session auth and AWS auth

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hello

I have 2 applications (1 normal, 1 Beast Forum) that set the session domain to be the same so that they can share information between them (they use the same database). However, i am not 100% clear on how I can expose the controller methods to each of them through normal HTTP Auth, and keep the normal acts_as_authenticated pieces in place at the same time?

Is there a way to distinguish web-service calls through AWS from normal browser call and authenticate them differently ?

Thanks

Adam

2

I've done this in 2 ways: - Have the web service actions behind a filter that effectively says 'localhost only' (or local subnet only if you have several machine on a private network) - Normal requests arrive on port 80, have a apache set an http header for you (eg 'EXTERNAL_REQUEST'), have web service requests arrive on some other port (eg 81) and don't set that. Only allow web-service requests if EXTERNAL_REQUEST is not set (and let the firewall take care of not allowing anyone else query you on port 81)

Fred

3

Thanks, the first option doest really work if the app and the WS need to use the same action.

How do you actually handle authentication? I assume you dont use acts_as_authenticated, do you use this new http_authentication method?

4

Thanks, the first option doest really work if the app and the WS
need to use the same action.

Ah I hadn't got that

How do you actually handle authentication? I assume you dont use
acts_as_authenticated, do you use this new http_authentication method?

I've got some home grown stuff (session stuff). It's never for us the
case that an action is accessed in both ways.

I think what I outline below still helps. acts_as_authenticated gives
you a login_required filter. You could instead have a filter that
looks like

def web_service_or_login    login_required unless is_a_web_service_request? end

Where is_a_web_service_request? determines whether the request is one
from a webservice (possibly using one of the thigns I described).

Fred