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Overview of Voyager External Patron Authentication

Overview of Voyager External Patron Authentication. Michael Doran, Systems Librarian. Ex Libris Southwest Users Group February 6, 2008 – Santa Ana College. Standard Patron Authentication - User Perspective -. The user clicks the “Login” (or “Patron”, etc.) button. ... gets a login form.

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Overview of Voyager External Patron Authentication

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  1. Overview of VoyagerExternal Patron Authentication Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Ex Libris Southwest Users Group February 6, 2008 –Santa Ana College

  2. Standard Patron Authentication- User Perspective - The user clicks the “Login” (or “Patron”, etc.) button... ... gets a login form... ... enters credentials and submits... Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  3. Standard Patron Authentication- User Perspective - Once logged in, the user has access to their patron information, requests, MyOPAC functionality, etc. Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  4. External Patron Authentication- User Perspective - The user clicks the “Login” (or “Patron”, etc.) button... ... gets a login form... ... enters credentials and submits... Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  5. External Patron Authentication- User Perspective - Once logged in, the user has access to their patron information, requests, MyOPAC functionality, etc. Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  6. What’s the Difference? From a user perspective the login experience is pretty much the same, regardless of whether he/she uses standard Voyager patron authentication or an external authentication system. A sharp-eyed user might notice that another web application comes into play during external authentication.... Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  7. Standard Patron Authentication Everything is handled by WebVoyáge (i.e. Pwebrecon.cgi) Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  8. Standard Patron Authentication Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  9. External Patron Authentication WebVoyáge hands over control... ... to an “adaptor”... query string Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  10. External Patron Authentication ... the adaptor does the authentication... ... and then returns control to WebVoyáge Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  11. WebVoyáge to Adaptor Hand Off PAGE=pbLogonPatron&PID=2063&SEQ=20040921144400 “query string” WebVoyáge [Pwebrecon.cgi] Authentication Adaptor [customer-adaptor.cgi] What determines whether this hand off occurs? ... Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  12. ExtAuthenticationSystem stanza The opac.ini configuration file contains a stanza called ExtAuthenticationSystem. The parameters in this stanza control the initial hand-off to a patron authentication adaptor. [ExtAuthenticationSystem] ExtAuthSystemEnabled=Y ExtAuthBypassLoginScreen=Y ExtAuthSubmitText=Login with NetID ExtAuthSystemURL=/cgi-bin/customer-adaptor.cgi ExtAuthButtonMethod=GET Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  13. ExtAuthenticationSystem stanza To totally bypass the WebVoyáge login screen: [ExtAuthenticationSystem] ExtAuthSystemEnabled=Y ExtAuthBypassLoginScreen=Y ExtAuthSubmitText=Login with NetID ExtAuthSystemURL=/cgi-bin/customer-adaptor.cgi ExtAuthButtonMethod=GET Takes user directly to external authentication login screen. Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  14. ExtAuthenticationSystem stanza To give users the option of logging in using the standard WebVoyáge or the external authentication: [ExtAuthenticationSystem] ExtAuthSystemEnabled=Y ExtAuthBypassLoginScreen=N ExtAuthSubmitText=Login with NetID ExtAuthSystemURL=/cgi-bin/customer-adaptor.cgi ExtAuthButtonMethod=GET Takes user to standard WebVoyáge login screen... ...which includes a button linking to the adaptor login screen. Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  15. Now where did I put that adaptor? • Patron authentication adaptor feature “functionality that allows WebVoyáge to communicate with an external authentication program, via a customer-developed authentication adaptor” • Patron authentication adaptor “the customer-developed adaptor which provides the communications bridge between WebVoyáge and the external authentication program” The patron authentication adaptor referred to is a computer program. Customer-developed means you get to write it. Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  16. Authentication Adaptor Tasks • When first called: • Parse and store WebVoyáge query string • The query string contains the data such as the PID (“process ID”) which identifies the session and is necessary for maintaining session state. • Generate HTML code for a patron login form • in order to gather desired user credentials Authentication Adaptor [customer-adaptor.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  17. Authentication Adaptor Tasks After user credentials are submitted: • Query external authentication system • Get “yea” or “nay” on user • Retrieve “Institution ID” • If yea, insert a record into the • WOPAC_PID_PATRON_KEYS table: • PID (saved from query string) • Institution ID • Return control to WebVoyáge via a redirect • to Pwebrecon.cgi URL appended with: • Original (saved) query string, plus • Authentication key-value pair Authentication Adaptor [customer-adaptor.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  18. Authentication Adaptor Tasks After user credentials are submitted: • Query external authentication system • Get “yea” or “nay” on user • Retrieve “Institution ID” • If yea, insert a record into the • WOPAC_PID_PATRON_KEYS table: • PID (saved from query string) • Institution ID • Return control to WebVoyáge via a redirect • to Pwebrecon.cgi URL appended with: • Original (saved) query string, plus • Authentication key-value pair Authentication Adaptor [customer-adaptor.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  19. Authentication Systems There are many authentication systems... • LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) • Kerberos • NIS/NIS+ (Network Information Service) • SMB (Windows) • Shibboleth • RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) • etc... • In addition, authentication systems such as LDAP will differ in internal data structure from one organization to another. Time out! Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  20. Which means... The multitude of authentication systems, as well as the fact that the systems can vary in internal data structure, are the principle reasons why Voyager comes with a WebVoyáge patron authentication adaptor feature, but not an actual patron authentication adaptor. And which are also why the feature is entirely authentication-system neutral, but the adaptor itself is by necessity, authentication-system specific. Systems Librarian Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  21. Authentication Adaptor Tasks After user credentials are submitted: • Query external authentication system • Get “yea” or “nay” on user • Retrieve “Institution ID” • If yea, insert a record into the • WOPAC_PID_PATRON_KEYS table: • PID (saved from query string) • Institution ID • Return control to WebVoyáge via a redirect • to Pwebrecon.cgi URL appended with: • Original (saved) query string, plus • Authentication key-value pair Authentication Adaptor [customer-adaptor.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  22. Query External Authentication System • Adaptor sends formatted query containing username and password • Authentication system replies with success/failure response plus user information if success Authentication Adaptor [customer-adaptor.cgi] Authentication System [e.g. LDAP] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  23. Plus user information? dn:cedarid=10856915705,cn=people,dc=uta,dc=edu objectClass: top person inetOrgPerson utaPerson cedarid: 10856915705 utaSSN: 123456789 mail: doran@uta.edu utaDiscloseInfo: email utaMiddleName: d cn: michael d doran sn: doran givenName: michael displayName: doran, michael d utaPrevAccountName: doran utaAccountName: doran uid: doranmd Example response from UTA OpenLDAP server (a “people” record) Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  24. Needed: Institution ID dn:cedarid=10856915705,cn=people,dc=uta,dc=edu objectClass: top person inetOrgPerson utaPerson cedarid: 10856915705 utaSSN: 123456789 mail: doran@uta.edu utaDiscloseInfo: email utaMiddleName: d cn: michael d doran sn: doran givenName: michael displayName: doran, michael d utaPrevAccountName: doran utaAccountName: doran uid: doranmd The authenticator response needs to be parsed for a value (preferably the Institution ID) that can be used to identify that user’s Voyager patron record. Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  25. Standard Patron Authentication Authentication confirms an identity. The standard WebVoyáge login process authenticates a user by matching the user input (last name and identifier) against patron records to identify a unique patron record. Voyager Tables XXXDB.PATRON PATRON_ID SSAN NORMAL_LAST_NAME NORMAL_INSTITUTION_ID XXXDB.PATRON_BARCODE PATRON_ID PATRON_BARCODE Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  26. Authentication Adaptor Tasks After user credentials are submitted: • Query external authentication system • Get “yea” or “nay” on user • Retrieve “Institution ID” • If yea, insert a record into the • WOPAC_PID_PATRON_KEYS table: • PID (saved from query string) • Institution ID • Return control to WebVoyáge via a redirect • to Pwebrecon.cgi URL appended with: • Original (saved) query string, plus • Authentication key-value pair Authentication Adaptor [customer-adaptor.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  27. Provide a Unique Patron Identifier Although you’ve confirmed the user’s identity within the external system, WebVoyáge needs to be able to identify a unique patron record internal to the Voyager database. The Patron Authentication Adaptor feature is designed to use the Institution ID to match on the Voyager patron record for that user. The customer adaptor must insert that value as well as the PID value into a Voyager database table (via an SQL DML statement). insert into XXXDB.WOPAC_PID_PATRON_KEYS (PID, PATRON_KEY) values (‘2063','123456789') cedarid: 10856915705 utaSSN: 123456789 mail: doran@uta.edu PID value from saved query string Institution ID value from authenticator response Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  28. Authentication Adaptor Tasks After user credentials are submitted: • Query external authentication system • Get “yea” or “nay” on user • Retrieve “Institution ID” • If yea, insert a record into the • WOPAC_PID_PATRON_KEYS table: • PID (saved from query string) • Institution ID • Return control to WebVoyáge via a redirect • to Pwebrecon.cgi URL appended with: • Original (saved) query string, plus • Authentication key-value pair Authentication Adaptor [customer-adaptor.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  29. Adaptor to WebVoyáge Hand Off PAGE=pbLogonPatron&PID=2063&SEQ=20040921144400&authenticate=Y “query string” Authentication Adaptor [customer-adaptor.cgi] WebVoyáge [Pwebrecon.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  30. WebVoyáge Back on the Job PAGE=pbLogonPatron&PID=2063&SEQ=20040921144400&authenticate=Y authenticate=Y A successful external authentication (“Y”) results in WebVoyáge retrieving the record inserted into the WOPAC_PID_PATRON_KEYS table by the adaptor. authenticate=N An authentication failure (“N”) results in WebVoyáge displaying an error message, and returning the user to a login screen. WebVoyáge [Pwebrecon.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  31. Retrieving Unique Identifier PAGE=pbLogonPatron&PID=2063&SEQ=20040921144400&authenticate=Y The query string PID value lets Voyager know which WOPAC record to retrieve. XXXDB.WOPAC_PID_PATRON_KEYS PID PATRON_KEY ------- ----------- 2049 555339876 2063 123456789 2068 333221234 ... Voyager grabs the PATRON_KEY value for that PID and then deletes that record in the WOPAC table. WebVoyáge [Pwebrecon.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  32. Looking Up Patron Record WebVoyáge compares the PATRON_KEY value with normalized Institution ID values in the patron table. XXXDB.PATRON PATRON_ID 123456789 NORMAL_INSTITUTION_ID A successful match means that Voyager has identified the user, and the user can then be logged in and the requested page provided. If no match is found, WebVoyáge displays an error message and returns the user to the login screen. WebVoyáge [Pwebrecon.cgi] Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  33. The “Institution ID” Blues The PATRON_KEY value inserted into the Voyager “WOPAC” table has to be the Institution ID since that is the field in the patron record that it will be matched against. Barcodes and social security numbers (that aren’t also Institution IDs) will not work. • This can be a problem if: • 1) Your organization doesn’t use Institution IDs and/or your library doesn’t populate that field in the Voyager PATRON table, or... • You have Institution IDs in the Voyager PATRON table, but the external authorization system doesn’t return an attribute containing a user’s Institution ID. Systems Librarian Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  34. Work-Arounds The bottom line is that the Institution ID field of the patron record has to be populated with unique identifiers in order to use the WebVoyáge external patron authentication feature. If your organization uses social security numbers as the de facto institution IDs, then patron update SIF files must include social security numbers in the Institution ID field in addition to the SSAN field. If the external authentication system doesn’t return the Institution ID values that you have in your Voyager patron records, but returns another unique identifier included in your patron records, it may be possible to have the authentication adaptor query Voyager for the appropriate Institution ID prior to inserting a record into the WOPAC table. Systems Librarian Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  35. Ex Libris Documentation The Voyager Technical User’s Guide, Appendix C contains “WebVoyáge Patron Authentication Adaptor feature”. Note: Ex Libris has substantially revised the WebVoyáge Patron Authentication Adaptor documentation since the initial release. Always the best place to start... Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  36. Constructing an adaptor • There are no real restrictions on the programming language used... • Perl • Java/JSP • C/C++ • Shell script • whatever • However... it saves a lot of work to have pre-built components/modules for: • parsing CGI form data, • interfacing with an Oracle database, and • interfacing with the desired authentication system. Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  37. Perl is a good choice • CGI.pm module or cgi-lib.pl library for processing CGI forms • DBI and DBD::Oracle modules for interfacing with the Voyager database • Net::LDAP or Net::LDAPS modules for interfacing with an LDAP server • Plus many other authentication modules available on CPAN Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  38. Authentication adaptorsfor LDAP written in Perl Flatten out the learning curve by adapting these two Perl scripts created by other Voyager customers. “Adaptor Example Source Code” A production-worthy Voyager third-party patron authentication adaptor script using Perl to query an LDAP server by Michael Doran, University of Texas at Arlington http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/adaptor/ “login” An authentication script used to authenticate access to Voyager's MyOPAC [This is also a production level script, in Perl] by Steve Thomas, University of Adelaide http://staff.library.adelaide.edu.au/sthomas/scripts/voyager/login.html Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  39. An authentication adaptorfor Kerberos written in Java Or if Java is more your cup of tea, take a look at this EndUser presentation: “External Patron Authentication” EndUser 2004, Session 35 by Jeff Barnett, Gail Barnett, and Kalee Sprague, Yale University http://support.endinfosys.com/cust/community/vgroup/eu2004/tech.html or http://www.library.yale.edu/~jbarnett/EndUser2004/session35.ppt Yale University Library developed an external patron authentication adaptor written in Java. It authenticates against a Kerberos server. For more info see: http://www.library.yale.edu/~jbarnett/EndUser2004/ Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  40. Some Voyager sites usingexternal patron authentication • Columbia University • Tarrant County College • Monash University • University of Adelaide • University of British Columbia • University of Texas at Arlington • Washington Research Library Consortium • Worcester Polytechnic Institute • Yale University Get a fuller list of implementing libraries at: http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/adaptor/voysites.html Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  41. This presentation… …was an overview You might also want to take a look at… Creating an LDAP Patron Authentication Adaptor (using Perl) Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

  42. Any questions? Michael Doran, Systems Librarian

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