PATHMac OS 8 Developer Documentation > Networking and Communications > AppleShare >

User Authentication Modules

This chapter describes the mechanism by which AppleShare IP 6.1 supports third-party user authentication modules (UAMs). Third-party UAMs allow AppleShare IP servers to participate in networks that use an alternative authorization scheme, such as Kerberos, Network Information Service (NIS), Windows NT domains, or Novell Directory Services (NDS).

UAMs can be invoked under the following circumstances:

When the user uses the Chooser to connect to an AppleShare file server or to connect to a another volume shared by a server to which the client is already connected.
When an application calls PBVolumeMount and specifies the UAM by its protocol name
When a client mail application connects to an AppleShare mail server.
When an FTP application connects to an AppleShare FTP server.
When a web browser connects to an AppleShare web server that is configured to require user authentication.

A UAM implementation consists of two parts:

A server UAM that authenticates users. A server UAM is a PowerPC Code Fragment Manager (CFM) library loaded by the AppleShare Registry at system startup time and called at deferred task time.
A client UAM that requests a user authentication. A client UAM is a code resource loaded on demand and called at main event time, so the client UAM can use QuickDraw to display dialog boxes and perform other A5-dependent operations.