User-written authenticators

You can implement authenticators that authenticate clients that connect to the Diffusion™ server or perform an action that requires authentication.

The authenticators can be implemented either remotely, in a client, or locally, on the server.

Local authenticators

A local authenticator is an implementation of the Authenticator interface. Local authenticators can be implemented only in Java™ . The class file that contains a local authenticator must be located on the classpath of the Diffusion server.

Control authenticators

A control authenticator can be implemented in any language where the Diffusion API includes the AuthenticationControl feature. A control authenticator can be registered by any client that has the authenticate and register_handler permissions.

For more information, see Authenticating sessions.

The following table matrix shows the types of authenticator.

Table 1. Types of authenticator
	Individual
Local	Implement the Authenticator interface. For more information, see Developing a local authenticator.
Control	Implement the ControlAuthenticator interface. For more information, see Developing a control authenticator.