Authentication

For this page 'Authentication' refers to 'how the the usernames+passwords are handled when a user logs in to the Gong system'.

If you are using Gong with Moodle...

If you are using Gong with Moodle then you can forget about reading the rest of this page. Authentication between Moodle and Gong is handled automatically by Gong and no special server parameters need to be set.

Using Gong Authentication

If you don't currently use any computer system for the people who will use Gong, then you can simply make usernames and passwords using the Gong system. We call this 'Gong authentication' because Gong is the system that checks the username+password combinations.

Using CAS or LDAP Authentication

WHAT ARE CAS AND LDAP?

CAS

The Central Authentication Service is a protocol providing single sign-on support for web applications using a central server. It is initially developed in Yale University. Now it is a project in the Java Architectures Special Interest Group. You can find more information from the JA-SIG CAS website.

LDAP

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is a protocol for maintaining directory services on the Internet. A directory service is a directory structure storing different types of data. LDAP is also commonly used as an authentication service as it contains an authentication operation for the directory service. For more information we suggest you visit the Wikipedia entry on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) .

However, perhaps you are implementing Gong in a School or University which already has a computer system which requires users to type in a username and password to log on. If that system supports the CAS or LDAP authentication methods then it is possible to configure Gong to use the same system for handling username+password checking when users log on to Gong. This means that, for example, students don't need to remember a separate username and password for the Gong system, they can simply use the same information they already use for the other system already being used.

To enable CAS or LDAP authentication the Gong server has to be configured accordingly by altering the settings in the gongServer.ini file.

CAS Settings

Value	Description
CAS.LoginURL	The URL which asks for CAS username and password
CAS.ServiceURL	The service URL used as the identifier of the Gong system

LDAP Settings

Value	Description
LDAP.HostURL	The full URL of the LDAP server
LDAP.BaseDN	The base distinguished name of the directory
LDAP.UserAttribute	The attribute to be identified as the username

The Choices of Authentication Type for Gong User

After setting the appropriate values in the gongServer.ini you can then select one of the Gong authentication, CAS authentication or LDAP authentication for each person in the Gong system. An example of an authentication type being assigned to the user is shown on the right.

For all three types of authentication the user must exist in the Gong system before he/she can log in.