All instances of ASPEN programs on the user’s network must utilize a single application DB account to access the Application DB on the backend database server. For normal operations, the programs require the Application account to have full Select/Insert/Update/Delete access privileges to all tables in the application DB. Elevated access rights of Add/Drop/Alter tables are also required when users want to perform database setup and administration operations using the built-in administration tools included in the ASPEN software package.
ASPEN programs establish the data connection to the backend server using the Application DB account login credentials that users have already stored in encrypted form in a disk file. The Password encoder tool included in the ASPEN software package employs a double-layer encryption method, consisting of the standard AES-256 encryption algorithm and the ASPEN proprietary encryption algorithm.
When logging in to the ASPEN programs, users must also always provide their own user name and password (Application login credentials). ASPEN programs authenticate that Application login credentials using one of the following methods: built-in authentication, Windows authentication. When the built-in authentication method is selected, the program compares the application password entered by the user to the one already stored in encrypted form in a table in the application DB. When Windows authentication is selected, the programs execute necessary Windows Active directory API calls to verify the login name and password entered by the users. The programs will allow users to proceed when and only when the authentication is successful. The programs are designed to enforce the data access level and operations according to the policy the application administrators have defined for the group to which the authenticated user belongs.
NOTE: When the ASPEN Programs are set up to use with a MS SQL DB Server backend, the Application DB account can only connect to the server through the “SQL Server Authentication”. Connecting to the Application DB MS SQL DB server account through Windows Authentication would require the MS SQL DB server admin to grant the full access rights to all tables to each individual users in the organization who want to use the ASPEN programs, which will make it impossible for the programs to enforce the application-defined data access and operations policy for the program users.