Single Sign On Overview

People working in business run several applications each day, often at the same time. More applications means more complexity for users and administrators.

To access a typical enterprise application, a user must enter a valid username and password. Then, with each application running (in a separate window), it can be a hassle for a user to manage the information as they may have to enter a different login for each application. This can be difficult for the application administrators as well. It can be costly and difficult to manage password stores for multiple applications. To add or delete a user or change a password, an administrator must make changes for each application.

Oracle Application Server provides two components that developers can use to simplify an enterprise computing environment:

• Oracle Single Sign-On enables authentication to all appropriate applications by entering a user name and password once, and centralizes administration of login combinations for all users.
• Oracle Portal integrates data from diverse sources. Oracle9iAS Portal pages render content in regions called portlets that display data from other Web sites and applications

Single Sign-On

Oracle SSP enables users to log in to multiple Web-based applications using a single username and password, and provides the following benefits:

• Reduced administrative costs associated with supporting multiple accounts and passwords for each user.
• Increased security, because when the password is only required once, users are less likely to use simple, easy-to-crack passwords or write them down.
• Convenient login experience, because users do not need to maintain a separate username and password for each application they access.

More information about SSO can be found on the Oracle Site at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/sample_code/products/iportal/htdocs/sso/ssoover.html