= Blueprint for Authentication, Authorization & Accounting =

'''Authentication''' is the act of establishing or confirming someone's identity.[[BR]]
'''Authorization''' is the concept of allowing access to resources only to those permitted to use them.[[BR]]
'''Accounting''' refers to the tracking of user actions - an audit trail.

== Authentication ==
!SahanaPy currently authenticates on email address/password.[[BR]]
- this is the method supported by default in Web2Py (Auth class in {{{gluon/tools.py}}}).

The default configuration is that Self-Registration is enabled.[[BR]]
This can be easily disabled via a single setting in the s3_setting table.

The email address is currently not verified.[[BR]]
- this should be fixed. Web2Py supports this: {{{auth.settings.mailer=mail}}}

Web2Py also supports [http://recaptcha.net Recaptcha].

Sahana2 supports OpenID (as does Launchpad), so that would be good to support & looks easy:
 * https://rpxnow.com/
 * http://openidenabled.com/python-openid/

== Authorization ==
We want to be able to provide a simple way of setting the overall security policy - allowing for flexible deployment options.
 * Anonymous access is granted for all Read operations, with Create/Update/Delete requiring a user to be Authenticated
 * Anonymous access isn't granted for anything - all access requires a user to be Authenticated
 * Modules able to be restricted by Role membership
 * Tables able to be restricted by Role membership
  * C/R/U/D permissions distinct
 * Records able to be restricted by Role membership
  * C/R/U/D permissions distinct

It should be possible to completely disable the ability to Delete records (instead they would be marked as 'Inactive'. Inactive records can be archived). This is for Audit purposes.[[BR]]
Marking as inactive should be done using a date field instead of a simple boolean since then records can be set to expire.

Sahana2 specifications:
 * Proposed Trunk: http://wiki.sahana.lk/doku.php?id=dev:new_acl
 * Current Stable: http://wiki.sahana.lk/doku.php?id=dev:security
 * Old: http://wiki.sahana.lk/doku.php?id=dev:authorization
(NB The Vol module currently uses a separate method)

We also want to look at whether we should link the {{{auth_user}}} table with the [BluePrintPersonRegistry Person Registry]'s person table

The admin role is pre-defined during initialisation in {{{_db.py}}} (The first user to register will have this role by default):
{{{
table = 'auth_group'
# 1st-run initialisation
if not len(db().select(db[table].ALL)):
    auth.add_group('Administrator',description='System Administrator - can access & make changes to any data')
    # 1st person created will be System Administrator (can be changed later)
    auth.add_membership(1,1)
}}}

Additional roles such as Country/Regional Admin, Organisation/Office/Camp Admin are set within the GIS/OR/CR modules respectively.

=== Implementation ===
S3 builds on the default Web2Py Auth system (in {{{gluon/tools.py}}}):
 * DeveloperGuidelinesAuthenticationAccess

There are 2 modes for Authorisation right now:[[BR]]
 * simple: Anonymous access is currently granted for all Read operations, with Create/Update/Delete requiring a user to be Authenticated
 * full: Uses Web2Py's Role-Based Access Control for table-level control (can be separated for C/R/U/D)
 * Record-level security to be integrated: http://groups.google.com/group/web2py/browse_thread/thread/e4b54f08ec6b66f9

NB 'full' mode requires each permission to be explicitly granted, so we default to having all registered users as 'Readers' & only 'Administrators' being able to Create/Update/Delete. Administrators can manually add other users to 'Editors' if-required.[[BR]]
Modules can provide further restrictions in {{{models/zzz.py}}}

Whether a user is authorised or not is defined using {{{has_permission()}}} in {{{models/__db.py}}} & called by the [wiki:BluePrintREST RESTlike controller]

We use {{{sahana_group}}} table for Roles & {{{sahana_membership}}} to show which roles a user has.
 * admin role initialised in {{{_db.py}}}
 * 1st user to register gets Administrator role

We expose this as s3.roles so that it is accessible to Controllers & Views.[[BR]]
e.g.
 * {{{appadmin.py}}}
 * {{{layout.html}}}

User maintenance can be done via appadmin until we develop our own UI:
 * ConfigurationGuidelines#Roles

=== Links ===
 * J2EE: Working with Realms, Users, Groups, and Roles: http://java.sun.com/javaee/5/docs/tutorial/doc/bnbxj.html
 * Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAA_protocol
 * Zope uses: {{{has_permission(permission_name, view_or_controller)}}} and/or {{{user.has_role(custom_role)}}} methods

== Accounting ==
STATUS: Complete apart from needing to get new_values back from the form after processing.[[BR]]
The solution hooks the [wiki:BluePrintREST RESTlike controller] so anything which bypasses that is not logged (unless using the T2 fields: {{{created_by}}}, {{{updated_by}}}).[[BR]]

To do more would require patching the DAL.

Events can be audited at the Global level or the per-Module level.

Most auditing wins, so if the Global is True, then all Modules will Log. If Global is False then Modules have control & can selectively enable it.

Global settings are defined in {{{s3_settings}}} table.[[BR]]
Per-Module settings are defined in {{{module_settings}}} table.[[BR]]
Each defines 2 levels of Auditing - Audit just Changes (C/U/D), or also Reads:
  * {{{audit_read}}}
  * {{{audit_write}}}

These are passed to the session for use in controllers/displays:
  * {{{session.s3.audit_read}}}
  * {{{session.s3.audit_write}}}

For now this is configured via appadmin, although we should later make a nicer UI which has a single checkbox for 'Enable Auditing'.
This then opens up a two checkboxes:
 * Global
 * Module-specific

If each is ticked, this sets the {{{audit_write}}} & opens up an extra checkbox for 'Enable Auditing of Reads' (sets {{{audit_read}}}).

NB Web2Py's Auth now includes it's own auth_events table with granular logging options, so we may wish to make use of this.

We also have a bug whereby creations from listadd forms aren't getting recorded!

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BluePrints