openid authentication tables and what do they mean

Question

Hello,

I installed the ruby on rails plugin "open_id_authentication". After running the migration it created two tables "open_id_authentication_associations" and "open_id_authentication_nonces" does anyone know what those tables do and how they are used?

Thanks

Answer 1

iHeartDucks,

Here is a site that has much more discussion on what exactly is happening with the open_id_authentication plugin, and why it needs these tables. You will find:

These tables, "open_id_authentication_associations" and "open_id_authentication_nonces", store information about the messages received from OpenID identity providers, including authentication keys.

Thanks!

Answer 2

The open_id_authentication_nonces table stores the openid.response_nonce value, which is basically a string starting with a timestamp and ending with a unique value.

The open_id_authentication_associations table stores information like the OpenID server url, username, secret, etc - the information needed for the user to authenticate.