Network Security

This topic describes the security features provided by UNIX-Connect:

• Location-based Security.

• User Equivalence.

• The USERS-FILE.

Introduction

UNIX-Connect provides the following security features.

• Location-based Security

  This makes use of a Physical Location Identifier (PLId), which indicates the method of connection used and the location of the user. This information can be used in Reality to apply different constraints to the user, depending on their location.

  The use of PLIds in Reality databases is described in greater detail in the User?s Reference: Administration.

• User Equivalence

  This makes use of the PLId to grant permission for remote users to use local UNIX user names. A remote user who is recognised in this way is ?trusted? and can connect without needing to supply a password.

• USERS-FILE

  Both the above provide security for incoming connections. The USERS-FILE is an alternative to User Equivalence, but is applied to outgoing connections. For each local user, the USERS-FILE stores a list of remote hosts, with for each host, the user-id and password to be used when connecting. A user who has an entry for a remote host in the local USERS-FILE, can log in to that host without needing to enter a password.