Topic: LDAP Authentication in 7.4?

[AJB]

Hi guys,

I'm doing some preliminary reading on ways to authenticate users against the user store in SME Server, and I was wondering whether SME Server uses (or supports) LDAP for this purpose. It was my understanding that 7.4 added some authentication methods, but I can't find which methods that would be.

In case you're interested: the reason I'm asking is that I'm planning on developing a ASP.NET web application that will run on SME using Mono. I would very much like to enable users of this application to login using their SME accounts, but I also want my code to be aware of group memberships and the like - which rules out simply letting Apache handle authentication/authorization.

Thanks in advance for clearing this one up for me! Oh, and if you have other suggestions to achieve my goals, please share

[Stefano]

hi

please use search function.. this question has been posted many times.. answer (in short) is NO, SME 7.4 does not support LDAP auth.

if you look in bugzilla, you'll see an open bug and a beta contrib to enable it..

Ciao
Stefano

[AJB]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I still think my question is valid, though, based on this link which suggests additional authentication methods having become available last month.

However, if LDAP is not available, would there be other ways to achieve my goal using out-of-the-box features?

Edit: fixed link by moderator

[cactus]

based on this link which suggests additional authentication methods having become available last month.

I have a hard time concluding that from supplied link. AFAIK the only improvement is made to radiusd to enable multiple authentication methods, this has nothing to do with the SME Server core authentication system.

[AJB]

That's entirely possible. I don't know that much about the way SME handles authentication and the role radiusd does or does not play in that process; I'm more of a MS/.NET guy when it comes to the more advanced stuff. I just read something about authentication methods in the link supplied, and since I have seen the LDAP feature requests I figured that this just might be it. That's all, so I'm sorry if my remark is obviously misguided for those who know more about Linux and SME

But, the request for viable alternatives still stands...

[stephen noble]

try the contrib,
it works, it's just a rather large change to drop into the distro when most don't need it

[AJB]

I've been considering that possibility, but I'm a bit afraid that that might cause problems in the future. I mean, what if I start using the contrib now, and when the time comes I upgrade to an SME release that has the feature build in? In other words: I'm a bit reluctant to run the risk of breaking forward compatibility...

[cactus]

I've been considering that possibility, but I'm a bit afraid that that might cause problems in the future. I mean, what if I start using the contrib now, and when the time comes I upgrade to an SME release that has the feature build in? In other words: I'm a bit reluctant to run the risk of breaking forward compatibility...

The contrib author is one of the core devs, so if it were to be integrated I think they will consider that scenario for sure.

[AJB]

Ah, that's good to know. I might very well give it a try, then. Might take some time though, but once I have it up and running I'll report back the how and why since I've seen earlier posts regarding Mono\.NET-kinda stuff and 'integrated' authentication.

Thanks for the advice so far!