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Example: customizing the pass-through subsystem

The authentication capabilities offered by the ldap-ad subsystem type cannot support CIFS and NTLM authentication. Instead, you would have to use form-based login for all users, and only SkyVault internal users could access CIFS. This is the compromise you would have to make if the directory server did not support any other authentication protocol. But for Active Directory, which also supports NTLM and Kerberos authentication, you can overcome this limitation by using either the Pass-through or the Kerberos subsystem types.

The Pass-through subsystem supports SSO, CIFS, and password authentication against a Windows domain server using the NTLM v1 protocol. Many prefer Kerberos for its enhanced security and you could consider it as an alternative.

Edit the SkyVault-global.properties file to specify your authentication method:
  1. Append an instance of passthru to the authentication chain.

    Name the instance passthru1, and declare it by changing the authentication.chain property in as follows:

    SkyVault.authentication.authenticateCIFS=false
    Note: Functions such as NTLM SSO and CIFS authentication can only be targeted at a single subsystem instance in the authentication chain. This is a restriction imposed by the authentication protocols themselves. For this reason, SkyVault targets these ‘direct’ authentication functions at the first member of the authentication chain that has them enabled. By disabling CIFS in alfinst earlier, passthru1 has a chance to handle CIFS authentication for its larger user base. SSO is also left disabled in alfinst, which means that you can enable it in passthru1.
  2. Edit the ldap.authentication.active property in the SkyVault-global.properties file as follows:

    ldap.authentication.active=false