Implementation Guide › Architectural Considerations › Implementation Considerations › Identify Authentication Methods

Identify Authentication Methods

SiteMinder supports multiple authentication methods to meet the varying levels of protection your resources require:

After you identify the applications to secure, in which we recommend identifying sets of resources (URLs) that share the same security requirements, consider the following questions:

• Are their authentication guidelines, regulations, or laws your organization is required to meet for specific types of resources?
• How sensitive and valuable is the information?
• What types of users are accessing this information?
• What type of security do these users expect?

Answering these types of questions helps you to

• Identify the authentication methods your environment requires
• Identify the authentication schemes a SiteMinder Administrator must configure to protect a specific resource.

  Note: For more information about configuring authentication schemes, see the Policy Server Configuration Guide.

When gathering information about each resource, we recommend organizing your information by the applications you plan on securing. For example, the following table assumes that an application is grouped into individual domains and realms, as detailed in applications to secure.