Re: Apache authentication efficiency

[Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx>]

My understanding is the same as yours in that when you add HTTP
authentication directives to your HTTP configuration, then all requests for
protected resources are passed through the authentication module. That
module not only authenticates the user, but also checks the user's
authority. It may also change the job to adopt the user profile. I agree,
that's not very efficient.

It can also be more costly in that all users need a client license in order
to authenticate against IBM i. That may only be a problem if you want to
open your site to the public.

One alternative is to use an IBM i web portal, which enables you add user
profiles to the portal that are not associated with an IBM i authentication
resource (IBM i User Profile, LDAP entry, authorization list entry,
Kerberos entry). A web portal is an application that maintains user
profiles, user groups, menus and menu items, user and group authorities,
etc. Users are authenticated only once when accessing the application. User
authority is then checked when accessing menus. When a menu item is
selected, and its associated session is launched, there is no need to
authenticate while using the application.



On Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 11:28 AM Justin Taylor <JUSTIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> It's my understanding that Apache offer Basic and Kerberos authentication,
> and authentication is repeated for every subsequent request.  That seems
> inefficient to me.  Are there more efficient methods for authentication?
>
> TIA
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