Kerberos: The Definitive Guide

Description

Kerberos, the single sign-on authentication system originally developed at MIT, deserves its name. It's a faithful watchdog that keeps intruders out of your networks. But it has been equally fierce to system administrators, for whom the complexity of Kerberos is legendary.

Single sign-on is the holy grail of network administration, and Kerberos is the only game in town. Microsoft, by integrating Kerberos into Active Directory in Windows 2000 and 2003, has extended the reach of Kerberos to all networks large or small. Kerberos makes your network more secure and more convenient for users by providing a single authentication system that works across the entire network. One username; one password; one login is all you need.

Fortunately, help for administrators is on the way. Kerberos: The Definitive Guide shows you how to implement Kerberos for secure authentication. In addition to covering the basic principles behind cryptographic authentication, it covers everything from basic installation to advanced topics like cross-realm authentication, defending against attacks on Kerberos, and troubleshooting.

In addition to covering Microsoft's Active Directory implementation, Kerberos: The Definitive Guide covers both major implementations of Kerberos for Unix and Linux: MIT and Heimdal. It shows you how to set up Mac OS X as a Kerberos client. The book also covers both versions of the Kerberos protocol that are still in use: Kerberos 4 (now obsolete) and Kerberos 5, paying special attention to the integration between the different protocols, and between Unix and Windows implementations.

If you've been avoiding Kerberos because it's confusing and poorly documented, it's time to get on board! This book shows you how to put Kerberos authentication to work on your Windows and Unix systems.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction
      Origins
      What Is Kerberos?
      Goals
      Evolution
      Other Products

2. Pieces of the Puzzle
      The Three As
      Directories
      Privacy and Integrity
      Kerberos Terminology and Concepts
      Putting the Pieces Together

3. Protocols
      The Needham-Schroeder Protocol
      Kerberos 4
      Kerberos 5
      The Alphabet Soup of Kerberos-Related Protocols

4. Implementation
      The Basic Steps
      Planning Your Installation
      Before You Begin
      KDC Installation
      DNS and Kerberos
      Client and Application Server Installation

5. Troubleshooting
      A Quick Decision Tree
      Debugging Tools
      Errors and Solutions

6. Security
      Kerberos Attacks
      Protocol Security Issues
      Security Solutions
      Protecting Your KDC
      Firewalls, NAT, and Kerberos
      Auditing

7. Applications
      What Does Kerberos Support Mean?
      Services and Keytabs
      Transparent Kerberos Login with PAM
      Mac OS X and the Login Window
      Kerberos and Web-Based Applications
      The Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL)
      Kerberos-Enabled Server Packages
      Kerberos-Enabled Client Packages
      More Kerberos-Enabled Packages

8. Advanced Topics
      Cross-Realm Authentication
      Using Kerberos 4 Services with Kerberos 5
      Windows Issues
      Windows and Unix Interoperability

9. Case Study
      The Organization
      Planning
      Implementation

10. Kerberos Futures
      Public Key Extensions
      Smart Cards
      Better Encryption
      Kerberos Referrals
      Web Services

Appendix: Administration Reference