OGC Service Access with Basic Authentication

[Ed McNierney]

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