Stateless principal authentication and authorization in a distributed network

1. A computer-implemented method of performing stateless authentication and authorization in a distributed computer network having multiple tenants, comprising:

receiving, in an authentication and authorization service (AAS) component, a user request from each of a plurality of users to network clients from a client user for data access served by an application, wherein the request comprises respective user credentials;

providing each of the user credentials to an identity authenticator;

performing, in the AAS component, client authorization for each user validated by the identity authenticator;

encapsulating a lightweight data structure token with the client authorization by appending to a token header a plurality of payloads of one payload for each user, wherein a payload comprises a user name, a recipient identifier, token issuance and expiration times, and access rights for each respective user corresponding to the respective user credentials;

digitally signing the token header and plurality of payloads using a corresponding key specified in the header for each payload to form an encrypted token; and

transmitting the encrypted token to an application service that applies Role Based Access Control (RBAC) rules to the client authorization encapsulated in the token to decide whether to service or deny the user request from each of the plurality of users based on the access rights for each respective user encoded in the encrypted token.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the token comprises a lightweight JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) token in the form of a JSON web token (JWT).

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the JWT carries statements that are sets of claims made by one entity about another entity in the computer network.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the encrypted token is encoded as a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) object.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein each payload comprises at least one of three classes of JWT claim names including registered claim names, public claim names, and private claim names.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the digitally signing creates a signature that is used to validate the authenticity of the token.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the user credentials comprise user name and password, and wherein the identity authenticator is an external identity provider having access to a user identity database listing users and corresponding credentials.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the network comprises a cloud computing network, and wherein each of the user and other users comprises a user tenant in the distributed computer network, and wherein the application service is individually configured for each tenant to apply RBAC rules individually for each tenant.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein a principal receiving the encrypted token has access to each tenant and passes it to software components serving at least some of the tenants.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein each tenant has a different role defined by the RBAC, and wherein rules and policies defined in the RBAC are applied during the client authorization.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the distributed computer network comprises a database management system, and the user request comprises a query to data stored by one or more data sources in the distributed computer network.

12. A system having a stateless authentication and authorization service (AAS) in a distributed computer network having multiple tenants, comprising:

an AAS hardware component receiving a user request from each of a plurality of users to network clients from a client user for data access served by an application, wherein the request comprises respective user credentials transmitted to an external identity provider (EIP) for verification of each user, the AAS component further performing client authorization for each user verified by the DR and encapsulating a lightweight data structure token with the client authorization by appending to a token header a plurality of payloads of one payload for each user, wherein a payload comprises a user name, a recipient identifier, token issuance and expiration times, and access rights for each respective user corresponding to the respective user credentials, and digitally signing the token header and plurality of payloads using a corresponding key specified in the header for each payload to form an encrypted token, and

an interface of the AAS component transmitting the encrypted token to an application service that applies Role Based Access Control (RBAC) rules to the client authorization encapsulated in the token to decide whether to service or deny the user request from each of the plurality of users based on the access rights for each respective user encoded in the encrypted token.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the token comprises a lightweight JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) token in the form of a BON web token (JWT), the JWT carrying statements that are sets of claims made by one entity about another entity in the computer network.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the encrypted token is encoded as a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) object.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the user credentials comprise user name and password, and wherein the EIP is a third party having access to a user identity database listing users and corresponding credentials.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the network comprises a cloud computing network, and wherein each of the users comprises a user tenant in the system, and wherein the application service is individually configured for each tenant to apply RBAC rules individually for each tenant.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein a principal receiving the encrypted token has access to each tenant and passes it to software components serving at least some of the tenants.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein each tenant has a different role defined by the RBAC, and wherein rules and policies defined in the RBAC are applied by the authorization unit of the AAS.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein system comprises a database management system, and the user request comprises a query to data stored by one or more data sources in the system.

20. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by one or more processors to perform stateless authentication and authorization in a distributed computer network having multiple tenants, the non-transitory computer readable medium when executed by the one or more processors implementing a method comprising:

receiving, in an authentication and authorization service (AAS) hardware component, a user request from each of a plurality of users to network clients from a client user for data access served by an application, wherein the request comprises respective user credentials;

providing each of the user credentials to an identity authenticator;

performing, in the AAS hardware component, client authorization for the user validated by the identity authenticator;

encapsulating a lightweight data structure token with the client authorization by appending to a token header a plurality of payloads of one payload for each user, wherein a payload comprises a user name, a recipient identifier, token issuance and expiration times, and access rights for each respective user corresponding to the respective user credentials;

digitally signing the token header and plurality of payloads using a corresponding key specified in the header for each payload to form an encrypted token; and transmitting the encrypted token to an application service that applies Role Based Access Control (RBAC) rules to the client authorization encapsulated in the token to decide whether to service or deny the user request from each of the plurality of users based on the access rights for each respective user encoded in the encrypted token.