What is AAA? (107/285 technotes for 2015)

AAA - stands for 

• Authentication
• Authorization
• Auditing

Datapower makes clear separation of processing of all three in a loosely coupled way.

The steps for AAA are:

1. Extract identity (EI) claim - such as username /password from HTTP basic authentication.
2. Extract resource (ER) - such as Web services URL being accessed.
3. Authenticates (AU) the extracted identity - with either an on-board / off-board identity server - LDAP
4. Map Credentials (MC)- using rewrite rules
5. Map Resource (MR) - mapped using rewrite rules
6. Authorize (AU)- submit to a policy server for authorization.
7. Post Processing (PP) - audit

References: 

Datapower Architectural Design Patterns -Integrating and Securing Services Across Domains -   http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247620.html?Open