Towards a deployable framework for delegation of authority in network applications

Abstract

The Delegation Framework is a collection of programs, network protocols and library interfaces that provide fine-grained delegation of authority to network systems. The design and implementation of the Delegation Framework focus on addressing some of the stumbling blocks that have prevented delegation systems from becoming widely deployed in real world network applications. The Delegation Framework makes it possible to integrate delegation into an existing client-server network application without modification to the network application protocol. A dynamic library interposition implementation also make it possible to integrate delegation into large classes of legacy client and service programs with minimal or no manual source code modification. An integration case study describes the process of grafting the Delegation Framework onto a simple Apache- and MySQL-based network application and analyzes the added overhead incurred by the application.