Clients who are trying to access Virtual Services on the LoadMaster will have to provide Authentication information which is used by the ESP to validate the clients’ right to access the service. In the event of success, the client is permitted to access the service, and in the event of failure the client is blocked until valid credentials are provided.

Persistent Logging and Reporting for User Logging

When clients try to access a service, an appropriate message is logged to allow monitoring by the administrator.

Single Sign-On Across Virtual Services

The LoadMaster is designed to handle multiple Virtual Services supporting unique workloads. Access to these services can be authenticated through a single point of contact, by associating them with the same Single Sign-On (SSO) Domain.

Note: The Virtual Services need to be on the same domain for this to work, for example ecp.example.com and www.example.com.

SSO in ESP will enable clients to only enter the authentication information when accessing the first Virtual Service and then this same information is used to access other services associated with the Single Sign-On Domain. Therefore, a client accessing Exchange will also be able to access SharePoint and other workloads if they are associated with the same Single Sign-On Domain.

LDAP Authentication from the LoadMaster to the Active Directory

Active Directory is the standard Authentication Provider for Microsoft workloads. LoadMaster will support the key connection types between the LoadMaster and the Active Directory.

Note: For instructions on how to set up the server-side configuration, please refer to the relevant vendor’s documentation.

Basic Authentication Communication from a Client to the LoadMaster

LoadMaster with ESP currently supports basic and form-based authentication between the client and the LoadMaster, providing clients with an optimum authentication experience.

Large and small businesses are deploying large numbers of internet-facing applications to support ever expanding business requirements. This rapidly growing number of servers needs to be scalable and highly reliable. Above all, the access to these servers and services needs to be secure. With the addition of ESP, the LoadMaster will continue to deliver on customer security requirements for internet facing applications in a world without Microsoft Forefront TMG, while continuing to address requirements for feature-rich and cost-effective scalability and high reliability.

Note: For instructions on how to set up the server-side configuration, please refer to the relevant vendor’s documentation.

Dual-factor Authentication

Some authentication mechanisms assume a dual-factor approach where both the Active Directory and a secondary mechanism are used in sequence. For these, the form includes the username, password and also a passcode which is checked after the username and password.