Dell Version 7.3 manual Microsoft Windows Authentication, VMware ESX Server 4.X Authentication

Instrumentation	User, Power User, Administrator,	Power User, Administrator, Elevated
	Elevated Administrator	Administrator
Remote Access	User, Power User, Administrator,	Administrator, Elevated Administrator
	Elevated Administrator
Storage Management	User, Power User, Administrator,	Administrator, Elevated Administrator
	Elevated Administrator

Authentication

The Server Administrator authentication scheme ensures that the correct access types are assigned to the correct user privileges. Additionally, when the command line interface (CLI) is invoked, the Server Administrator authentication scheme validates the context within which the current process is running. This authentication scheme ensures that all Server Administrator functions, whether accessed through the Server Administrator home page or CLI, are properly authenticated.

Microsoft Windows Authentication

On supported Microsoft Windows operating systems, Server Administrator uses Integrated Windows Authentication (formerly called NTLM) to authenticate. This authentication system allows Server Administrator security to be incorporated in an overall security scheme for your network.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux And SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Authentication

On supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating systems, Server Administrator uses various authentication methods based on the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) library. Users can log in to Server Administrator either locally or remotely using different account management protocols, such as LDAP, NIS, Kerberos, and Winbind.

VMware ESX Server 4.X Authentication

VMware ESX Server uses the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) structure for authentication when users access the ESX Server host. The PAM configuration for VMware services stores paths to the authentication modules and is located at /etc/pam.d/vmware-authd.

The default installation of ESX Server uses /etc/passwd authentication, similar to Linux, but you can configure ESX Server to use another distributed authentication mechanism.

NOTE: On systems running VMware ESX Server 4.x operating system, to login to Server Administrator, all users require Administrator privileges. For information on assigning roles, see the VMware documentation.

VMware ESXi Server 5.X Authentication

ESXi Server authenticates users accessing ESXi hosts using the vSphere/VI Client or Software Development Kit (SDK). The default installation of ESXi uses a local password database for authentication. ESXi authentication transactions with Server Administrator are also direct interactions with the vmware-hostdprocess. To make sure that authentication works efficiently for your site, perform basic tasks such as setting up users, groups, permissions, and roles, configuring user attributes, adding your own certificates, and determining whether you want to use SSL.

NOTE: On systems running VMware ESXi Server 5.0 operating system, to login to Server Administrator, all users require Administrator privileges. For information on assigning roles, see the VMware documentation.

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