Clients are authenticated using external services such as Active Directory for Windows-based clients and Network Information Services (NIS) for UNIX-based clients. SAN File System does not restrict how authentication is performed, but it does require that all Windows-based clients share a common definition of users and roles, and that all UNIX-based clients share a common domain (definition of users and groups). SAN File System does perform authorization for file access.
All systems that host a metadata server should be part of the shared domain. This makes it easier to perform client-based activities.
Parent topic: Clients
Parent topic: Planning the client configuration