Zanzibar is a research project by Google that focuses on authorization for complex systems. While we can provide a brief overview of Zanzibar, it is important to note that it is a complex and in-depth topic. Below is a high-level tutorial outline to help you get started with Zanzibar:
Table of contents
- Understand the basics
- Setup and installation
- Define your system’s access control requirements
- Define your policy language
- Implement the Policy Compiler
- Implement the Policy Decision Point (PDP)
- Integrate with your system
- Test and refine
- Conclusion
Understand the basics
Familiarize yourself with the core concepts of Zanzibar, such as the
- Policy Language
- Policy Compiler, and
- Policy Decision Point (PDP).
Read the Zanzibar research paper(here and here) to gain a deeper understanding of its design principles and architecture.
Setup and installation
Zanzibar is not a ready-to-use software package, but a conceptual framework. To explore Zanzibar, you need to create your own implementation or experiment based on the research paper.
Start by setting up a development environment in your preferred programming language. Zanzibar’s core concepts can be implemented using various technologies.
Define your system’s access control requirements
Understand the access control requirements of your system and how they align with Zanzibar’s authorization model.
Identify the entities, resources, actions, and policies that need to be modeled in your system.
Define your policy language
Design and implement a policy language that represents the authorization policies of your system.
Specify the syntax and semantics of the policy language, including rules for evaluating conditions and making access control decisions.
Implement the Policy Compiler
Develop a Policy Compiler that translates the policy language into executable rules or data structures.
The Policy Compiler is responsible for generating the necessary code or data structures used by the PDP for policy evaluation.
Implement the Policy Decision Point (PDP)
Implement the Policy Decision Point, which is the component responsible for making access control decisions based on the compiled policies and incoming authorization requests.
The PDP should evaluate the policies and return allow or deny decisions based on the request context.
Integrate with your system
Integrate the Zanzibar components into your existing system or framework.
Design the integration points for requesting authorization decisions and enforcing access control based on the responses.
Test and refine
Test your implementation to ensure it meets the desired authorization requirements.
Iterate on your implementation, refine the policy language, and make adjustments as needed.
Conclusion
Zanzibar is a research project, and building a complete and robust authorization system based on its concepts requires significant effort and expertise. The tutorial outline provided here serves as a starting point, and you should dive into the research paper and explore further resources and examples to gain a deeper understanding and successfully implement Zanzibar in your own project.