Credentials Management for Authentication in a Grid-Based E-Learning Platform

The users of Grid-based e-learning platforms must be able to use any standard Web browser to access the e-learning and Grid resources through a Grid Portal, at any time, from any location. Standard Web security protocols, employed between a Web client and server, do not support delegation and, due to this constraint, Grid Portals are forced to give the portal special privileges to act on users´ behalf on the Grid. We solved this problem by integration of the Grid authentication mechanisms with the capabilities of Web servers using an online credential repository, called MyProxy server. Our development provides a complete and concise solution for the problem of credentials management and delegation for trusted access of users to the e-learning resources, including Grid services.