Chapter 15 Setting Up End-User Authentication; Introduction To Authentication - Netscape MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 6.0 Installation And Setup Manual

Setting Up End-User Authentication
Netscape Certificate Management System (CMS) provides a customizable
authentication component that supports various methods for authenticating end
users. This chapter provides an introduction to various parts of Certificate
Management System that require authentication and explains how to configure a
Certificate Manager and Registration Manager to use specific authentication
plug-in modules for authenticating end users during certificate enrollment.
The chapter has the following sections:
• Introduction to Authentication (page 489)
• Configuring Authentication for End-User Enrollment (page 501)
• Managing Authentication Instances (page 524)
• Managing Authentication Plug-in Modules (page 527)

Introduction to Authentication

Authentication is the process of verifying the identity of a user that is requesting a
service from Netscape Certificate Management System (CMS). More specifically,
authentication involves acquiring and verifying the values of the configured
attributes of the user. For example, the user might be prompted to log in with a
user name and password, and then the server would look in a preconfigured
database to verify that the user's password was correct.
Service requests to Certificate Management System come from any of the following
users:
• End entities—general users or applications that make certificate issuance,
renewal, and revocation requests
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