| 1 | <html><head><META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"><title>Catalina Functional Specifications - JDBCRealm</title><meta value="Craig McClanahan" name="author"><meta value="craigmcc@apache.org" name="email"></head><body vlink="#525D76" alink="#525D76" link="#525D76" text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"><table cellspacing="0" width="100%" border="0"><!--PAGE HEADER--><tr><td><!--PROJECT LOGO--><a href="http://tomcat.apache.org/"><img border="0" alt=" | 
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| 2 |       Catalina Functional Specifications | 
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| 3 |     " align="right" src="../images/tomcat.gif"></a></td><td><font face="arial,helvetica,sanserif"><h1>Apache Tomcat 6.0</h1></font></td><td><!--APACHE LOGO--><a href="http://www.apache.org/"><img border="0" alt="Apache Logo" align="right" src="../images/asf-logo.gif"></a></td></tr></table><table cellspacing="4" width="100%" border="0"><!--HEADER SEPARATOR--><tr><td colspan="2"><hr size="1" noshade></td></tr><tr><!--LEFT SIDE NAVIGATION--><td nowrap="true" valign="top" width="20%"><p><strong>Links</strong></p><ul><li><a href="../index.html">Docs Home</a></li><li><a href="index.html">Functional Specs</a></li></ul><p><strong>Administrative Apps</strong></p><ul><li><a href="fs-admin-apps.html">Overall Requirements</a></li><li><a href="mbean-names.html">Tomcat MBean Names</a></li><li><a href="fs-admin-objects.html">Administered Objects</a></li><li><a href="fs-admin-opers.html">Supported Operations</a></li></ul><p><strong>Internal Servlets</strong></p><ul><li><a href="fs-default.html">Default Servlet</a></li><li><a href="fs-invoker.html">Invoker Servlet</a></li></ul><p><strong>Realm Implementations</strong></p><ul><li><a href="fs-jdbc-realm.html">JDBC Realm</a></li><li><a href="fs-jndi-realm.html">JNDI Realm</a></li><li><a href="fs-memory-realm.html">Memory Realm</a></li></ul></td><!--RIGHT SIDE MAIN BODY--><td align="left" valign="top" width="80%"><table cellspacing="4" width="100%" border="0"><tr><td valign="top" align="left"><h1>Catalina Functional Specifications</h1><h2>JDBCRealm</h2></td><td nowrap="true" valign="top" align="right"><small><a href="printer/fs-jdbc-realm.html"><img alt="Printer Friendly Version" border="0" src="../images/printer.gif"><br>print-friendly<br>version | 
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| 4 |                     </a></small></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#525D76"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Overview"><strong>Overview</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 5 |  | 
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| 6 |  | 
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| 7 |   <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#828DA6"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Introduction"><strong>Introduction</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 8 |  | 
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| 9 |     <p>The purpose of the <strong>JDBCRealm</strong> implementation is to | 
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| 10 |     provide a mechanism by which Tomcat 6 can acquire information needed | 
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| 11 |     to authenticate web application users, and define their security roles, | 
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| 12 |     from a relational database accessed via JDBC APIs.  For integration | 
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| 13 |     with Catalina, the resulting class(es) must implement the | 
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| 14 |     <code>org.apache.catalina.Realm</code> interface.</p> | 
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| 15 |  | 
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| 16 |     <p>This specification reflects a combination of functionality that is | 
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| 17 |     already present in the <code>org.apache.catalina.realm.JDBCRealm</code> | 
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| 18 |     class, as well as requirements for enhancements that have been | 
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| 19 |     discussed.  Where appropriate, requirements statements are marked | 
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| 20 |     <em>[Current]</em> and <em>[Requested]</em> to distinguish them.</p> | 
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| 21 |  | 
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| 22 |     <p>The current status of this functional specification is | 
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| 23 |     <strong>PROPOSED</strong>.  It has not yet been discussed and | 
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| 24 |     agreed to on the TOMCAT-DEV mailing list.</p> | 
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| 25 |  | 
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| 26 |   </blockquote></td></tr></table> | 
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| 27 |  | 
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| 28 |  | 
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| 29 |   <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#828DA6"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="External Specifications"><strong>External Specifications</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 30 |  | 
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| 31 |     <p>The implementation of this functionality depends on the following | 
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| 32 |     external specifications:</p> | 
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| 33 |     <ul> | 
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| 34 |     <li><a href="http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc/">Java Database | 
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| 35 |         Connectivity</a> (version 2.0 or later)</li> | 
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| 36 |     <li><a href="http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc/">Java Database | 
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| 37 |         Connectivity Optional Package</a> (version 2.0 or later)</li> | 
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| 38 |     </ul> | 
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| 39 |  | 
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| 40 |   </blockquote></td></tr></table> | 
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| 41 |  | 
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| 42 |  | 
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| 43 |   <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#828DA6"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Implementation Requirements"><strong>Implementation Requirements</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 44 |  | 
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| 45 |     <p>The implementation of this functionality shall conform to the | 
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| 46 |     following requirements:</p> | 
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| 47 |     <ul> | 
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| 48 |     <li>Be realized in one or more implementation classes.</li> | 
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| 49 |     <li>Implement the <code>org.apache.catalina.Realm</code> interface. | 
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| 50 |         [Current]</li> | 
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| 51 |     <li>Implement the <code>org.apache.catalina.Lifecycle</code> | 
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| 52 |         interface.  [Current]</li> | 
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| 53 |     <li>Subclass the <code>org.apache.catalina.realm.RealmBase</code> | 
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| 54 |         base class.</li> | 
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| 55 |     <li>Live in the <code>org.apache.catalina.realm</code> package. | 
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| 56 |         [Current]</li> | 
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| 57 |     <li>Support a configurable debugging detail level. [Current]</li> | 
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| 58 |     <li>Log debugging and operational messages (suitably internationalized) | 
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| 59 |         via the <code>getContainer().log()</code> method. [Current]</li> | 
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| 60 |     </ul> | 
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| 61 |  | 
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| 62 |   </blockquote></td></tr></table> | 
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| 63 |  | 
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| 64 |  | 
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| 65 | </blockquote></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#525D76"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Dependencies"><strong>Dependencies</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 66 |  | 
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| 67 |  | 
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| 68 |   <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#828DA6"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Environmental Dependencies"><strong>Environmental Dependencies</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 69 |  | 
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| 70 |     <p>The following environmental dependencies must be met in order for | 
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| 71 |     JDBCRealm to operate correctly:</p> | 
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| 72 |     <ul> | 
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| 73 |     <li>The desire to utilize JDBCRealm must be registered in | 
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| 74 |         <code>$CATALINA_BASE/conf/server.xml</code>, in a | 
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| 75 |         <code><Realm></code> element that is nested inside a | 
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| 76 |         corresponding <code><Engine></code>, <code><Host></code>, | 
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| 77 |         or <code><Context></code> element.</li> | 
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| 78 |     </ul> | 
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| 79 |  | 
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| 80 |   </blockquote></td></tr></table> | 
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| 81 |  | 
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| 82 |  | 
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| 83 |   <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#828DA6"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Container Dependencies"><strong>Container Dependencies</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 84 |  | 
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| 85 |     <p>Correct operation of JDBCRealm depends on the following | 
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| 86 |     specific features of the surrounding container:</p> | 
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| 87 |     <ul> | 
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| 88 |     <li>Interactions with <code>JDBCRealm</code> will be initiated by | 
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| 89 |         the appropriate <code>Authenticator</code> implementation, based | 
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| 90 |         on the login method that is selected.</li> | 
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| 91 |     <li><code>JDBCRealm</code> must have the JDBC standard API classes | 
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| 92 |         available to it.  For a JDK 1.2 or later container, these APIs | 
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| 93 |         are included in the standard platform.</li> | 
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| 94 |     <li>When connection pooling is implemented, <code>JDBCRealm</code> | 
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| 95 |         must have the JDBC Optional Package (version 2.0 or later) APIs | 
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| 96 |         available to it.  This library is available as a separate | 
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| 97 |         download (and will be included in Tomcat binary distributions).</li> | 
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| 98 |     </ul> | 
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| 99 |  | 
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| 100 |   </blockquote></td></tr></table> | 
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| 101 |  | 
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| 102 |  | 
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| 103 | </blockquote></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#525D76"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Functionality"><strong>Functionality</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 104 |  | 
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| 105 |  | 
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| 106 |   <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#828DA6"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Overview of Operation"><strong>Overview of Operation</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 107 |  | 
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| 108 |     <p>The main purpose of <code>JDBCRealm</code> is to allow Catalina to | 
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| 109 |     authenticate users, and look up the corresponding security roles, from | 
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| 110 |     the information found in a relational database accessed via JDBC APIs. | 
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| 111 |     For maximum flexibility, the details of how this is done (for example, | 
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| 112 |     the names of the required tables and columns) should be configurable.</p> | 
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| 113 |  | 
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| 114 |     <p>Each time that Catalina needs to authenticate a user, it will call | 
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| 115 |     the <code>authenticate()</code> method of this Realm implementation, | 
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| 116 |     passing the username and password that were specified by the user.  If | 
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| 117 |     we find the user in the database (and match on the password), we accumulate | 
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| 118 |     all of the security roles that are defined for this user, and create a | 
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| 119 |     new <code>GenericPrincipal</code> object to be returned.  If the user | 
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| 120 |     is not authenticated, we return <code>null</code> instead.  The | 
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| 121 |     <code>GenericUser</code> object caches the set of security roles that | 
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| 122 |     were owned by this user at the time of authentication, so that calls to | 
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| 123 |     <code>isUserInRole()</code> can be answered without going back to the | 
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| 124 |     database every time.</p> | 
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| 125 |  | 
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| 126 |   </blockquote></td></tr></table> | 
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| 127 |  | 
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| 128 |  | 
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| 129 |   <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#828DA6"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Detailed Functional Requirements"><strong>Detailed Functional Requirements</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 130 |  | 
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| 131 |  | 
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| 132 |     <h3>Configurable Properties</h3> | 
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| 133 |  | 
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| 134 |     <p>The implementation shall support the following properties | 
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| 135 |     that can be configured with JavaBeans property setters:</p> | 
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| 136 |     <ul> | 
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| 137 |     <li>Configuration parameters defining the JDBC driver to use, the | 
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| 138 |         database connection URL to be accessed, and the username/password | 
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| 139 |         to use for logging in. [Current]</li> | 
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| 140 |     <li>Configuration parameters describing the connection pool to be | 
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| 141 |         created to support simultaneous authentications. [Requested]</li> | 
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| 142 |     <li>Name of the tables to be searched for users and roles. [Current]</li> | 
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| 143 |     <li>Name of the columns to be used for usernames, passwords, and | 
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| 144 |         role names.  [Current]</li> | 
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| 145 |     </ul> | 
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| 146 |  | 
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| 147 |     <h3>Lifecycle Functionality</h3> | 
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| 148 |  | 
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| 149 |     <p>The following processing must be performed when the <code>start()</code> | 
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| 150 |     method is called:</p> | 
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| 151 |     <ul> | 
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| 152 |     <li>Establish a connection to the configured database, using the | 
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| 153 |         configured username and password.  [Current]</li> | 
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| 154 |     <li>Configure and establish a connection pool of connections to the | 
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| 155 |         database.  [Requested]</li> | 
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| 156 |     </ul> | 
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| 157 |  | 
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| 158 |     <p>The following processing must be performed when the <code>stop()</code> | 
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| 159 |     method is called:</p> | 
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| 160 |     <ul> | 
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| 161 |     <li>Close any opened connections to the database.</li> | 
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| 162 |     </ul> | 
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| 163 |  | 
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| 164 |  | 
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| 165 |     <h3>Method authenticate() Functionality</h3> | 
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| 166 |  | 
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| 167 |     <p>When <code>authenticate()</code> is called, the following processing | 
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| 168 |     is required:</p> | 
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| 169 |     <ul> | 
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| 170 |     <li>Acquire the one and only connection [Current] or acquire a connection | 
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| 171 |         from the connection pool [Requested].</li> | 
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| 172 |     <li>Select the one and only row from the user's table for this user, | 
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| 173 |         and retrieve the corresponding password column.  If zero rows (or | 
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| 174 |         more than one row) are found, return <code>null</code>.</li> | 
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| 175 |     <li>Authenticate the user by comparing the (possibly encrypted) password | 
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| 176 |         value that was received against the password presented by the user. | 
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| 177 |         If there is no match, return <code>null</code>.</li> | 
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| 178 |     <li>Acquire a <code>List</code> of the security roles assigned to the | 
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| 179 |         authenticated user by selecting from the roles table.</li> | 
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| 180 |     <li>Construct a new instance of class | 
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| 181 |         <code>org.apache.catalina.realm.GenericPrincipal</code>, passing as | 
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| 182 |         constructor arguments:  this realm instance, the authenticated | 
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| 183 |         username, and a <code>List</code> of the security roles associated | 
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| 184 |         with this user.</li> | 
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| 185 |     <li><strong>WARNING</strong> - Do not attempt to cache and reuse previous | 
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| 186 |         <code>GenericPrincipal</code> objects for a particular user, because | 
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| 187 |         the information in the directory server might have changed since the | 
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| 188 |         last time this user was authenticated.</li> | 
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| 189 |     <li>Return the newly constructed <code>GenericPrincipal</code>.</li> | 
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| 190 |     </ul> | 
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| 191 |  | 
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| 192 |  | 
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| 193 |     <h3>Method hasRole() Functionality</h3> | 
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| 194 |  | 
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| 195 |     <p>When <code>hasRole()</code> is called, the following processing | 
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| 196 |     is required:</p> | 
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| 197 |     <ul> | 
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| 198 |     <li>The <code>principal</code> that is passed as an argument SHOULD | 
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| 199 |         be one that we returned (instanceof class | 
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| 200 |         <code>org.apache.catalina.realm.GenericPrincipal</code>, with a | 
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| 201 |         <code>realm</code> property that is equal to our instance.</li> | 
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| 202 |     <li>If the passed <code>principal</code> meets these criteria, check | 
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| 203 |         the specified role against the list returned by | 
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| 204 |         <code>getRoles()</code>, and return <code>true</code> if the | 
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| 205 |         specified role is included; otherwise, return <code>false</code>.</li> | 
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| 206 |     <li>If the passed <code>principal</code> does not meet these criteria, | 
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| 207 |         return <code>false</code>.</li> | 
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| 208 |     </ul> | 
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| 209 |  | 
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| 210 |   </blockquote></td></tr></table> | 
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| 211 |  | 
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| 212 | </blockquote></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#525D76"><font face="arial,helvetica.sanserif" color="#ffffff"><a name="Testable Assertions"><strong>Testable Assertions</strong></a></font></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote> | 
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| 213 |  | 
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| 214 |   <p>In addition the the assertions implied by the functionality requirements | 
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| 215 |   listed above, the following additional assertions shall be tested to | 
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| 216 |   validate the behavior of <code>JDBCRealm</code>:</p> | 
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| 217 |   <ul> | 
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| 218 |   </ul> | 
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| 219 |  | 
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| 220 | </blockquote></td></tr></table></td></tr><!--FOOTER SEPARATOR--><tr><td colspan="2"><hr size="1" noshade></td></tr><!--PAGE FOOTER--><tr><td colspan="2"><div align="center"><font size="-1" color="#525D76"><em> | 
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| 221 |         Copyright © 1999-2008, Apache Software Foundation | 
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| 222 |         </em></font></div></td></tr></table></body></html> | 
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