Security context passing for stateless system management

The method of claim 2 further comprising:

• receiving a second request from the user to browse a second node in the object graph;
• obtaining an automation principal for the second node;
• obtaining a credential for the automation principal for the second node;
• connecting to the second node using the credential for the second node;
• browsing the second node;
• and
• displaying a second result to the user.

A method for an access control system, comprising:

• selecting, from a database, a managed system;
• selecting, from the database, a role for accessing the managed system;
• selecting, from the database, an automation principal for the managed system;
• creating an association that associates the automation principal with the role and the managed system;
• and
• storing the association in the database.

A networked configuration management system, comprising:

• a configuration management station;
• and
• a managed system monitored by the configuration management station, wherein the configuration management station comprises:
• a processing unit configured to accept a request to act on the managed system;
• an authorization unit, coupled to the processing unit, configured to manage access to the configuration management system;
• an impersonation unit, coupled to the processing unit, configured to manage connections to the managed system to impersonate a native security principal;
• and
• a storage device, coupled to the processing unit, for storing configuration settings of the authorization unit and the impersonation unit.