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Object-Level Security
GemBuilder User Manual
the individual users’ UserProfiles to ensure that users have appropriate access
to the objects they need.
GemStone Administration Tools
describes the visual tools that you can use to manage access to objects by
multiple users: the Segment Tool, the Symbol List Browser, and the User
Account Management Tools.
8.1 Object-Level Security
GemStone provides for blocking access to certain objects as well as sharing
them. Applications can take advantage of several security mechanisms to prevent
unauthorized access to, or modification of, sensitive code and data. These
mechanisms are listed below, and you can choose to use any or all of them.
Requiring Login Authorization
GemStone’s first line of protection is to control login authorization. When
someone tries to log in to GemStone, GemStone requires a user name and
password. If the user name and password match the user name and password
of someone authorized to use the system, GemStone allows interaction to
proceed; if not, the connection is severed.
The GemStone system administrator controls login authorization by
establishing user names and passwords when he or she creates UserProfiles.
Controlling Visibility of Objects
You can also control access by hiding certain objects from users. Because it is
difficult, if not impossible, for users to refer to objects that are not defined
somewhere in their symbol lists, simply omitting off-limits objects from a
user’s symbol list provides a certain amount of security. It is possible,
however, for users to find ways to circumvent this, because it’s difficult to
ensure that all indirect paths to an object are eliminated.
Protecting Methods
Another choice is to implement procedural protection. If your program
accesses its objects only through methods, you can control the use of those
objects by including user identity checks in the accessing methods.
8-2
GemStone Systems, Inc.
March 2006