Question on sub requests and output filter context.
Hi, I have an output filter that parses custom tags to retrieve data from an application running on the same device. Everything was working well until I tried to move some HTML into Server Side Include pages. Snippet below: ?smu smu extio_sensor_read mappings ? ?smu smu extio_read front_ana all led ? ?smu smu extio_read rear_ana all led ? !--#include virtual=/include/SSI_SensorStatus.html -- !--#include virtual=/include/SSI_SensorStatusAnalogRear.html -- The first three commands will populate hash tables that are saved in my output filters context. The HTML in the included pages then use custom tags to query the hash tables but for some reason the hash tables are NULL. Having stepped through with the debugger I can see that the pointer to the output filter when processing the main HTML page is different to the one when parsing custom tags in SSI pages. Looking through mod_include I can see it creates a sub request for include and sub requests call make_sub_request to create a new filter. Should this new filter also inherit the output filters context? Am I doing something wrong with my use of mod_include? I've tried moving my filter so it's after mod_include but still the same problem. I'm using Server version: Apache/2.2.19 (Unix) on an ARM board. Best Regards, Martin.
Re: Developing an Authentication Module
On September 15, 2011 11:41 , Suneet Shah suneetshah2...@gmail.com wrote: In our architecture, authentication and authorization is handled by a set of web services. I would need to have the apache module make calls to the service. I was planning on using Axis 2 for this. Are there any issues with thiat? I have no experience with Axis 2, but an Apache module can certainly utilize external services. For example, mod_auth_kerb makes RPC calls to Kerberos KDCs, and mod_auth_dbd makes queries against SQL databases. I need to be able to look at request and see if it has a security token. If it does, then I need to validate it through the service. If it does not, then I need to redirect them to an authentication page. I thought it would be easier to handle the authentication through our java application (as we have the rest of the application) or should this part of the module as well? If a person successful authenticates, then the authentication app would redirect the user to the originally requested url. This sounds very much like the way cosign works. cosign is a web single-sign-on solution that includes an Apache HTTP Server module, mod_cosign. A diagram showing how cosign works is available at http://cosign.sourceforge.net/overview.shtml The actual authentication (prompting for and verifying the user's username and password) is handled by an application written in C which runs as a CGI and is not a part of the mod_cosign module itself. You may also want to study the implementation of other web single-sign-on solutions, including Pubcookie ( http://pubcookie.org/ ) and CAS ( http://www.jasig.org/cas ). CAS may be of particular interest to you because it is written in Java. This would flow through the apache web service and mod-proxy to end up at the target location. You may not need mod_proxy unless it is key to your requirements in some way. cosign, for example, simply redirects the user to the target location after verifying the security token (cookie) or authenticating the user and issuing a new security token. -- Mark Montague m...@catseye.org
Re: Developing an Authentication Module
Hi Mark, Thanks a lot for your help with this. I will take a look at the modules that you have referenced below. In our case, Mod-proxy and complementary modules seem to make sense. We need to hide the location of the real application and the proxy would help with that. Also the firewall rules in place only allow us to talk to the apache web server. There is no access directly to the other apps.. Finally, we also need to be able to inject headers into some applications to enable a form of SSO. We need the speed and security offered by running native in Apache, which is the reason why we opted for an apache module based approach. It would have been easier to go with a java based approach since we have a lot more experience in that environment Thanks again for your guidance Suneet On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 12:02 PM, Mark Montague m...@catseye.org wrote: On September 15, 2011 11:41 , Suneet Shah suneetshah2...@gmail.com wrote: In our architecture, authentication and authorization is handled by a set of web services. I would need to have the apache module make calls to the service. I was planning on using Axis 2 for this. Are there any issues with thiat? I have no experience with Axis 2, but an Apache module can certainly utilize external services. For example, mod_auth_kerb makes RPC calls to Kerberos KDCs, and mod_auth_dbd makes queries against SQL databases. I need to be able to look at request and see if it has a security token. If it does, then I need to validate it through the service. If it does not, then I need to redirect them to an authentication page. I thought it would be easier to handle the authentication through our java application (as we have the rest of the application) or should this part of the module as well? If a person successful authenticates, then the authentication app would redirect the user to the originally requested url. This sounds very much like the way cosign works. cosign is a web single-sign-on solution that includes an Apache HTTP Server module, mod_cosign. A diagram showing how cosign works is available at http://cosign.sourceforge.net/**overview.shtmlhttp://cosign.sourceforge.net/overview.shtml The actual authentication (prompting for and verifying the user's username and password) is handled by an application written in C which runs as a CGI and is not a part of the mod_cosign module itself. You may also want to study the implementation of other web single-sign-on solutions, including Pubcookie ( http://pubcookie.org/ ) and CAS ( http://www.jasig.org/cas ). CAS may be of particular interest to you because it is written in Java. This would flow through the apache web service and mod-proxy to end up at the target location. You may not need mod_proxy unless it is key to your requirements in some way. cosign, for example, simply redirects the user to the target location after verifying the security token (cookie) or authenticating the user and issuing a new security token. -- Mark Montague m...@catseye.org
