IWMSServer.Authenticators (Visual Basic .NET)

The Authenticators property retrieves an IWMSPluginsIWMSPlugins Object (Visual Basic .NET) containing a collection of authentication plug-ins. You can use authentication plug-ins to establish the identity of clients that are requesting connections.

IWMSPlugins = IWMSServer.Authenticators

Property Value

An IWMSPlugins object containing the collection of authentication plug-ins.

Remarks

There is no limit to the number of plug-ins that can be in this collection. Authentication plug-ins can use any of the following methods to identify clients:

  • The plug-in can request that the client supply a password and user name. The password can be encrypted or sent as clear text.

  • The plug-in can identify the client based on logon credentials.

  • The plug-in can ignore passwords, user names, and logon credentials.

If the plug-in is able to authenticate the client, it sends information about the client to the authorization plug-in to determine whether access permission can be granted.

The following system plug-ins can be accessed using the Authenticators property.

Plug-in

Description

WMS Anonymous User Authentication

Enables an unauthenticated user to access content without being prompted for either a password or user name. The client is granted the same access permissions granted to the Windows user account specified in the property page for the plug-in.

WMS Digest Authentication

Prompts the client for a user name and password to verify identity. Because a hashed version of the password is used, Digest authentication is more secure than using Basic authentication, but not as secure as NTLM or Kerberos authentication.

WMS Negotiate Authentication

Supports both NTLM and Kerberos authentication protocols, and uses logon credentials to verify the identity of the client. The password is encrypted.

To create custom authentication plug-ins, see Creating Authentication Plug-ins.

Example

Imports Microsoft.WindowsMediaServices.Interop
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

Private Sub GetAuthenticators()

    ' Declare variables.
    Dim Server As WMSServer
    Dim Plugins As IWMSPlugins

Try
    ' Create the WMSServer object.
    Server = New WMSServer()

    ' Retrieve the IWMSPlugins interface
    ' containing authentication plug-ins.
    Plugins = Server.Authenticators

Catch excCom As COMException
    ' TODO: Handle COM exceptions.
Catch exc As Exception
    ' TODO: Handle errors.
Finally
    ' TODO: Clean-up code goes here.
End Try

End Sub

Requirements

Reference: Add a reference to Microsoft.WindowsMediaServices.

Namespace: Microsoft.WindowsMediaServices.Interop.

Assembly: Microsoft.WindowsMediaServices.dll.

Library: WMSServerTypeLib.dll.

Platform: Windows Server 2003 family, Windows Server 2008 family.

See Also

Reference

IWMSPlugins Object (Visual Basic .NET)

IWMSServer Object (Visual Basic .NET)