Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 11
Federated PKI Authentication
in Computing Grids:
Past, Present, and Future
Massimiliano Pala
Dartmouth College, USA
Shreyas Cholia
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA
Scott A. Rea
DigiCert Inc., USA
Sean W. Smith
Dartmouth College, USA
ABSTRACT
One of the most successful working examples of virtual organizations, computational Grids need authen-
tication mechanisms that inter-operate across domain boundaries. Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs)
provide sufficient flexibility to allow resource managers to securely grant access to their systems in such
distributed environments. However, as PKIs grow and services are added to enhance both security and
usability, users and applications must struggle to discover available resources-particularly when the
Certification Authority (CA) is alien to the relying party. This chapter presents a successful story about
how to overcome these limitations by deploying the PKI Resource Query Protocol (PRQP) into the grid
security architecture. We also discuss the future of Grid authentication by introducing the Public Key
System (PKS) and its key features to support federated identities.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search