Apple Training Series Mac OS X Server Essentials, Second Edition

109

Authentication is the process by which a person identifies which user

account he or she will use on the system. This is similar to, but slightly dif-

ferent from, saying that authentication is how a person proves his or her

identity to a system. This distinction is useful because multiple people may

share the same user name and password, or one person may have multiple

user accounts on the same system. In each case, the name and password

identify which user account the person wants to use, assuming the name

and password are entered correctly. While there are other methods of

authenticating a user account, such as smart cards or voice print, a name

and password are the most common (and are assumed for this lesson).

Authorization is the process that ...