Re: Apache authentication information (remoteuser) not visible in Tomcat

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 13:01:09 -0700 

Omar,

Try the following utility with Principal and let us know:

           String r = request.getRemoteUser();
           if (r == null)
            {
                java.security.Principal pr =  request.getUserPrincipal();
               if (pr != null){
               r = pr.getName();
                }
           }

Omar Nafees wrote:
Thank you for the tips David. The JkEnvVar was just a shot at passing the REMOTE_USER explicitly. I read about it in one of the mod_jk documents. I was unable to get this to work without it either. 

Oh and my apologies for a cluttered server.xml on the list.
I have restarted tomcat and apache several times. I was actually trying to get it to work with tomcat 6.0 and switched to 5.5 to see if that would make a difference.
I've also tried to get this to work with apache 1.3 to no avail. I now suspect mod_jk itself...
May I ask what versions of each software you are using? What form of Apache authentication are you using (some in house authorization software)? Did you first test your setup with Apache's Basic authentication?
Sorry for the many questions - but I'd like to know what you've done differently as I'd like to be where you are with this right now =) 


Thanks,
Omar


David Smith wrote:

Hi.
I'm in the same boat as you in using an apache httpd module to authenticate users and have had it working for a few years now. Your configuration looked good as far as I could tell. Here are a couple of suggestions though.
1. I'm not sure what 'JkEnvVar REMOTE_USER' is doing in your apache config. I've never used it and have what you are working on working flawlessly.
2. Drop all those documenting comments and example configuration from your server.xml. You could make a copy of it named server.xml.original if you want. The commented parts are excellent documentation, but hamper readability of the active parts.
3. Restart Tomcat. I'm not sure if you restarted after you added tomcatAuthentication="false" to the connector, but it needs to happen. 

--David

Omar Nafees wrote:

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the response.
So I've come to believe that its possible to avoid using Tomcat authentication altogether, i.e., without specifying realms and using tomcat user/roles in an application's web.xml. Given my context (a University environment with over several hundreds of students hitting an apache web server and a small subset needing tomcat), I need to completely separate authentication from the Tomcat server. I guess this approach of using JNDI or even JAAS is a last resort... but I would really like to see what everyone else seems to have already accomplished - the REMOTE_USER variable being read from the first AJP header that is sent to tomcat. 


Thanks,

Omar


Robert Segal wrote:

Omar I actually had this exact same problem early today although I'm
sure my environment is slightly different from your perhaps I can offer some help. In my case I have LDAP authentication configured for my servlet. I 
believe this step should be the same regardless of the authentication
scheme you are using....
First I edit CATALINA_HOME/webapps/myServelet/WEB-INF/web.xml to define 
roles and constraints for what pages can be accessed...

<login-config>
    <auth-method>BASIC</auth-method>
  </login-config>

  <security-role>
    <role-name>GRP-myGroup </role-name>
  </security-role>

  <security-constraint>
    <web-resource-collection>
      <web-resource-name>my Authentication</web-resource-name>
      <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </web-resource-collection>

    <auth-constraint>
      <role-name>GRP-myGroup</role-name>
    </auth-constraint>
  </security-constraint>


The other file I change sets up all the LDAP machine details.  I've
placed it in Context.xml because there are several servlets that make
use of this authentication...

$CATALINA_HOME/conf/Context.xml

<Context>
    <Realm className       ="org.apache.catalina.realm.JNDIRealm"
         debug             ="99"
         connectionURL     ="ldap://ldapMachine:3268";
         connectionName    ="CRYPTOLOGIC\myUser"
connectionPassword="myPassword" userBase ="dc=myDomain,dc=com" 
         userSearch        ="(sAMAccountName={0})"
            userSubtree       ="true"
         userRoleName      ="memberOf"
                  roleBase   ="OU=Groups,DC=myDomain,DC=com"
         roleSubtree="false"
         roleName   ="cn"
         roleSearch ="(member={0})"/>
</Context>

This has worked for me.  Hope it is of some use to you.  We also have
Apache over top of Tomcat in our environment and found it necessary to
configure authentication both in Apache and in Tomcat to get things to
work properly.

Robert Segal
Tools Developer
CryptoLogic Inc.
55 St. Clair Ave W., 3rd Floor
Toronto, Ontario
Canada  M4V 2Y7
tel.  + 1.416.545.1455 x5896
fax. + 1.416.545.1454

This message, including any attachments, is confidential and/or
privileged and contains information intended only for the person(s)
named above. Any other distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly
prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient or have received this 
message in error, please notify us immediately by reply email and
permanently delete the original transmission from all of your systems
and hard drives, including any attachments, without making a copy.

-----Original Message-----
From: Omar Nafees [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 2:30 PM 
To: Tomcat Users List
Subject: Re: Apache authentication information (remoteuser) not visible 
in Tomcat
Thanks for the response Christopher... although I had very early on, already tried what is suggested in the link you have referred to, i.e., setting tomcatAuthentication="false" in the appropriate server.xml line (see the config listing I produced earlier in the thread). 

Oh I hope its not some obscure bug in mod_jk!! :)

Thanks,
Omar



Christopher Schultz wrote:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Omar,

Omar Nafees wrote:

request.getRemoteUser() returns null in my servlet.
request.getAttribute("REMOTE_USER") also returns null. I have even
checked the headers that are being sent to the AJP connector in

Tomcat.

This is a FAQ. The answer is easily findable in the archives:

http://www.nabble.com/forum/ViewPost.jtp?post=3132974&framed=y

- -chris

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFGzxDY9CaO5/Lv0PARAi0fAKC+7Rb+k5E3fEPFGhhiXvXumpz9QwCgwgss
OPTfCFM5pLAQ0jH0i+BCkis=
=+c/H
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To start a new topic, e-mail: users@tomcat.apache.org
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]



______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________ 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To start a new topic, e-mail: users@tomcat.apache.org
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]





---------------------------------------------------------------------
To start a new topic, e-mail: users@tomcat.apache.org
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To start a new topic, e-mail: users@tomcat.apache.org
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]






--
Regards



Gabriel Wong

Beyond Private JVM JAVA Hosting

http://www.webappcabaret.com


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To start a new topic, e-mail: users@tomcat.apache.org
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Reply via email to