5.1 Authentication Framework

To guard against unauthorized access, Access Manager Appliance supports a number of ways for users to authenticate. You configure authentication at Identity Server by creating authentication contracts that Access Manager components (such as an Access Gateway) can use to protect a resource.

Figure 5-1 illustrates the components of a contract.

Figure 5-1 Local Authentication

User stores

User stores to which users authenticate in the back-end. You set up your user store while creating an Identity Server cluster configuration. See Configuring Identity User Stores.

Classes

Implements a particular authentication type (name/password, RADIUS, X.509) or means of obtaining credentials. It specifies how Identity Server requests for the authentication information and what it must do to validate credentials. See Creating Authentication Classes.

Methods

The pairing of an authentication class with one or more user stores, and whether the method identifies a user. See Configuring Authentication Methods.

Contracts

The basic unit of authentication. Contracts can be local (executed at the server) or external (satisfied by another Identity Server). Contracts are identified by a unique URI that can be used by Access Gateways and agents to protect resources. Contracts are comprised of one or more authentication methods used to uniquely identify a user. You can associate multiple methods with one contract. See Configuring Authentication Contracts.

This section explains the following topics: