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Can anyone describe/outline the relative merits of using Kerberos or LDAP for authentication in a large heterogeneous environment?
And Can we switch between them transparently?
Can anyone describe/outline the relative merits of using Kerberos or LDAP for authentication in a large heterogeneous environment?
And Can we switch between them transparently?
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Log in to answerBest Answer · By JanBask Cyber Security Expert
Answered on Feb 25, 2022
Kerberos vs LDAP
LDAP authentication is centralised authentication, meaning you have to login with every service, but if you change your password it changes everywhere. Kerberos is single sign-on (SSO), meaning you login once and get a token and don't need to login to other services. There's a trade-off: LDAP is less convenient but simpler. Kerberos is more convenient but more complex. Secure things are simple and convenient. There's no right answer. If you need SSO use Kerberos. Else LDAP. You could also consider YP/NIS (over IPSEC) for centralised authn. The fact that the OpenBSD security hawks dropped Kerberos but made their own LDAP server might tell you something...
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