GT4.0 Pre-WS AA Factsheet

Table of Contents

1. Brief component overview
2. Summary of features
3. Usability summary
4. Backward compatibility summary
5. Technology dependencies
6. Tested platforms
7. Associated standards
8. For More Information

1. Brief component overview

The Globus Toolkit Pre-Web Services Authentication and Authorization component provides APIs and tools for authentication, authorization and certificate management.

The authentication API is built using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technologies, e.g. X.509 Certificates and TLS. In addition to authentication it features a delegation mechanism based upon X.509 Proxy Certificates.

Authorization support takes the form of a couple of APIs. The first provides a generic authorization API that allows callouts to perform access control based on the client's credentials (i.e. the X.509 certificate chain). The second provides a simple access control list that maps authorized remote entities to local (system) user names. The second mechanism also provides callouts that allow third parties to override the default behavior and is currently used in the Gatekeeper and GridFTP servers.

In addition to the above there are various lower level APIs and tools for managing, discovering and querying certificates .

2. Summary of features

Features new in GT 4.0

  • None

Other Supported Features

  • Authentication of user using standard X.509 End Entity and Proxy Certificates.
  • Delegation using X.509 Proxy Certificates.
  • Pluggable authorization based on the client's certificate chain for GridFTPD and Pre-WS GRAM.
  • Pluggable authorization for Pre-WS GRAM based on the RSL of the job.

Deprecated Features

  • None

3. Usability summary

Usability improvements for Pre-WS Authentication and Authorization:

  • There is no content available at this time.

4. Backward compatibility summary

Protocol changes in Pre-WS Authentication and Authorization since GT 3.2

  • None

API changes since GT 3.2

  • None

Exception changes since GT 3.2

  • Not applicable

Schema changes since GT 3.2

  • Not applicable

5. Technology dependencies

The Pre-WS Authentication and Authorization component depends on the following GT components:

  • C Common Libraries

The Pre-WS Authentication and Authorization component depends on the following 3rd party software:

  • OpenSSL

6. Tested platforms

Tested platforms for Pre-WS Authentication & Authorization:

  • i386 Linux

7. Associated standards

Associated standards for Pre-WS Authentication & Authorization:

8. For More Information

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