docs/topics/impala_authentication.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<!DOCTYPE concept PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Concept//EN" "concept.dtd">
<concept id="authentication">

  <title>Impala Authentication</title>
  <prolog>
    <metadata>
      <data name="Category" value="Security"/>
      <data name="Category" value="Impala"/>
      <data name="Category" value="Authentication"/>
      <data name="Category" value="Administrators"/>
    </metadata>
  </prolog>

  <conbody>

    <p>
      Authentication is the mechanism to ensure that only specified hosts and users can connect to Impala. It also
      verifies that when clients connect to Impala, they are connected to a legitimate server. This feature
      prevents spoofing such as <term>impersonation</term> (setting up a phony client system with the same account
      and group names as a legitimate user) and <term>man-in-the-middle attacks</term> (intercepting application
      requests before they reach Impala and eavesdropping on sensitive information in the requests or the results).
    </p>

    <p>
      Impala supports authentication using either Kerberos or LDAP.
    </p>
    <p>
      You can also make proxy connections to Impala through Apache Knox.
    </p>

    <note conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/authentication_vs_authorization"/>

    <p outputclass="toc"/>

    <p>
      Once you are finished setting up authentication, move on to authorization, which involves specifying what
      databases, tables, HDFS directories, and so on can be accessed by particular users when they connect through
      Impala. See <xref href="impala_authorization.xml#authorization"/> for details.
    </p>
  </conbody>
</concept>