If the application uses #1, then that typically does not work through webNetwork properly. This is because for efficiency we “pool” connections to the
back end server and share those connections with users on the front end. This means that more than one user has its data over the connection to the back end application and the IIS server gets confused as to who is who because it is tracking the connection number instead of a session id / cookie sent with each request.
The fix is to set the application on the IIS server to ALSO use basic authentication and on the webapplication object in webNetwork set the authentication to disable NTLM.
Depending on the application they may also support some type of form authentication
.
The symptoms that you have a problem are when one user is logged clicks into the portal, on the link for the application and then another user logs into the portal and clicks on the link and ends up seeing information from the first user.
Some common questions about adding basic authentication in addition to NTLM on the IIS server.
Question) I thought webNetwork supported NTLM ?
Answer) We do, but this is a special case and because we pool connection to the back end server, the IIS server gets confused as to what user is requesting information.
Question) Basic authentication is insecure.
Answer) True, but basic authentication is only being used from the stoneware server to the IIS server. The user NEVER sends their username and password, the Stoneware webNetwork relay sees that the IIS server requested BASIC authentication and intercepts that requests and sends it on behalf of the user. Thus if the Stoneware server and the IIS server are in the same data center, the password never leaves the data center.
Question) We want users on the inside of the LAN that are not using the portal to still use NTLM for authentication.
Answer) Adding basic authentication along with NTLM (windows authentication) on the IIS server will present the user with the option of NTLM or basic. The browser will choose NTLM when they are both offered.