Authentication

Platform LSF programming is distributed programming. Since Platform LSF services are provided network-wide, it is important for Platform LSF to deliver the service without compromising the system security.

Platform LSF supports several user authentication protocols. Support for these protocols are described in Administering Platform LSF. Your Platform LSF administrator can configure the Platform LSF cluster to use any of the supported protocols.

Only those Platform LSF API function calls that operate on user jobs, user data, or Platform LSF servers require authentication. Function calls that return information about the system do not need to be authenticated.

The most commonly used authentication protocol, the privileged port protocol, requires that load sharing applications be installed as setuid programs. This means that your application has to be owned by root with the setuid bit set. .

If you need to frequently change and re-link your applications with Platform LSF API, you can consider using the ident protocol which does not require applications to be setuid programs.