Method for managing authentication procedures for a user

A program product comprising a computer useable storage medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform the method of:

• registering at an authentication manager different applications to which a user shall be given an authentication access by defining at the authentication manager a specific address identification allowing addressing the application specific authentication rules;
• logging the user to the authentication manager, the user requesting access to an application accessible by the authentication manager;
• determining whether the requested access to the application is an initial access to the application by the user;
• responsive to determining that the requested access to the application is an initial access to the application by the user, logging on to the application using a user credential assigned to the user by the application;
• responsive to successfully authenticating the user credential to the application, using the application specific address identification stored at the authentication manager to retrieve the application specific authentication rules for authenticating the user to the requested application, the application specific authentication rules defining how an authentication credential is to be created for authenticating the user to the application;
• creating the authentication credential while the application is inactive;
• generating a valid authentication according to the application specific authentication rules stored at the authentication manager by considering an existing authentication history, when an authentication at a remote application is considered outdated;
• updating a remote application with the generated valid authentication;
• and
• storing the generated valid authentication at the authentication manager.

A data processing system comprising:

• a data processor;
• and
• program code executable by the data processor to perform a method comprising:
• registering at an authentication manager different applications to which a user shall be given an authentication access by defining at the authentication manager a specific address identification allowing addressing the application specific authentication rules;
• logging the user to the authentication manager, the user requesting access to an application accessible by the authentication manager;
• determining whether the requested access to the application is an initial access to the application by the user;
• responsive to determining that the requested access to the application is an initial access to the application by the user, logging on to the application using a user credential assigned to the user by the application;
• responsive to successfully authenticating the user credential to the application, using the application specific address identification stored at the authentication manager to retrieve the application specific authentication rules for authenticating the user to the requested application, the application specific authentication rules defining how an authentication credential is to be created for authenticating the user to the application;
• creating the authentication credential while the application is inactive;
• generating a valid authentication according to the application specific authentication rules stored at the authentication manager by considering an existing authentication history, when an authentication at a remote application is considered outdated;
• updating a remote application with the generated valid authentication;
• and
• storing the generated valid authentication at the authentication manager.

A method for managing authentication procedures for a user having access to an application within a computing environment, the method comprising:

• registering at an authentication manager an application to which the user shall be given an authentication access by defining at the authentication manager a specific address identification allowing addressing application specific authentication rules for the application;
• logging the user to the authentication manager, the user requesting access to the application accessible by the authentication manager;
• determining whether the requested access to the application is an initial access to the application by the user;
• responsive to determining that the requested access to the application is an initial access to the application by the user, logging on to the application using a user credential assigned to the user by the application;
• responsive to successfully authenticating the user credential to the application, using the application specific address identification stored at the authentication manager to retrieve the application specific authentication rules for authenticating the user to the application, the application specific authentication rules defining how an authentication credential is to be created for authenticating the user to the application, and wherein the authentication manager is operable to create the authentication credential while the application is inactive;
• generating, by the authentication manager, the authentication credential for the application according to the application specific authentication rules stored at the authentication manager;
• updating the application with the generated authentication credential;
• storing the generated authentication credential at the authentication manager;
• and
• responsive to the generated authentication credential being considered outdated by the application, generating a new authentication credential by the authentication manager by considering an existing authentication history of the user to the application.