Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)

Abstract

Anand Chavali (M.S., Telecommunications) Implementing Role-based Authorization capabilities in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Thesis directed by Professor Douglas SickerThis thesis presents an approach to providing role-based authorization capabilities for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). SIP defines various methods for performing authentication. Authorization, however, is not defined explicitly and is generally based on identity. This does not scale well in multi-domain scenarios. In order to facilitate a greater level of granularity and scalability for authorization in SIP, new mechanisms need to be defined. This thesis describes the implementation of role-based authorization capabilities as part of a federation.Federation, or federated management, is an approach where domains share the responsibility of controlling access to their respective resources to users in similarly diverse domains. It is particularly suited to a multi-domain environment and is extremely scalable. Role-based authorization is a paradigm wherein authorization decisions are based on 'role(s)' asserted or assumed by a user rather than the identity of that user. Roles assigned to a user depend on the function performed by that user in the particular organization.