How RACF meets security needs

RACF® helps meet your needs for security by providing the ability to:

Identify and verify users
Authorize users to access the protected resources
Control the means of access to resources
Log and report attempts to access protected resources
Administer security to meet an installation's security goals

RACF provides these functions when the installation defines the users and the resources to be protected.

A specific RACF user, called the security administrator, has the responsibility to define users and resources to RACF. The security administrator sets down the guidelines that RACF uses to decide the user-resource interaction within the installation.

The responsibility to implement the guidelines falls to the system programmer, who provides technical support for RACF. The system programmer installs RACF on the system and maintains the RACF database. This person oversees the programming aspects of system protection and provides technical input on the feasibility of the implementation plan. In addition, the technical support person writes, installs, and tests RACF installation exit routines.

RACF retains information about the users, resources, and access authorities in profiles on the RACF database and refers to the profiles when deciding which users should be permitted access to protected system resources.