1.1 Glossary

This document uses the following terms:

authentication: The act of proving an identity to a server while providing key material that binds the identity to subsequent communications.

authentication mode: One of several modes in which an authentication exchange may be performed.

cookie: A small data file that is stored on a user's computer and carries state information between participating protocol servers and protocol clients.

forms authentication: An authentication method in which protocol clients redirect unauthenticated requests to an HTML form by using HTTP. If the protocol client authenticates the request, the system issues a cookie that stores the credentials or a key for reacquiring the identity. In subsequent requests, the cookie is submitted in request headers and the requests are authenticated and authorized by an ASP.NET event handler that uses the validation method that is specified by the protocol client.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML): An application of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) that uses tags to mark elements in a document, as described in [HTML].

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): An application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS): An extension of HTTP that securely encrypts and decrypts web page requests. In some older protocols, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Sockets Layer" is still used (Secure Sockets Layer has been deprecated). For more information, see [SSL3] and [RFC5246].

Internet Information Services (IIS): The services provided in Windows implementation that support web server functionality. IIS consists of a collection of standard Internet protocol servers such as HTTP and FTP in addition to common infrastructures that are used by other Microsoft Internet protocol servers such as SMTP, NNTP, and so on. IIS has been part of the Windows operating system in some versions and a separate install package in others. IIS version 5.0 shipped as part of Windows 2000 operating system, IIS version 5.1 as part of Windows XP operating system, IIS version 6.0 as part of Windows Server 2003 operating system, and IIS version 7.0 as part of Windows Vista operating system and Windows Server 2008 operating system.

replay attack: An attempt to circumvent an authentication protocol by copying authentication messages from a legitimate protocol client and resending them to the protocol server during an authentication process.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): A security protocol that supports confidentiality and integrity of messages in client and server applications that communicate over open networks. SSL supports server and, optionally, client authentication using X.509 certificates [X509] and [RFC5280]. SSL is superseded by Transport Layer Security (TLS). TLS version 1.0 is based on SSL version 3.0 [SSL3].

SOAP: A lightweight protocol for exchanging structured information in a decentralized, distributed environment. SOAP uses XML technologies to define an extensible messaging framework, which provides a message construct that can be exchanged over a variety of underlying protocols. The framework has been designed to be independent of any particular programming model and other implementation-specific semantics. SOAP 1.2 supersedes SOAP 1.1. See [SOAP1.2-1/2003].

SOAP action: The HTTP request header field used to indicate the intent of the SOAP request, using a URI value. See [SOAP1.1] section 6.1.1 for more information.

SOAP body: A container for the payload data being delivered by a SOAP message to its recipient. See [SOAP1.2-1/2007] section 5.3 for more information.

SOAP fault: A container for error and status information within a SOAP message. See [SOAP1.2-1/2007] section 5.4 for more information.

SOAP message: An XML document consisting of a mandatory SOAP envelope, an optional SOAP header, and a mandatory SOAP body. See [SOAP1.2-1/2007] section 5 for more information.

ticket: A record generated by the key distribution center (KDC) that helps a client authenticate to a service. It contains the client's identity, a unique cryptographic key for use with this ticket (the session key), a time stamp, and other information, all sealed using the service's secret key. It only serves to authenticate a client when presented along with a valid authenticator.

Transport Layer Security (TLS): A security protocol that supports confidentiality and integrity of messages in client and server applications communicating over open networks. TLS supports server and, optionally, client authentication by using X.509 certificates (as specified in [X509]). TLS is standardized in the IETF TLS working group.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL): A string of characters in a standardized format that identifies a document or resource on the World Wide Web. The format is as specified in [RFC1738].

web application: A container in a configuration database that stores administrative settings and entry-point URLs for site collections.

Web Services Description Language (WSDL): An XML format for describing network services as a set of endpoints that operate on messages that contain either document-oriented or procedure-oriented information. The operations and messages are described abstractly and are bound to a concrete network protocol and message format in order to define an endpoint. Related concrete endpoints are combined into abstract endpoints, which describe a network service. WSDL is extensible, which allows the description of endpoints and their messages regardless of the message formats or network protocols that are used.

website: A group of related pages and data within a SharePoint site collection. The structure and content of a site is based on a site definition. Also referred to as SharePoint site and site.

Windows Live ID: A web-based service that enables participating sites to authenticate a user with a single set of credentials.

WSDL operation: A single action or function of a web service. The execution of a WSDL operation typically requires the exchange of messages between the service requestor and the service provider.

XML namespace: A collection of names that is used to identify elements, types, and attributes in XML documents identified in a URI reference [RFC3986]. A combination of XML namespace and local name allows XML documents to use elements, types, and attributes that have the same names but come from different sources. For more information, see [XMLNS-2ED].

XML namespace prefix: An abbreviated form of an XML namespace, as described in [XML].

MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.