RFC 912 (rfc912) - Page 1 of 3

Authentication service

Network Working Group                                       Mike StJohns
Request for Comments: 912                                           TPSC
                                                          September 1984

                         Authentication Service


STATUS OF THIS MEMO

   This RFC suggests a proposed protocol for the ARPA-Internet
   community, and  requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

INTRODUCTION

   The Authentication Server provides a means to determine the identity
   of a user of a particular TCP connection.  Given a TCP port number
   pair, it returns a character string which identifies the owner of
   that connection on the server's system.  Suggested uses include
   automatic identification and verification of a user during an FTP
   session, additional verification of a TAC dial up user, and access
   verification for a generalized network file server.

OVERVIEW

   This is a connection based application on TCP.  A server listens for
   TCP connections on TCP port 113 (decimal).  Once a connection is
   established, the server reads one line of data which specifies the
   connection of interest.  If it exists, the system dependent user
   identifier of the connection of interest is sent out the connection.
   The service closes the connection after sending the user identifier.

RESTRICTIONS

   Queries are permitted only for fully specified connections.  The
   local/foreign host pair used to fully specify the connection are
   taken from the query connection.  This means a user on Host A may
   only query the server on Host B about connections between A and B.

QUERY/RESPONSE FORMAT

   The server accepts simple text query requests of the form

      , 

   where , is the TCP port (decimal) on the target (server)
   system, and  is the TCP port (decimal) on the source
   (user) system.

      For example:



StJohns