Glossary

C

CA Certificate

The CA's certificate. This certificate is used to verify signature on certificates issued by the CA. GSI typically stores a given CA certificate in /etc/grid-security/certificates/<hash>.0, where <hash> is the hash code of the CA identity.

CA Signing Policy

The CA signing policy is used to place constraints on the information you trust a given CA to bind to public keys. Specifically it constrains the identities a CA is trusted to assert in a certificate. In GSI the signing policy for a given CA can typically be found in /etc/grid-security/certificates/<hash>.signing_policy, where <hash> is the hash code of the CA identity.

Certificate Revocation List (CRL)

A list of revoked certificates generated by the CA that originally issued them. When using GSI, this list is typically found in /etc/grid-security/certificates/<hash>.r0, where <hash> is the hash code of the CA identity.

G

grid map file

A file containing entries mapping certificate subjects to local user names. This file can also serve as a access control list for GSI enabled services and is typically found in /etc/grid-security/grid-mapfile. For more information see the Gridmap section here.

P

proxy certificate

A short lived certificate issued using a EEC. A proxy certificate typically has the same effective subject as the EEC that issued it and can thus be used in its place. GSI uses proxy certificates for single sign on and delegation of rights to other entities.

For more information about types of proxy certificates and their compatibility in different versions of GT, see http://dev.globus.org/wiki/Security/ProxyCertTypes.