Security
Reality provides a range of security features which enable the database administrator to secure both the database and the host against unauthorised access.
Database Security
The following security features are provided to secure a Reality database.
- User-based security.
- Location-based security.
- Account/file-based security.
User-based Security
The user-id, entered at the 'Logon please:' prompt, is a key element by which access is restricted to a database. Normally, a user-id has an associated password which must be entered in order to gain access. Various other restrictions can be placed on the user to enhance security. The user-id, password and other security restrictions are setup by the administrator using the SSM utility.
Location-based Security
A second level of security based on the physical location of the user can be applied. Each location is assigned a Physical Location Identifier (PLId) when connection is attempted, and security restrictions can be determined for a user depending on the PLId. The association between the PLId and security is set up using the SSM utility.
Account/File-based Security
Security facilities are also supported to protect individual accounts and files. These include:
- Account password. This is prompted for and created by the CREATE-ACCOUNT command and can be changed using the PASSWORD command. If an account has a password, then each time a user logs to that account, the password is prompted for and must be entered correctly to gain access to the account, unless the account is the default account for that user and the user-id has a password.
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Update and retrieval (u/r) lock codes. These can be assigned to an account or file to prevent users without the appropriate keys being able to access or update the account/file. Update and retrieval lock codes consist of ASCII character strings in attributes 5 and 6 of the account and file definition items. In an account definition items these can be multivalued.
The update/retrieval locking mechanism is based on string matching. A user can only update/retrieve data from a file, if the user's u/r code matches the u/r code of the targeted account/file. This enables an account and its associated files to be fully, or selectively protected from unauthorised access. See Retrieval and Update Lock Codes and Keys for details.
Host System Security
Reality also provides two security facilities which enable the restriction of access to the host system from the Reality environment, on a per-user basis. They are:
- Disable/Enable Directory View (see DIR-VIEW). This enables a Reality user to manipulate text files within the host's file system. The SSM command enables the database administrator to disable or enable Directory View capability for each user, as appropriate.
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System Command Shell Security Level. UNIX or Windows system commands can be run from the Reality environment by invoking a Reality utility such as the SYS command, or some other TCL command created by a user to execute a system command, based on the SYS command definition. Reality provides the facility to restrict the system commands that can be executed by a particular database user. Each user can be set up by the administrator with a particular System Command Prompt Security Level, so that only a specified set of system commands can be executed by that user. See the topic Host Command Shell Security for details.
Caution
On Windows, only DOS-based system commands should be executed using SYS. A Windows-based application will run, but you will be unable to quit. The shell will hang. It order to recover, it will be necessary to kill the application on the Reality server.