Authentication Overview

The following example demonstrates how the Authentication Service works from the perspective of the user. A company employee must look up a colleague’s phone number, so he uses a browser to access the company’s online phone book. To log in to the phone book service, the employee provides a user name and password. Access Manager compares the user’s input with data stored in a central user repository. If Access Manager finds a match for the user name, and if the given password matches the stored password, Access Manager authenticates the user’s identity. After authentication, the policy evaluation process occurs. If the policy agent allows access to the user, the corporate phone book is displayed. The Basic User Session section in the previous chapter contains a detailed description and illustration of the authentication process within a basic user session.

The Authentication Service is client-type aware and supports all configured client types such as cookieless and cookie-enabled client types.