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Security and Hardening Guide / Authentication
Applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4

Part I Authentication

  
  • 2 Authentication with PAM

    • Linux uses PAM (pluggable authentication modules) in the authentication process as a layer that mediates between user and application. PAM modules are available on a systemwide basis, so they can be requested by any application. This chapter describes how the modular authentication mechanism works and how it is configured.

  • 3 Using NIS

    • When multiple Unix systems in a network access common resources, it becomes imperative that all user and group identities are the same for all machines in that network. The network should be transparent to users: their environments should not vary, regardless of which machine they are actually using. This can be done by means of NIS and NFS services. NFS distributes file systems over a network and is discussed in Book “Administration Guide”, Chapter 28 “Sharing File Systems with NFS”.

    NIS (Network Information Service) can be described as a database-like service that provides access to the contents of /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, and /etc/group across networks. NIS can also be used for other purposes (making the contents of files like /etc/hosts or /etc/services available, for example), but this is beyond the scope of this introduction. People often refer to NIS as YP, because it works like the network's “yellow pages.”

  • 4 Setting Up Authentication Servers and Clients Using YaST

    • The Authentication Server is based on LDAP and optionally Kerberos. On SUSE Linux Enterprise Server you can configure it with a YaST wizard.

    For more information about LDAP, see Chapter 5, LDAP—A Directory Service, and about Kerberos, see Chapter 6, Network Authentication with Kerberos.

  • 5 LDAP—A Directory Service

    • The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is a set of protocols designed to access and maintain information directories. LDAP can be used for user and group management, system configuration management, address management, and more. This chapter provides a basic understanding of how OpenLDAP works.

  • 6 Network Authentication with Kerberos

    • Kerberos is a network authentication protocol which also provides encryption. This chapter describes how to set up Kerberos and integrate services like LDAP and NFS.

  • 7 Active Directory Support

    • Active Directory* (AD) is a directory-service based on LDAP, Kerberos, and other services. It is used by Microsoft* Windows* to manage resources, services, and people. In a Microsoft Windows network, Active Directory provides information about these objects, restricts access to them, and enforces po…