Ubuntu Manpage: dacs_admin - DACS administration service

Provided by: dacs_1.4.28b-3ubuntu2_amd64

NAME

       dacs_admin - DACS administration service

SYNOPSIS


       dacs_admin [dacsoptions[1]]

DESCRIPTION

This program is part of the DACS suite.

The dacs_admin web service is a tool for administering various DACS resources at a jurisdiction.
Providing both a browser-based interface and a simple, REST-oriented[2] HTTP interface that can be used
by middleware, scripts, and web browsers, dacs_admin allows inspection (and sometimes modification) of a
jurisdiction's access control rules, configuration directives, group definitions, DACS user accounts,
revocation list, version information, authorization cache, DACS log files, user tracking records, and
more. An administrator can manage a different jurisdiction simply by aiming a browser or other HTTP
client at that jurisdiction's dacs_admin web service.

Probably the best way to understand the tool is to simply use it interactively to browse through a
jurisdiction's resources.

Security

This web service provides a way to view and change security-related DACS configuration, DACS
passwords, and so on. The default access control rule denies all access to the web service - you must
add a custom rule to enable access. All functionality should be restricted to an ADMIN_IDENTITY[3].

Notes

• Some features of this program may require JavaScript to be enabled in the browser.

• dacs_admin will eventually unify and replace several existing different DACS administrative web
services. It may also include federation-wide functions, such as the capability of adding a new
jurisdiction.

Web Service Arguments
The following web service argument is always recognized:

FORMAT
By default, output is emitted in HTML. Several varieties of XML output can be selected, however,
using the FORMAT argument (please refer to dacs(1)[4]).

Resources and Methods
The interface provided by dacs_admin allows various DACS resources to be examined and modified using
standard HTTP methods (see RFC 2616[5]). Not all DACS resources may be accessible using dacs_admin and
not all methods may be valid for some resources.

In keeping with the REST architectural style, every persistent resource is identified by a URI (RFC
2396[6] and RFC 3986[7]). Invoking the GET method on https://www.example.com/cgi-bin/dacs/dacs_admin, for
example, will (assuming appropriate configuration and permission) return a list of root-level resources
managed by dacs_admin.

Invoking the GET method on a resource either returns a listing (by default, formatted as an HTML list or
table) or an unadorned value (by default, formatted as an HTML encoded string). For instance, this URL
might return a list of configuration directives and their current values:

https://www.example.com/cgi-bin/dacs/dacs_admin/conf/current

while this URL might return the current value of a particular configuration directive:

https://www.example.com/cgi-bin/dacs/dacs_admin/conf/current/AUTH_SUCCESS

The functionality of dacs_admin is described in terms of resources and methods supported on those
resources. Depending on the particular service request, the result consists of an HTTP status code
(usually "200 OK", "201 Created", "400 Bad Request", or "404 Not Found"), and possibly an HTML or XML
document (selectable). The XML document is described by dacs_admin.dtd[8].

Arguments are passed in the query part of a URI. Unrecognized and context-inappropriate arguments are
silently ignored.

OPTIONS

       Only the standard dacsoptions[1] command line arguments are recognized.

FILES

       dacs_admin.css[9]

DIAGNOSTICS

       The program exits 0 if everything was fine, 1 if an error occurred.

AUTHOR

       Distributed Systems Software (www.dss.ca[18])

COPYING

       Copyright2003-2012 Distributed Systems Software. See the LICENSE[19] file that accompanies the
       distribution for licensing information.

NOTES

        1. dacsoptions
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.1.html#dacsoptions

        2. REST-oriented
           http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl

        3. ADMIN_IDENTITY
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.conf.5.html#ADMIN_IDENTITY

        4. dacs(1)
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.1.html

        5. RFC 2616
           http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt

        6. RFC 2396
           http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt

        7. RFC 3986
           http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt

        8. dacs_admin.dtd
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/../dtd-xsd/dacs_admin.dtd

        9. dacs_admin.css
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man//css/dacs_admin.css

       10. dacsacl(1)
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacsacl.1.html

       11. dacspasswd(1)
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacspasswd.1.html

       12. dacs.acls(5)
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs.acls.5.html

       13. dacs_conf(8)
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs_conf.8.html

       14. dacs_group(8)
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs_group.8.html

       15. dacs_list_jurisdictions(8)
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs_list_jurisdictions.8.html

       16. dacs_passwd(8)
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs_passwd.8.html

       17. dacs_version(8)
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/dacs_version.8.html

       18. www.dss.ca
           http://www.dss.ca

       19. LICENSE
           http://dacs.dss.ca/man/../misc/LICENSE

DACS 1.4.28b                                       04/07/2016                                      DACS_ADMIN(8)