During my recent interaction with a development team, I came across a few queries. Hence, I decided to cover those general questions as part of a few upcoming articles.
The very first question I received is: When should one go for Windows authentication and when should one go for Form-based authentication?
Now here, one of the common responses is, use Forms authentication whenever the user can supply a username/password and go for Windows authentication whenever the user can use the Windows Login System.
No doubt, this response is correct. But there are a few more points to elaborate on. Let’s have a look at those.
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If the user accounts are created in AD – go for Windows authentication using ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider
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If the user accounts are created in the database, i.e. SQL Server – go for Forms-based authentication using respective membership providers, i.e. SqlMembershipProvider
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If user accounts are created in a database whose direct membership providers are not available – go for Forms-based authentication by writing a custom provider
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If Windows authentication cannot be used with AD for any reason – go for Forms-based authentication
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If you need more secure policies for password management - go for Windows authentication.
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If you want to use existing account management tools - go for Windows authentication.
I hope these few points will add to your knowledge. Happy learning.
Susan ChuehPosted Dec 12, 2019, 4:33 PM
I wanted to get in touch to see if there is a chance to offer a network scanner dedicated for SharePoint users for review. There is Sharepoint network scanner from Plustek that recognizes both Window and Form Based Authentication allows direct scanning to the system without going through a PC. Let me know if you are interested.