OGC Service Access with Basic Authentication

[Ed McNierney]

Norman -

Thanks for the pointer!  Unfortunately, that didn't really answer the
question, although it looks like a few folks on this list are also
concerned <g>.  Maybe it's just time for some experimentation...

        - Ed 

-----Original Message-----
From: Norman Vine [mailto:nhv at cape.com] 
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 3:58 PM
To: Ed McNierney; MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU
Subject: RE: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] OGC Service Access with Basic
Authentication

Ed,

There was a recent thread on this over on the WMS list
 
http://lists.eogeo.org/pipermail/wms-dev/2004-November/000651.html

HTH

Norman

> -----Original Message-----
> From: UMN MapServer Users List 
> [mailto:MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU]On
> Behalf Of Ed McNierney
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 3:50 PM
> To: MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU
> Subject: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] OGC Service Access with Basic 
> Authentication
> 
> 
> Folks -
> 
> I'd like to set up some restricted-access OGC services using simple 
> HTTP Basic Authentication.  I'm a little confused on whether this is 
> simple or not <g>.
> 
> My confusion comes from the wms_onlineresource metadata specified in 
> the MAP file.  I have always thought this was required, but I now see 
> that it's actually "Recommended" in the OGC specs.  I can easily 
> restrict access to the resource using Basic Authentication through my 
> Web server
> - that's not my question.  Since I'm trying to set this up for general

> end-user access, I don't want to have to create a unique set of MAP 
> files, each with a unique username/password in the wms_onlineresource 
> field, one set of MAP files for each user.  I'd like to simply manage 
> the user authentication to a single set of services/MAP files.
> 
> Can I do this?  Can I simply omit the wms_onlineresource field in the 
> metadata and trust the client to remember the URL root including 
> username/password?  I don't have a lot of experience with different 
> WMS clients, so I'm worried that some will work and some won't.  
> However, if the wms_onlineresource field is really not required, maybe

> I'm worrying about nothing.
> 
> Any experience or input would be appreciated - thanks!
> 
>         - Ed
> 
> Ed McNierney
> President and Chief Mapmaker
> TopoZone.com / Maps a la carte, Inc.
> 73 Princeton Street, Suite 305
> North Chelmsford, MA  01863
> ed at topozone.com
> (978) 251-4242
>