ASP.NET Membership Provider - Single Login

Question

I'm considering utilizing the ASP.NET Membership Provider for a few different web apps/tools with a single login approach.

REQUIREMENTS

User logs in to my.domain.com and sees a list of apps/tools that they have permission to use. The user selects the tool they'd like to use and clicks the link. When the tool opens, it is able to identify that they are currently logged in and who they are to identify any unique permissions to the application.

I know that each app could simply point to the same back end Membership Provider DB, however will each app require a login or will it be able to identify if the user is already logged in?

Answer 1

If the tools are under the same domain/sub-domain, you'll have no problem. This is limitation by the cookies used to keep the logged user's token. If you need cross-domain unified login you can review Windows Identity Foundation.

Answer 2

Each app can use the same login as long as the ApplicationName is the same and they are pointing to the same database.

See the answer here: http://forums.asp.net/t/1322863.aspx for more details.

Edit - added

It's also covered here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms998347.aspx

Answer 3

1. You will want to generate a common machineKey section to share amongst all sites.

2. You will want to ensure that the application names are identical

3. You will want to ensure the connection strings are identical

4. You will want to ensure that allowCrossAppRedirects in forms element is enabled

Answer 4

I also want to devleop similar app. Did you find a solution?