Connecting to a DBM
Connections to DBMs are made through net daemons that serve the DBMs. Each DBM -- Authenticator, Authorizer, Reflector -- has
a separate pair of net deamons that serve it.
One net daemon provides a plain text interface to the DBM; the other, an SSL interface.
Net Daemon Names
The net daemons take their names from a suffix formed from the DBM's standard abbreviation and the "netd" prefix.
- The authenticator net daemon is named "authcnetd".
- The Authorizer net daemon is named "authznetd".
- The Reflector net daemon is named "reflnetd".
Ports
This is the list of ports for the net daemons. In the list, the plain text port for a DBMs net daemon will have the DBM's abbreviation as its service name; the SSL port, the DBM's abbreviation with an 's' suffix. Examples:
authcs -- the service name for the authenticator's SSL port
refl -- the service name for the reflector's plain text port
Internet Protocol
All net daemons communicate via TCP/IP.
I2A2 Hosts
Currently all net daemons may be reached at the Internet host name dbm.i2a2.purdue.edu.
Making a Connection
To make a connection to a net daemon, use the specified I2A2 host name and the desired DBM net daemon service name or port, open an AF_INET SOCK_STREAM socket, and use your system's TCP socket API to make the connection.
SSL Connection
An SSL connection to a net daemon follows the rules already given for port and Internet protocol. The additional work
necessary for the SSL protocol must be supplied by an external library, like the one from the
OpenSSL Project. The I2A2 documentation on the
Apache Web Server includes
information on building and installing the OpenSSL library.
To use SSL for connecting to the net daemon, you will need a copy of the public certificate of the Purdue Certificate
authority. Check
here for information on how to get it.