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CHAPTER 3: ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS 39
Authentication vs. Authorization
When your device is configured for remote authentication, the external authentication server is
used primarily for the purposes of authentication, not authorization.
Authorization is determined by the KX unit on the basis of user groups. That is, once a given user
is allowed to access the device in general (authenticated), that user’s specific permission
(authorization) is determined by the device, based upon the user’s group.
The external authentication server can assist in authorization by informing the device about the
user group to which a user belongs whenever the authentication server approves a given user’s
login request. The sections Implementing LDAP Remote Authentication and Implementing
RADIUS Remote Authentication that follow explain this in more detail.
The flow diagram below illustrates the steps taken:
User login with
username /
password
username in
internal
database?
password
correct?
Login
denied
Login
allowed
Permissions
determined by
internal user group
Internal
lookup of
user group
External
authentication server
configured?
Login
denied
External
authentication
query
Valid
username /
password?
Login
denied
External
authentication
reply
Login
allowed
User group
name provided
by authentication
server?
Permissions
determined by
internal user group,
“NONE”
User group
found in internal
database?
YESNO
YES
NO NO
YES
NO
YES
YES
NO
Permissions
determined by
internal user group,
“UNKNOWN”
Permissions
determined by
internal user group
YES
NO
Figure 25 Authorization Flow Diagram
Note the importance of the group to which a given user belongs, as well as the need to configure
the groups named, “UNKNOWN” and “NONE.” If the external authentication server returns a
group name that is not recognized by the KX101, that user’s permissions are determined by the
permanent group named “UNKNOWN.” If the external authentication server does not return a
group name, that user’s permissions are determined by the permanent group named “NONE.”
Please see the sections LDAP or RADIUS in this chapter to determine how to configure your
authentication server to return user group information to KX101 as part of its reply to an
authentication query.