OSF DCE Application Development Guide--Core Components

Chapter 23. Authentication
This chapter explains concepts related to authentication. Both the authenticated RPC
facility and the GSSAPI let you use Shared-Secret Authentication.
When using the Authenticated RPC facility, you can choose the authentication protocol
that your application uses to perform authentication. DCE Shared-Secret Authentication,
which is used by the Authenticated RPC facility and the GSSAPI, is the default
authentication protocol (and the chief topic of this chapter). Other authentication
protocols that the DCE Security component may support include DCE Public Key
Authentication, which this guide does not discuss.
For specific information about using the Authenticated RPC routines and the GSSAPI
routines, see Part 3 of this guide.
23.1 Background Concepts
The following subsections present a few background concepts that are useful for
understanding the discussions of authentication in this chapter:
• Principals, which are the subjects of authentication.
• The cell, which is the environment in which authentication takes place.
• The Shared-Secret Authentication protocol, which is the mechanism by which
authentication is effected when applications specify this protocol via the
Authenticated RPC facility.
• Protection levels, which are the various degrees to which transmitted data may be
protected.
• Data encryption algorithms, which are the mechanisms that the Security Server and
client runtimes use to encrypt and decrypt data exchanged between principals.
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