Authentication Models

PostgreSQL supports various authentication models to control access, including trust (no password, for secure environments), password-based (md5 and scram-sha-256 for hashed passwords), GSSAPI and SSPI (Kerberos for secure single sign-on), LDAP (centralized user management), certificate-based (SSL certificates for strong authentication), PAM (leveraging OS-managed authentication), Ident (verifying OS user names), and RADIUS (centralized authentication via RADIUS servers). These methods are configured in the pg_hba.conf file, specifying the appropriate authentication method for different combinations of databases, users, and client addresses, ensuring flexible and secure access control.

Learn more from the following resources:

• @official@Authentication Methods
• @article@An Introduction to Authorization and Authentication in PostgreSQL