System and method to control display of a realm name

• US 8,938,791 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2011
• Issued: 01/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'Donnell, William J., Bennett, Paul William, Ferracane, Elisa, Karkala, Ajay Reddy, Le, Ut Van, Thompson, Michael Craig
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TU T
• Application Number:
  US13/157,633
• Publication Number:
  US 20120317633A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,320 Days
• Field of Search: 726/10
• US Class Current: 726/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/305 by remotely controlling device operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/84 output devices, e.g. displays or monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2119 Authenticating web pages, e.g. with suspicious links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]

Abstract

A method for dynamically assigning a displayable realm name begins upon receipt of an authentication request to an application, such as a web application, being executed by an application server. In response, a determination is made whether an application realm name has been set in a configuration file associated with the application. If not, a custom display property is then evaluated. If the custom display property is set true, a realm name associated with an active authentication mechanism is retrieved and provided for display in an authentication panel. If the custom display property is set false, a default string is provided for display in the authentication panel. In this manner, an application server administrator can control what realm name is displayed to an end user in the event an application developer has not specified the realm name in the application configuration.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically assigning a displayable realm name, comprising:

responsive to an authentication request, determining, by a server executing on a hardware element, whether an application realm name has been set;

when the application realm name has not been set, determining whether a realm name display property has been set;

when the realm name display property has been set, retrieving a realm name associated with an active authentication mechanism being used to respond to the authentication request; and

when the display property has not been set, providing a default string for display as the realm name.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein determination of whether the application realm name has been set examines an application configuration file.

3. The method as described in claim 2 further including displaying the application realm name when the application realm name is located in the application configuration file.

4. The method as described in claim 1 further including displaying the realm name associated with the active authentication mechanism when the realm name display property is set.

5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the active authentication mechanism is Kerberos and the realm name associated with the active authentication mechanism is a Kerberos realm name.

6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the active authentication mechanism is Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) and the realm name associated with the active authentication mechanism is a registry realm name.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the authentication request is a basic authentication request.

8. The method as described in claim 1 further including setting the realm name display property.

9. Apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

computer memory holding computer program instructions executed by the processor for dynamically assigning a displayable realm name, the computer program instructions comprising;

program code responsive to an authentication request, determining whether an application realm name has been set;

program code operative when the application realm name has not been set to determine whether a realm name display property has been set;

program code operative when the realm name display property has been set to retrieve a realm name associated with an active authentication mechanism being used to respond to the authentication request; and

program code operative when the display property has not been set to provide a default string for display as the realm name.

10. The apparatus as described in claim 9 wherein determination of whether the application realm name has been set examines an application configuration file.

11. The apparatus as described in claim 10 wherein the computer program instructions further includes program code displays the application realm name when the application realm name is located in the application configuration file.

12. The apparatus as described in claim 9 wherein the computer program instructions further includes program code displays the realm name associated with the active authentication mechanism when the realm name display property is set.

13. The apparatus as described in claim 9 wherein the active authentication mechanism is Kerberos and the realm name associated with the active authentication mechanism is a Kerberos realm name.

14. The apparatus as described in claim 9 wherein the active authentication mechanism is Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) and the realm name associated with the active authentication mechanism is a registry realm name.

15. The apparatus as described in claim 9 wherein the authentication request is a basic authentication request.

16. The apparatus as described in claim 9 wherein the computer program instructions further includes program code sets the realm name display property.

17. A computer program product in a non-transitory computer readable medium for use in a data processing system, the computer program product holding computer program instructions which, when executed by the data processing system, perform a method for dynamically assigning a displayable realm name, the method comprising:

responsive to an authentication request, determining whether an application realm name has been set;

when the application realm name has not been set, determining whether a realm name display property has been set;

when the realm name display property has been set, retrieving a realm name associated with an active authentication mechanism being used to respond to the authentication request; and

when the display property has not been set, providing a default string for display as the realm name.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 17 wherein determination of whether the application realm name has been set examines an application configuration file.

19. The computer program product as described in claim 18 wherein the method further includes displaying the application realm name when the application realm name is located in the application configuration file.

20. The computer program product as described in claim 17 wherein the method further includes displaying the realm name associated with the active authentication mechanism when the realm name display property is set.

21. The computer program product as described in claim 17 wherein the active authentication mechanism is Kerberos and the realm name associated with the active authentication mechanism is a Kerberos realm name.

22. The computer program product as described in claim 17 wherein the active authentication mechanism is Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) and the realm name associated with the active authentication mechanism is a registry realm name.

23. The computer program product as described in claim 17 wherein the authentication request is a basic authentication request.

24. The computer program product as described in claim 17 wherein the method further includes setting the realm name display property.

25. Apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

computer memory holding computer program instructions that when executed by the processor during an authentication (i) dynamically determines a displayable realm name by examining a custom display property, and (ii)(a) when the custom display property is set to a first value, provides for display a first realm name, and (ii)(b) when the custom display property is set to a second value, provides for display a second realm name;

wherein the first realm name is associated with an active authentication mechanism, and the second realm name is a default string.