Initializing the Security Provider

This section describes how applications-level protocols initialize and use the Security Support Provider Interface. The section describes various stages of a secure network connection setup. The stages include:

• Initializing the SSPI
• Establishing an authenticated connection
• Ensuring communication integrity during message exchange
• "Security quality of service" to service a client request

These stages are described in the following sections.

Initializing the SSPI

Both the client and server use the same sequence of operations to initialize the security provider and select the appropriate security package.

Initializing the security interface involves the following steps:

• Load the security provider DLL
• Get a pointer to the provider initialization function
• Use the initialization function to get a reference to the provider's security function table
• Get specific information about the security package, such as the maximum token size

The security function table contains the SSPI entry points for the security package. The function table is used to invoke the calls implemented by the security package.