User authentication and Single Sign-On (SSO) is an element of your security policies that you can use to protect access to your system infrastructure by securely establishing and propagating the identity of a sender of an access request.
You can use authentication and SSO to enable secure points of access to your systems in open environments, such as the Internet.
User authentication and SSO is closely related to the following security functions in SAPNetWeaver:
SAPNetWeaver supports a number of mechanisms to enable user authentication and integration in SSO. SAPNetWeaver Application Server (AS) Java and AS ABAP provide the underlying technology for authenticating users.
For more information about the conceptual, administrative, and development aspects relevant to user authentication and SSO in SAPNetWeaver, see the following sections:
Information about the security aspects that apply when using the authentication mechanisms that are supported by SAPNetWeaver.
Information about the underlying ABAP and Java technology stack infrastructure to support the authentication and SSO in SAPNetWeaver.
Information about configuring the use of mechanisms for authenticating user access, as well as, their integration in SSO environments.
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.