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CHAPTER 4: ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS 55
Authentication vs. Authorization
When your IP-Reach unit is configured for remote authentication, the external authentication server is used
primarily for the purposes of authentication, not authorization.
Authorization is determined by IP-Reach on the basis of user groups. That is, once a given user is allowed
to access the IP-Reach system in general (authenticated), that user’s specific permission (authorization) is
determined by IP-Reach based upon the user’s group.
The external authentication server can assist in authorization by informing IP-Reach 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
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 IP-Reach, 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 involving LDAP or RADIUS in this chapter to determine how to configure your
authentication server to return user group information to IP-Reach as part of its reply to an authentication
query.