Security Namespace Entries

· principal
This type of entry contains an individual principal.

· principal directory
This type of entry contains individual principals or one or more principal directories, or both.

· group
This type of entry contains an individual group.

· group directory
This type of entry contains individual groups or one or more group directories, or both.

· org
This type of entry contains an individual organization.

· org directory
This type of entry contains individual organizations or one or more organization directories, or both.

· policy
This type of entry contains Security policy.

When you (or an application) are accessing an entry in the Security part of the namespace, the name of the entry alone provides enough information for the Security Service to work with. For example, the Security server knows that the login name is a principal name that is registered in the Security part of the namespace; /.:/principal_name, /.../cell_name/principal_name, and principal_name are all valid ways of representing the name you use to log in.

When you use the dcecp program, you specify the type of object you will operate on before you operate on it. For example, to change account information associated with the principal smith, you specify that you want to operate on a principal, and you then enter the principal name smith. The dcecp program deals with the following three types of objects:

· Principals

· Groups

· Organizations

The OSF DCE Administration Guide - Core Components explains how to use the dcecp program to display information related to principals, groups, organizations, and accounts.

In addition to objects registered in the Security space, the dcecp program operates on all objects in the namespace. To operate on these objects, the dcecp program requires the object's fully qualified path name, as shown in the following example:
/.:/sec/principal/smith

and not simply the following:
smith

The Security namespace consists of the following parts:

· /.:/sec/principal

· /.:/sec/group

· /.:/sec/org

· /.:/sec/policy