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mod_auth_remote v0.1 -
a single signon module using basic auth ( for Apache 2.0 & 1.3 )
Saju R Pillai (saju.pillai@gmail.com)
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README mod_auth_remote ( Apache 2.0 authentication module )
This module is a very simple, lightweight method of setting up a single signon
system across multiple web-applicaitions hosted on different servers.
The actual authentication & authorization system is deployed on a single server
instead of each individual server. All other servers are built with mod_auth_rem
ote
enabled. When a request comes in, mod_auth_remote obtains the client username &
password from the client via basic authentication scheme.
It then builds a HTTP header with authorization header built from the client's
userid:passwd. mod_auth_remote then makes a HEAD request to the authentication
server. On reciept of a 2XX response, the client is validated; for all other
responses the client is not validated.
Why I wrote mod_auth_remote ?
I have a bunch of web applications running on a bunch of machines ...
1) My authentication code is heavy & I don't want to implement it on all
of your servers. (I use mod_perl and require a Database access to
authenticate)
2) Most of my web applications use a single signon
3) Two different applications running under the same server could access 2
different authentication models without any pain
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INSTALLATION
File: mod_auth_remote.c is for Apache 2.0
File: mod_auth_remote_1.3.c is for Apache 1.3
Load as a DSO or build statically.
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mod_auth_remote keywords/directives
AuthRemoteServer : The remote server against which the authentication has to tak
e place
AuthRemotePort : The port on which the remote server is runing
AuthRemoteURL : The (optional) path on the remote server which has to be acce
ssed
( should have been AuthRemotePath :-) )
As you would have noticed these 3 configuration directives are used to build the
complete URL against which mod_auth_remote authenticates.
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Sample Configuration for a httpd (my.server.com)
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<Directory ~ "/application_1/">
AuthType Basic
AuthName CHICKEN_RUN
AuthRemoteServer auth1.saju.com
AuthRemotePort 80
AuthRemoteURL /One/Auth/method
require valid-user
</Directory>
<Directory ~ "/application_2/">
AuthType Basic
AuthName BIG-CHIEF
AuthRemoteServer auth1.saju.com
AuthRemotePort 80
AuthRemoteURL /luke/takes/a/walk
require valid-user
</Directory>
<Directory ~ "/application_3/">
AuthType Basic
AuthName ONE_RING
AuthRemoteServer www.sauron.com
AuthRemotePort 1290
AuthRemoteURL /auth
require valid-user
</Directory>
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When a request is made to http://my.server.com/application_1, mod_auth_remote us
es
the basic auth scheme to get the client's username:passwd and then authenticates
the
user against http://auth1.saju.com:80/One/Auth/method using basic auth.
Similiarily a request coming to http://my.server.com/application_3 is automatica
lly
authenticated against http://www.sauron.com:1290/auth
So, the biggest advantage here is that 'my.server.com' can host 3 different
applications having 3 different user sets and 'my.server.com' need not host any
sort
of authentication infrastructure (like having access to LDAP server or DB etc),
it
need not have any authentication code at all !!
Similarily 10 different servers could access 'auth1.saju.com/<url>' for
authenticating users without having to duplicating the authentication infrastruc
ture
10 times !
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Linux users
This module is now part of the Mandrake Cooker distrib. You can download this mo
dule off any Mandrake mirror
FreeBSD users
This module is now part of the FreeBSD www ports collection. Can be downloaded o
ff any FreeBSD-stable mirror.
Win32
www.gknw.net/development/apache/ httpd-2.0/win32/modules/
Netware
Index of /development/apache/httpd-2.0/netware/modules