Re: Realms in Java Server Toolkit

David Brownell (David.Brownell@Eng)
Tue, 28 Apr 1998 14:21:57 -0700

Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 14:21:57 -0700
From: David.Brownell@Eng (David Brownell)
Message-Id: <199804282121.OAA18736@argon.eng.sun.com>
To: HORRIS@lavasys.com, java-security@javasoft.com
Subject: Re: Realms in Java Server Toolkit

> From: Hobie Orris <HORRIS@lavasys.com>
> To: "'java-security@javasoft.com'" <java-security@javasoft.com>
> Subject: Realms in Java Server Toolkit
> Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 16:44:17 -0400
>
> What is in the Properties object used in the init() function of a Realm?
> The documentation doesn't mention it and I can't successfully initialize
> one.

That'd be a doc bug -- the "how to define new kinds of realms"
documentation is admittedly scarce. Note that realms are still
subject to change, and that the Server Toolkit isn't a product!

The init() method is passed the set of properties read from the
$SERVER_ROOT/realms/REALM_NAME file, as it acts on the call to
Realm.get("REALM_NAME"). It holds whatever information is needed to
initialize the realm ... such as the URL for an LDAP server holding the
certificates, the name the server must use to achieve mutual
authentication, and so on.

Think of it as what'd go into an externalized bean ... it's editable
though, which is important in many situations. I understand that
Borland is also using a text file format for bean storage in their
developer tools, rather than ".ser" serialization format. Myself,
I'm liking the idea of using XML for such information. In any case,
you can avoid a lot of versioning problems by not using ".ser" files.

- Dave

> Hobie Orris horris@lavasys.com
> LAVA Systems Inc.
> 416-207-3040 x2046
>
>
>