Re: Informix Connection without Unix ID

Jonathan Leffler wrote: [SNIP] > >>you wrote : > >>>I would like to be able to connect a lot of windows clients (Win95, > >>>Win3.1) to an unix box without an account (user and password) defined > >>>for each one in the unix side. I wouldn't like to have a unique user > >>>for all my clients. > >>> > >>>I know that Oracle/Sybase maintain a list of user ids internal to the > >>>database. Is this possible in Informix? [SNIP] > There are two parts to a security scheme: > * Controlling the actions of authorised users. > * Identification (verification, authentication) of authorised individuals. > > Informix uses a wholly non-Unix scheme for controlling the authorised > actions because the actions it controls are database actions rather than > Unix actions. The primary vehicle for these controls are GRANT and [SNIP] Whoops! Johnathan, I think that you mispoke. (Not that what Johnathan said was wrong, but that his implications that Informix's security is not based on UNIX security. Unlike Sybase , and H'oracle , Informix does base their security on the UNIX ID of the connecting process. Which means that the application running on the client must have a valid UNIX ID in order to connect. (USING NE or I-NET) If you are writting a WEB based application, the connecting process is not on the client but the server, and will have a valid ID. Anyways, I digress. With Sybase, you have to log in to the database in order to establish your identity. Informix assumes your UNIX ID as your identity. Or on the client, you must pass the identity and password to the engine. (This is true for all remote connections such as DBACCESS from one host to another.) You can easily create your own form of authentication within your application, by creating a id/passwd table. This will allow you a single UNIX account access, then allow for individual database access. But, Informix also offers ONLINE-Secure. This should also meet your needs. Sorry, I don't have further details, contact your Informix sales rep. Hopefully he/she will be of more assistance than ours has been. (Whoops! Going to hell for that one!) Bottom line, Johnathan was right in his description, but if you want to have a single UNIX account, you will either have to use Online-Secure, or write your own authentication. [Or steal someone elses. ] -Mikey