User Authentication and Single Sign-On

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.

User authentication includes the process of securely establishing the identity of a user as a client requesting access to a server system.
SSO 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 back-end 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. SAP NetWeaver Application Server provides the underlying technology for authenticating users.

For more information about the conceptual, administrative, and development aspects relevant to user authentication and SSO in SAP NetWeaver, see the following sections:

Authentication Concepts

Information about the security aspects that apply when using the authentication mechanisms that are supported by SAP NetWeaver.
Authentication Infrastructure

Information about the underlying technology stack infrastructure to support the authentication and SSO 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.