openstack-manuals/doc/common-rst/get_started_identity.rst
daz ab45cacbb6 Getting started chapter reorganisation
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Change-Id: I51025b6eb4bb9b8912871837f9ce83d91dca973d
Implements: blueprint reorganise-user-guides
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==================
OpenStack Identity
==================
The OpenStack Identity service performs the following functions:
- Tracking users and their permissions.
- Providing a catalog of available services with their API endpoints.
When installing OpenStack Identity service, you must register each
service in your OpenStack installation. Identity service can then track
which OpenStack services are installed, and where they are located on
the network.
To understand OpenStack Identity, you must understand the following
concepts:
User
Digital representation of a person, system, or service who uses
OpenStack cloud services. The Identity service validates that
incoming requests are made by the user who claims to be making the
call. Users have a login and may be assigned tokens to access
resources. Users can be directly assigned to a particular tenant and
behave as if they are contained in that tenant.
Credentials
Data that confirms the user's identity. For example: user name and
password, user name and API key, or an authentication token provided
by the Identity service.
Authentication
The process of confirming the identity of a user. OpenStack Identity
confirms an incoming request by validating a set of credentials
supplied by the user.
These credentials are initially a user name and password, or a user
name and API key. When user credentials are validated, OpenStack
Identity issues an authentication token which the user provides in
subsequent requests.
Token
An alpha-numeric string of text used to access OpenStack APIs and
resources. A token may be revoked at any time and is valid for a
finite duration.
While OpenStack Identity supports token-based authentication in this
release, the intention is to support additional protocols in the
future. Its main purpose is to be an integration service, and not
aspire to be a full-fledged identity store and management solution.
Tenant
A container used to group or isolate resources. Tenants also group
or isolate identity objects. Depending on the service operator, a
tenant may map to a customer, account, organization, or project.
Service
An OpenStack service, such as Compute (nova), Object Storage
(swift), or Image service (glance). It provides one or more
endpoints in which users can access resources and perform
operations.
Endpoint
A network-accessible address where you access a service, usually a
URL address. If you are using an extension for templates, an
endpoint template can be created, which represents the templates of
all the consumable services that are available across the regions.
Role
A personality with a defined set of user rights and privileges to
perform a specific set of operations.
In the Identity service, a token that is issued to a user includes
the list of roles. Services that are being called by that user
determine how they interpret the set of roles a user has and to
which operations or resources each role grants access.
Keystone Client
A command line interface for the OpenStack Identity API. For
example, users can run the ``keystone service-create`` and
``keystone endpoint-create`` commands to register services in their
OpenStack installations.
The following diagram shows the OpenStack Identity process flow:
.. image:: figures/SCH_5002_V00_NUAC-Keystone.png