398 Introduction to the New Mainframe: z/VSE Basics
16.4.2 System Authorization Facility
The system authorization facility (SAF) was ported from the z/OS operating
system. It is part of the z/VSE operating system and provides the interfaces to
the callable services provided to perform authentication, authorization, and
logging.
SAF does not require any other product as a prerequisite, but overall system
security functions are greatly enhanced and complemented if it is used
concurrently with BSM. The key element in SAF is the SAF router. This router is
always present, even when BSM is not present.
The SAF router provides a common focal point for all products providing
resource control. This focal point encourages the use of common control
functions ...