GSI uses public key cryptography (also known as asymmetric cryptography) as the basis for its functionality. Many of the terms and concepts used in this description of GSI come from its use of public key cryptography.

For a good overview of GSI contained in the Web Services-based components of GT4, see Globus Toolkit Version 4 Grid Security Infrastructure: A Standards Perspective.

A reference for detailed information about public key cryptography is available in the book Handbook of Applied Cryptography , by A. Menezes, P. van Oorschot, and S. Vanstone, CRC Press, 1996. Chapter 8 of this book deals exclusively with public key cryptography.

The primary motivations behind GSI are:

The need for secure communication (authenticated and perhaps confidential) between elements of a computational Grid.
The need to support security across organizational boundaries, thus prohibiting a centrally-managed security system.
The need to support "single sign-on" for users of the Grid, including delegation of credentials for computations that involve multiple resources and/or sites.

Table of Contents

Conceptual Details
Related Documents
Glossary

		Next
		Conceptual Details