DataFlux Data Management Studio 2.5: User Guide

Specifying an Authentication Server for a Data Management Server

This topic describes the basic steps for specifying an authentication server for a DataFlux Data Management Server. Even if you are not responsible for this task, the topic will help you understand how authentication servers interact with DataFlux Data Management Studio and DataFlux Data Management Server. For complete information about maintaining the data management server, see the DataFlux Data Management Server Administrator's Guide.

In a production environment, you are typically prompted to enter a user name and passsword before you can connect to a DataFlux Data Management Server. This happens because the server has been configured for authorization. A server administrator has used the BASE/AUTH_SERVER_LOC option to specify an authenticating server for a DataFlux Data Management Server. For more information, see the BASE/AUTH_SERVER_LOC option in the "Configuration Options" topic in the DataFlux Data Management Studio Installation and Configuration Guide.

The server administrator can specify either a DataFlux Authentication Server or a SAS Metadata Server as the authentication server. If both of these servers are available on your site, then the administrator can choose the authentication server that is most convenient. This could be the authentication server where most users or authentication domains are already defined. For example, if a SAS Metadata Server is the authenticating server, then you can use a SAS metadata identity to connect to a server on the Data Management Servers riser in DataFlux Data Management Studio. You can also specify an SAS authentication domain in a domain-enabled ODBC connection, when that connection is used in a job, a profile, or another item that is executed on a DataFlux Data Management Server.