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Authentication Domains

Description

Altair SLC Hub uses authentication domains to store access credentials, which can then be referenced by SAS language programs, removing the need for those programs to hard code the credentials.

An Altair SLC Hub authentication domain is a central definition of access credentials for a server or a database. An authentication domain contains one or more credentials, each of which defines a user name and password that can be used to access a database or other server. Each credential is associated with an Altair SLC Hub user or group. SAS language programs can then use the authentication domain to replace hard-coded credentials in any SAS language statement that requires a user name and password pair; for example, LIBNAME, FILENAME EMAIL, FILENAME HTTP, PROC HTTP.

Altair SLC Hub users in the Hub Administrators group can create authentication domains and add credentials for any users. Altair SLC Hub users in the Hub Users group can create and edit their own credentials for existing authentication domains, and reference authentication domains in SAS language programs in Altair SLC. Altair SLC Hub authentication domains are not case sensitive.

Advantages of authentication domains are:

  • Plain text user names and passwords can be removed from SAS language programs in Altair SLC.
  • Administrators manage user names and passwords centrally.
  • Administrators can restrict access to password-protected resources by restricting access to the corresponding authentication domains.
  • Administrators can set different credentials for different users and groups, so different users and groups can have different levels of access to the same resource.

Portal interface

The Authentication Domains page is used to create and edit authentication domain definitions.

The New button creates an authentication domain.

Each authentication domain links to a further page where its details can be viewed and edited.

The New button in the Credentials section can be used to enter a username and password for a Altair SLC Hub User or Group.

The ... to the right of each credential can be used to edit the credential. Note also that credentials are ranked within the authentication domain. The rank can be changed by means of the arrow controls. Ranking is used to disambiguate which credential should be used, for example when a user belongs to more than one Group that has a credential for the authentication domain.

There is also a Test button for verifying whether a user has a credential for the authentication domain.