Authentication is the process of verifying the identity of a user by obtaining the user's credentials. Hive has offered authentication since HiveServer2. In the previous HiveServer, if we could access the host/port over the network, we could access the data. In this case, the Hive Metastore Server can be used to authenticate thrift clients using Kerberos. As mentioned in Chapter 2, Setting Up the Hive Environment, it is strongly recommended to upgrade the Hive server to HiveServer2 in terms of security and reliability. In this section, we will briefly talk about authentication configurations in both Metastore Server and HiveServer2.
Note
Kerberos
Kerberos is a network authentication protocol developed by MIT as part of Project Athena. It uses time-sensitive tickets that are generated using symmetric key cryptography to securely authenticate a user in an unsecured network environment. Kerberos is derived from Greek mythology, where Kerberos was the three-headed dog that guarded...