Creating Custom Authentication Providers

You can create custom authentication providers for User Management to use when authenticating users. This section explains how to use the User Management SPI. to create custom authentication providers that you can integrate with User Management.

Typically, user authentication can occur as shown in the following sequence:

1.	A user attempts to log into a LiveCycle ES service that invokes User Management. The user specifies a user name and password.

2.	User Management sends the user name and password, as well as configuration information, to the authentication provider.

3.	The authentication provider connects to the user store and authenticates the user.

4.	The authentication provider returns the results to User Management.

5.	User Management either lets the user log in or denies the user access to the service.

By default, User Management supports JAAS and LDAP authentication. However, by using the User Management SPI, you can create a custom authentication provider and then configure User Management to use the custom authentication provider as its default authentication provider. You can also configure User Management to use the custom authentication provider in addition to the default authentication provider.

A custom authentication provider is dependent on a custom directory service provider; therefore, you must create a custom directory service provider when you create a custom authentication provider. User information that is authenticated by a custom provider is placed in a data store that is accessed by a custom directory service provider.

To implement a custom authentication provider, you must implement the interface containing the primary authentication method.

After you create the logic, you must deploy your custom authentication provider as a LiveCycle ES component. You can then use your component to create a process using Workbench ES, or you can invoke the component’s service using an invocation method. For example, you can invoke the service using the Java API. (See Introducing Invocation.)

Summary of steps

To develop a custom authentication provider, you must perform the following steps:

1.	Set up your development environment.

2.	Define your application logic.

3.	Define the component XML file.

4.	Package the component.

5.	Deploy and test your component.

Sample files

This section contains discussions of Java classes and interfaces that correspond to Java files that can be located in the sample directory manager SPI component located in the [install directory]\Adobe\LiveCycle8\LiveCycle_ES_SDK\samples folder, where [install directory] is the LiveCycle ES installation location. As you are reading through this section, it is recommended that you also refer to the sample files.

Current page: http://livedocs.adobe.com/livecycle/8.2/programLC/programmer/help/000916.html