Question

FORM authentication in Tomcat 6 behaving like BASIC authentication

Asked by: javabeat

Hi, i'm trying to implement form based authentication in Tomcat 6 however when i call a protected page resource authentication behaves as if it was using 'basic' authentication i.e the usual windows username and password dialog is displayed. The web.xml elements are nothing complex but i'd be really interested in knowing how i could get better visability of what is going on i.e the redirection process to the login page etc?
The tomcat logs dont show up anything obvious either.
Annoyingly i can create a new webapp from scratch and form authentication works fine. I subsequently copied the web.xml for the new web-app almost element for element to the original webapp but still the same problem?...anyone?
Effectively i guess i'm looking specifically for ideas on how form authentication might behave like 'basic' authentication. I dont think the problem is in the web.xml as its identical to the test app that works fine!?....

Thanks in advance

<security-constraint>
                    <display-name>Example Security Constraint</display-name>
	<web-resource-collection>
	<web-resource-name>Protected Area</web-resource-name>			<!-- Define the context-relative URL(s) to be protected -->
	<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
	<!-- If you list http methods, only those methods are protected -->
		<http-method>DELETE</http-method>
		<http-method>GET</http-method>
		<http-method>POST</http-method>
		<http-method>PUT</http-method>
	</web-resource-collection>
	<auth-constraint>
	<!-- Anyone with one of the listed roles may access this area -->
		<role-name>standard</role-name>
	</auth-constraint>
</security-constraint>
 
	<login-config>
	<auth-method>FORM</auth-method>
	<realm-name>Example Form-Based Authentication Area</realm-name>
	<form-login-config>
		<form-login-page>/showLoginForm.jsp</form-login-page>
		<form-error-page>/showLoginFailure.jsp</form-error-page>
	</form-login-config>
	</login-config>

                                  
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Asked On
2009-01-15 at 03:40:29ID24054103
Topics

Apache Tomcat Application Server

,

J2EE

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: TolomirPosted on 2009-01-15 at 04:03:25ID: 23382482

form based authentification is handled by this form:

showLoginForm.jsp


This is the core part. Around it you can decorate your windows as you like:


     <form name='showLoginForm' method='POST'>
        <table>
          <tr>
            <td><input type='text' name='j_username' class='login_text' value=''></td>
            <td></td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><input type='password' name='j_password' class='login_text'></td>
            <td><input type='submit' class='login_submit' value=''></td>
          </tr>
        </table>
      </form>
 
                                              
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by: TolomirPosted on 2009-01-15 at 04:07:27ID: 23382507

this belongs in the application root folder

like

c:\application

where the file web.xml

is in c:\application\WEB-INF

(just to get you the right relative place.)


 

by: TolomirPosted on 2009-01-15 at 04:08:10ID: 23382511

if you need a logout form you can use:

<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html" %>
<html>
<!--
  This JSP performs the logout by invalidating the current session
-->
<body>
<%
  session.invalidate();
  response.sendRedirect("http://your_webserver.com/");
%>
</body>
</html>

                                              
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by: javabeatPosted on 2009-01-15 at 04:43:10ID: 23382754

Hi Tomomir, thanks for that. My problem however is that the FORM authentication is behaving like BASIC authentication. I've used FORM authentication in other apps that work fine but for some reason this just isn't working like it should.

 

by: TolomirPosted on 2009-01-15 at 04:47:33ID: 23382780

this line

<auth-method>FORM</auth-method>


does define the authentification type.

Are you sure this is set on that particular server (and the web.xml also used)?


 

by: TolomirPosted on 2009-01-15 at 04:49:42ID: 23382791

As a test rename the web.xml restart tomcat and check if the basic authentification still comes up.
In that case you are modifying the wrong web.xml file

 

by: javabeatPosted on 2009-01-23 at 04:07:34ID: 23448196

Hi Tolomir, i'm definately editing the correct file but its a good call as i'm sure this is a common one. I can turn authentication on/off etc and see the changes instantly. I really think the problem is nested in some form of eclipse to tomcat integration (using the Webtools stuff)....e.g there's a cached setting somewhere or something is being overwritten but i just cant see it.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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