Ingres Net allows access to databases on local or remote nodes. Users can only access data for which they are authorized.

Ingres Net can be configured to allow users access to remote nodes directly (through an installation password) or by providing a user name and password. The user name and password can be authenticated by the DBMS (if the server has DBMS authentication enabled), or against a local OS user account. The password is encrypted as it is sent across the network.

Ingres Net allows you to set up an Installation Password to authorize access to a server installation from a remote client installation without setting up an operating system account on the server; the user retains his identity as defined on the client instance.

The main advantage of using installation passwords is that users on the client do not require a login account on the server.

A valid Ingres user object must be created in the master database using the same operating system user ID as on the remote client. OS authentication is done on the remote client, where the user must have a login and password.

For details of Ingres Net setup, see the Connectivity Guide.

In some environments, Ingres uses the ingvalidpw program (see page 1) to validate user passwords. Ingvalidpw is used depending on the requirements of the platform where the password is validated. For example, the DBMS Server uses the ingvalidpw program to validate shadow passwords on UNIX or to enforce C2 security in some UNIX environments.

Ingvalidpw is used for authentication against OS users; it is not used when DBMS authentication is enabled.