Ruby in Practice

Chapter 11. Identity and authentication

This chapter covers:

• Storing passwords securely
• Authenticating users against LDAP and Active Directory
• Authenticating Rails applications using restful_authentication
• Authenticating semiprivate personal feeds
• Authenticating using HTTP Basic authentication
• Authenticating Rails applications using OpenID

Trust is the foundation of successful networked systems. If you are providing a personalized service over a network, you need to be able to trust that your users are who they say they are, and your users must trust you with their identity and their personal data. This chapter looks primarily at how you can trust your users—by implementing a robust authentication mechanism. How well you execute that authentication ...