Authentication and identity management functionality is provided by a prioritized list, or chain, of configurable subsystems. The built-in authentication chain is a priority-ordered list of authentication subsystem instances. SkyVault composes together the functions of the subsystems in this list into a more powerful conglomerate.
An authentication subsystem provides the following functionality to SkyVault:
- Password-based authentication for web browsing, SharePoint, FTP, and WebDAV
- CIFS file system authentication
- Web browser and SharePoint Single Sign on (SSO)
- User register export (the automatic population of the SkyVault user and authority database)
Several alternative authentication subsystems exist for the most commonly used authentication protocols. These subsystems enable you to tie SkyVault to some of the most widely used authentication infrastructures. If you include more than one of these subsystems in the chain, you can create complex authentication scenarios.