Using soapUI with WebSEAL

In previous posts I explained how it is possible to invoke web services through a browser using javascript, and sometimes the service needs to be debugged using soapUI through WebSEAL.

WebSEAL and Cookies
My current infrastructure uses WebSEAL as a reverse proxy, which means that a session must be established before any of the back end servers can be accessed, including the server hosting my web service. This poses a problem with soapUI which doesn't provide a mechanism to log into WebSEAL directly, instead I can establish the session using a browser and then copy the cookies into the tool.

Log into the application server and authenticate as usual, then copy the cookies using firebug:












Then paste the cookies into soapUI:


Now all requests will forward the cookie information which WebSEAL should recognize, allowing it to pass through as authenticated.