC=rd100o00000000000000000000ffff0fe0dd74o8080}]}
However I'm still getting "401 QCSession cookie missing".
I already tried to send in the GET call the JSESSIONID, with no success as well.
I appreciate any help.
Any clue?

Answer 1

I ran into this. As of ALM12 you need to create a session also.
I POST some XML or JSON to here "/authentication-point/alm-authenticate" to authenticate
Then collect the Set-Cookie header
I then POST to "/rest/site-session" with the cookie from the previous response.
I collect the session cookies from that response to use in my subsequent requests.
Hope that helps

Answer 2

I don't know, if it can help you but you are sending it with query param for UI authentication.
"POST .../rest/site-session?login-form-required=y"
I would suggest to POST it without query param
"POST .../rest/site-session"
Also the order of actions you should do before asking for QCSession token is:
1.Check whether you are authenticated
"GET .../rest/is-authenticated"
2.If not you'll get reference where to authenticate: WWW-Authenticate: LWSSO realm=".../authentication-point"
3.Send basic auth header to authentication point with added alm-authenticate at the end. Which returns you LWSSO_COOKIE_KEY.
"POST .../authentication-point/alm-authenticate"
Authentication: Basic BASE64{username:password}
4.Then you'll need to POST that LWSSO_COOKIE_KEY to site-session and ALM will return you QCSession key.
"POST .../rest/site-session"
"Cookie: LWSSO_COOKIE_KEY={cookie}; Path=/"
Hopefully I was able to help you.
If you still have problems, feel free to contact me.