Windows Authentication on Novell network

Question

I'm currently architecting a .NET 3.5 application for a customer with a preference for Single Sign-On from Windows, but whom is running in a Novell Netware 6 environment (WinXP desktops).

Am I correct in thinking that this rules out the use of Integrated Windows Authentication inside a .NET application as a way of avoiding prompting the user for credentials?

Although they're on a Novell network (with eDirectory) the customer also maintains an Active Directory instance which can be used for application authentication, and as the application will have a WinForms component I'd like ideally to utilise Client Application Services to authenticate to AD. This will allow the same security model against all presentation layers, and also provides offline authentication which may be required.

However I'm not sure what my options are for retrieving a user's logged in credentials on the Desktop PC. If Windows Authentication is out of the question, is there another way of retrieving and passing the credentials through to Client Application Services?

Answer 1

The question you need to answer is whether the workstations are joined to the domain, and thus the users do a dual login. Once to the domain, once to eDirectory.

With eDirectory, and the basic Zenworks starter kit, they might have deployed a Dynamic Local User Policy (DLU) that once a successful eDirectory login is processed, generates a local Windows account on the fly, thus allowing them access to the local machine, without a preexisting local account.

If it is the former case, you are fine. If the latter (DLU) then you may have to investigate further.