As a component in the eDirectory™ infrastructure, the Novell® SecretStore™ service is designed to securely store sensitive data such as user IDs, passwords, biometrics, and other login credentials—all commonly called secrets.
After secrets are safely stored in eDirectory, single sign-on services (such as Novell SecureLogin, Novell iChain, and Novell Portal Services, and third-party applications) can access and use these credentials on behalf of the authenticated user. SecretStore also protects the methods of storing, accessing, and retrieving these secrets.
Novell SecretStore version 3.2 has undergone a major upgrade, with numerous modifications to its client APIs, client and server platforms, and supported transport protocols. Among other things, it has been enhanced to support LDAP cross-platform access based on Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to make the service available on all eDirectory-supported client and server platforms.
Originally, Novell Single Sign-on (NSSO) version 1.0 provided single sign-on access for a limited number of key applications that were used primarily in intranet environments. Version 2.x, bundled with Passlogix v-GO*, expanded the functionality to most Web sites and Windows-based applications, with limited support for terminal emulators.
In June 2001, Novell released Novell SecureLogin 2.5 (NSL), an interim single sign-on solution that provided enhanced features of NSSO 2.x but lacked integration with several key Novell technologies (SecretStore, NMAS™, NICI, etc.). Consequently, Novell introduced Novell SecureLogin 3.0 during Fall 2001, when it combined features of both NSSO and NSL and full integration with Novell security technologies. NSL 3.0 was fully integrated with the SecretStore API described in this document and supersedes earlier versions.
With the February 2002 NDK release, the name of the API was changed from Novell Single Sign-on for C to Novell SecretStore Developer Kit for C, stressing the SecretStore functionality that facilitates the single sign-on process for various applications. Novell is now labelling and branding SecretStore components separately from the products that consume them.
Although Novell Single Sign-on was the first Novell product that used SecretStore technology, a number of Novell products now consume the SecretStore methods described in this document (for example, Novell SecureLogin, Novell iChain, Novell Portal Services (NPS), Novell DirXML®, and virtual CDs (VCD).