# MaxScale Authentication

## Overview

In MariaDB MaxScale, authenticators perform the following tasks:

* Authenticating clients that connect to MaxScale
* Authenticating connections to back-end MariaDB Enterprise Server and MariaDB Xpand nodes
* Deciding how authentication should be performed

## Authenticators Supported by MaxScale

* [GSSAPI Authenticator](https://mariadb.com/docs/maxscale/reference/maxscale-authenticators/maxscale-gssapi-client-authenticator)
* [Native Authenticator](https://mariadb.com/docs/maxscale/reference/maxscale-authenticators/maxscale-mariadb-mysql-authenticator)
* [PAM Authenticator](https://mariadb.com/docs/maxscale/reference/maxscale-authenticators/maxscale-pam-authenticator)
* [PARSEC Authenticator](https://mariadb.com/docs/maxscale/reference/maxscale-authenticators/maxscale-parsec-authenticator)
* [ed25519 Authenticator](https://mariadb.com/docs/maxscale/reference/maxscale-authenticators/maxscale-ed25519-authenticator)