Additional Resources

Installed Documentation

• The Kerberos V5 Installation Guide and the Kerberos V5 System Administrator's Guide in PostScript and HTML formats. These can be found in the /usr/share/doc/krb5-server-<version-number>/ directory (where <version-number> is the version number of the krb5-server package installed on your system).

• The Kerberos V5 UNIX User's Guide in PostScript and HTML formats. These can be found in the /usr/share/doc/krb5-workstation-<version-number>/ directory (where <version-number> is the version number of the krb5-workstation package installed on your system).

• Kerberos man pages - There are a number of man pages for the various applications and configuration files involved with a Kerberos implementation. The following is a list of some of the more important man pages.

  Client Applications

  • man kerberos - An introduction to the Kerberos system which describes how credentials work and provides recommendations for obtaining and destroying Kerberos tickets. The bottom of the man page references a number of related man pages.

• man kinit - Describes how to use this command to obtain and cache a ticket-granting ticket.
• man kdestroy - Describes how to use this command to destroy Kerberos credentials.
• man klist - Describes how to use this command to list cached Kerberos credentials.

Administrative Applications

• man kadmin - Describes how to use this command to administer the Kerberos V5 database.

• man kdb5_util - Describes how to use this command to create and perform low-level administrative functions on the Kerberos V5 database.

Server Applications

• man krb5kdc - Describes available command line options for the Kerberos V5 KDC.

• man kadmind - Describes available command line options for the Kerberos V5 administration server.

Configuration Files

• man krb5.conf - Describes the format and options available within the configuration file for the Kerberos V5 library.

• man kdc.conf - Describes the format and options available within the configuration file for the Kerberos V5 AS and KDC.

Useful Websites

• http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www/ - Kerberos: The Network Authentication Protocol webpage from MIT.

• http://www.nrl.navy.mil/CCS/people/kenh/kerberos-faq.html - The Kerberos Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

• ftp://athena-dist.mit.edu/pub/kerberos/doc/usenix.PS - The PostScript version of Kerberos: An Authentication Service for Open Network Systems by Jennifer G. Steiner, Clifford Neuman, and Jeffrey I. Schiller. This document is the original paper describing Kerberos.
• http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www/dialogue.html - Designing an Authentication System: a Dialogue in Four Scenes originally by Bill Bryant in 1988, modified by Theodore Ts'o in 1997. This document is a conversation between two developers who are thinking through the creation of a Kerberos-style authentication system. The conversational style of the discussion make this a good starting place for people who are completely unfamiliar with Kerberos.
• http://www.ornl.gov/~jar/HowToKerb.html - How to Kerberize your site is a good reference for kerberizing a network.
• http://www.networkcomputing.com/netdesign/kerb1.html - Kerberos Network Design Manual is a thorough overview of the Kerberos system.