MX 2.x)

Overview of MXCS

HP NonStop SQL/MX Connectivity Service Manual—524944-008

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Security

Access authorization

Authorization for access to NonStop SQL databases uses authenticated Guardian user

names. The MXCS SQL server program (MXOSRVR) follows SQL/MX rules for

accessing SQL/MX objects (and SQL/MP rules for SQL/MP objects), and as such the

SQL objects are subject to the normal SQL rules that govern access to those objects.

For example, to read from an MX table, the user must have SELECT privilege.

Each MXCS SQL process runs under a Guardian user name that is used to authorize

access to SQL objects.

For more information about SQL/MX privileges, see the SQL/MX Reference Manual.

User Authentication

MXCS uses a connection model in which users request a connection to a named

service, known as the data source. To complete the connection, the user provides a

user name and a password, which are passed in a secure, private packet to the MXCS

server.

Two formats for the username are valid:

group.user or safeguard-aliasname

Because many client applications use only one-part user identification (such as on

Windows and UNIX systems), you might need to add Safeguard aliases and use the

safeguard-aliasname format when connecting to MXCS.

Passwords

Safeguard supports multiple alias and password pairs for a single Guardian username.

This can improve performance because object caching reuses the underlying

username. You can set up an anonymous login capability by adding a username such

as guest with no password, then map this username to a user group that has limited

access to the SQL objects.

Password Expiration

You can enable the password expiration notification feature, which sends a warning

message to the driver when a password is scheduled to expire in the next two days or

a password has already expired but is still within the grace period.

To enable notification of password expiration:

1. Using NSM/web, set the SQL_ATTR_WARNING environment variable in the SET

tab to 1. (The default value of SQL_ATTR_WARNING is 0 (disabled).)