CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaapache-flexsecurityauthentication
Manius
Manius

Reputation: 3644

What are the alternatives for Java authentication?

Preferably something that integrates well with a Flex front end. Yes the Spring Security guys say this is possible, but all examples seem to use legacy jsp tag libraries making them half useless as examples. I don't want to spend a month setting up and learning how to use a security tool. I would like a tool which supports using annotations (@RolesAllowed etc), MINIMAL XML, and 'remember-me' features (not cookie based).

Apache Shiro seems to support Flex/Silverlight/Swing as well but I'd like to know if there are any other alternatives that are NOT container specific.

Upvotes: 5

Views: 3235

Answers (3)

Manius
Manius

Reputation: 3644

Turns out Apache Shiro is actually a simpler and easier to learn solution than Spring security. And no stupid xml configuration is nice.

Upvotes: 8

rook
rook

Reputation: 67019

I don't see why Flex should authenticate anything, after all that is the client side. Whats stopping someone from decompiling your flash/flex?

For most people Apache Shiro is overkill and they just roll their own. Which isn't the best idea to be honest. I have seen a lot of horrible authentication systems over the years. Cookies are meant to keep track of the session for the client, why use anything else?

Edit: Use spring secuirty for authentication.

Upvotes: 0

Sripathi Krishnan
Sripathi Krishnan

Reputation: 31528

Spring Security is by far the best tool out there.

BlazeDS is no magic. It is ultimately just a call to the server over HTTP. The Blaze application is just a war file, and has traditional urls. So, to protect the services, you have to protect the urls in your web.xml / spring configuration files.

Essentially, read the documentation of Spring Security/JAAS, and substitute the jsps with the urls of your blaze services.

Spring Security also has support for Roles and authorization. It also has a remember-me functionality, but that absolutely uses cookies. You cannot have a remember-me functionality without cookies.

Regarding authentication, it is possible to pass the authentication token as a request parameter instead of a cookie. But cookies are recommended, and are a lot easier to get right.

And finally, security is pointless without using https. You absolutely must use https throughout your application if you care about security.

Upvotes: 0

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