Default Authentication; Basic Authentication - Netscape ENTREPRISE SERVER 6.1 - 08-2002 ADMINISTRATOR Administrator's Manual

User-Group authentication requires users to authenticate themselves before getting
access to the Administration Server, or the files and directories on your web site.
With authentication users verify their identity by entering a username and
password, using a client certificate, or digest authentication plug-in. Using client
certificates requires encryption. For information on encryption and using client
certificates, see Chapter 5, "Securing Your Enterprise Server."

Default Authentication

Default authentication is the preferred method. The Default setting uses the default
method you specify in the
. If you check Default, the ACL rule doesn't specify a method in the ACL
obj.conf
file. Choosing Default allows you to easily change the methods for all ACLs by
editing one line in the

Basic Authentication

Basic authentication requires users to enter a username and password to access
your web server or web site. It is the default setting. You must create and store a list
of users and groups in an LDAP database, such as the Netscape Directory Server.
You must use a direstory server installed on a different server root than your web
server, or a directory server installed on a remote machine.
When users attempt to access a resource that has User-Group authentication in the
Administration Server or on your web site, the web browser displays a dialog box
asking the user to enter a username and password. The server receives this
information encrypted or unencrypted, depending on whether encryption is
turned on for your server.
NOTE Using Basic Authentication without SSL encryption, sends the username
and password in unencrypted text across the network. The network
packets could be intercepted, and the username and password could be
extracted. Basic authentication is most effective when combined with SSL
encryption, Host-IP authentication, or both. Using Digest Authentication
avoids this problem.
file, or "Basic" if there is no setting in
obj.conf
file.
obj.conf
Chapter 8 Controlling Access to Your Server
What Is Access Control?
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