Slightly OT: J2EE authentication Framework?

[ps...@comcen.com.au]

Does anyone know of a framework that I can 'plug' into
my java web application that will let me easily authenticate users.
User informaion should be stored in a JDBC compatible dataase.

I know Turbine does something like this, but Turbine is
a little overkill for my project.
Things I would hope for:
    * Table with user info.
    * Encapsulation/Abstraction of user data.
    * Methods to validate user password.

I know it's not too hard to do, but I want to avoid re-inventing
if it already exists somewhere. 

BTW I don't much about java beans - my head is already hurting
from learning Velocity, Servlets, MySQL, etc..!

Thanks,

Patrick Saunders.

Re: Slightly OT: J2EE authentication Framework?

[pat comcen <ps...@comcen.com.au>]

Thanks Leon,
I've come to the conclusion that this is the way to go, after some polite
encouragement from Fedor.
I've downloaded the TDK and am rearing to go!

Patrick.


----- Original Message -----
From: Leon Messerschmidt <le...@opticode.co.za>
To: <ve...@jakarta.apache.org>
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 4:32 PM
Subject: Re: Slightly OT: J2EE authentication Framework?


> Hi Patrick,
>
> I would really suggest that you go to Turbine.  Your security model is
bound
> to become more complex as time goes by and Turbine will handle this for
you.
> It will also help you when your database gets a bit more tricky.
>
> The nice thing about Turbine is that if you're not using a feature it
isn't
> even loaded and you don't need to think about it.  Turbine will therefore
> not be overkill - you don't need to learn anything that you don't use :-)
>
> Get the TDK.  You'll have a running app within 10 minutes.  I should stop
> now I'm starting to sound like a marketing guy :-)
>
> ~ Leon
>
> > Does anyone know of a framework that I can 'plug' into
> > my java web application that will let me easily authenticate users.
> > User informaion should be stored in a JDBC compatible dataase.
> >
> > I know Turbine does something like this, but Turbine is
> > a little overkill for my project.
> > Things I would hope for:
> >     * Table with user info.
> >     * Encapsulation/Abstraction of user data.
> >     * Methods to validate user password.
> >
> > I know it's not too hard to do, but I want to avoid re-inventing
> > if it already exists somewhere.
> >
> > BTW I don't much about java beans - my head is already hurting
> > from learning Velocity, Servlets, MySQL, etc..!
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Patrick Saunders.
>
>

Re: Slightly OT: J2EE authentication Framework?

[Leon Messerschmidt <le...@opticode.co.za>]

Hi Patrick,

I would really suggest that you go to Turbine.  Your security model is bound
to become more complex as time goes by and Turbine will handle this for you.
It will also help you when your database gets a bit more tricky.

The nice thing about Turbine is that if you're not using a feature it isn't
even loaded and you don't need to think about it.  Turbine will therefore
not be overkill - you don't need to learn anything that you don't use :-)

Get the TDK.  You'll have a running app within 10 minutes.  I should stop
now I'm starting to sound like a marketing guy :-)

~ Leon

> Does anyone know of a framework that I can 'plug' into
> my java web application that will let me easily authenticate users.
> User informaion should be stored in a JDBC compatible dataase.
>
> I know Turbine does something like this, but Turbine is
> a little overkill for my project.
> Things I would hope for:
>     * Table with user info.
>     * Encapsulation/Abstraction of user data.
>     * Methods to validate user password.
>
> I know it's not too hard to do, but I want to avoid re-inventing
> if it already exists somewhere.
>
> BTW I don't much about java beans - my head is already hurting
> from learning Velocity, Servlets, MySQL, etc..!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Patrick Saunders.

Re: Slightly OT: J2EE authentication Framework?

[Tim Joyce <ti...@hoop.co.uk>]

Hi Patrick ,

> Does anyone know of a framework that I can 'plug' into
> my java web application that will let me easily authenticate users.
> User informaion should be stored in a JDBC compatible dataase.

you could do worse than look at melati (http://melati.org), which will
provide you with a user table and both Session based and HTTP Basic based
authorization interfaces 'out of the box'.  You will need to run with both
Melati and Velocity from CVS until the next released snapshots of both (or
use the nightly snapshot).

Melati may also be a bit of overkill, but it does provide a serious
alternative to Turbine.  I do suspect that you will find that getting to
grips with eithier of these frameworks will seriously increase your
productivity.  The chances are that User Authentification is not the only
feature that your application will need.  eg what about an Administration
interface to your database, persistant objects, messageboards, shopping
cart?

i hope this helps

cheers

timj