Forest and Interforest AuthenticationWithin a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 forest, trusts between domains are based on Kerberos version 5 and are both two-way and transitive. Transitive trust means that every domain within the forest trusts every other domain in the forest. A user with a valid domain account in one of the domains in the forest can authenticate from a computer in any of the other domains in the forest. In a Windows NT 4 domain, trust with another domain is one-way and nontransitive, although two one-way trusts can be created to establish bi-directional trusts. The authentication protocol used across trusts within a forest depends, as it does within a domain, on the client and server operating systems and their configurations.Chapter 8, "Trust." At this point, however, you should be aware that the authentication algorithm used between trusts can be deduced by considering the operating system of the domains. Table 2-10 provides this information. To read the table, match the domain types in the trust, one from column one and one from the first row, and find the cell that is the intersection of the row and column they begin. The listed protocol is the one used for authentication between the two domains.
Inter Realm TrustKerberos is an authentication standard, and an implementation for many operating systems can be purchased or obtained at little to no cost. When an operating system or application is provided with the ability to use Kerberos, it is said to be Kerberized. In the standard, and in many implementations, the logical grouping of Kerberized clients and servers is called a "realm." In the Microsoft implementation, the word "domain" is used.To share resources between a Kerberos realm and a Windows domain, a realm trust can be created. This allows users to have a single account name and password. It is also possible to configure Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 computers to be clients in a Kerberos realm or to configure Kerberized, non-Windows clients to allow their users to authenticate to a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 domain. In many cases, a one or two-way trust can be established. Authentication will always be via Kerberos.To create a realm trust with a Unix-based Kerberos realm or to otherwise establish authentication between Windows and Unix systems, obtain Windows Services for Unix (SFU). The SFU home page is at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/sfu/default.asp. |