User Authentication and Single
Sign-On
Use
User authentication and Single Sign-On is an element of your security policies that you ca use to protect access to your system infrastructure by securely establishing and propagating the identity of a sender of an access request.
● User authentication includes the process of securely establishing the identity of a user as a client requesting access to a server system.
● Single Sign-On complements user authentication and includes the process of authenticating an access request once and transparently propagating the identity of an already authenticated user for access to multiple backend systems.
You can use authentication and SSO to enable secure points of access to your systems in open environments, such as the Internet.
Integration
User authentication and SSO is closely related to the following security functions in SAP NetWeaver.
●
Identity
Management functions that support access authorization decisions by
providing user authorization information.
● Network and Transport Layer Security functions that support the security aspects in transporting authentication credentials across systems.
●
Digital Signatures and
Encryption functions that support the security of stored credentials and
user information.
Features
SAP NetWeaver supports a number of mechanisms to enable user authentication and integration in SSO. The SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java (AS Java) and the SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP (AS ABAP) provide the underlying technology for authenticating users with SAP NetWeaver.
For more information about the conceptual, administrative and development aspects relevant to user authentication and SSO in SAP NetWeaver, see the following sections.
Information about the security aspects that apply when using the authentication mechanisms that are supported by SAP NetWeaver.
● Authentication Infrastructure
Information about the underlying ABAP and Java technology stack infrastructure to support the authentication and Single Sign-On in SAP NetWeaver.
● Integration in Single Sign-On (SSO) Environments
Information about configuring the use of mechanisms for authenticating user access, as well as, their integration in SSO environments.
● Developing Authentication Enhancements
Information about enhancing the standard SAP NetWeaver authentication and SSO functions with custom development. You can also find information about developing custom authentication enhancements for SSO to non-SAP systems.