On Monday 24 October 2005 18:36, Chin Kah Yi wrote: > Dearest squid expert out there, > > Don't mind me being asking again - but why was authentication designed > not to work with wccp? If transparent proxy design is required together > with authentication, is there any alternative I could work on? With WCCP you are intercepting the HTTP request from the HTTP client. The HTTP client assumes that it is communicating with the HTTP server. If the HTTP intercept proxy were to request authentication, you would have one of the following problems. (1) The HTTP client would present the credentials that it saved from the last time that it accessed the HTTP server to the HTTP intercept proxy. These credentials would fail the authentication tests and access would be denied. (2) If the HTTP client did not have any credentials saved, the user would present the credentials requested by the HTTP intercept proxy. The HTTP client would save the authenticated credentials. If the HTTP server does not require authentication, there is no problem. (3) If the HTTP server requires authentication, the HTTP client would present the credentials required by the HTTP intercept proxy. The authentication would fail and the HTTP client would be prompted to provide new credentials. Obviously, this leads to a condition where the HTTP client needs to supply multiple credentials on every access. It is important to note that not all HTTP clients are browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Safari, etc.). Many are applications or services such as AIM, Jabber, Real Audio, etc. It might be possible to implement authentication in an HTTP intercept proxy were realms consistently used and understood by all HTTP clients and servers. However, the last time that I looked at this problem (ca. 1999), I discovered that while HTTP clients tended to deal with realms correctly there was a wide variance in the way realms were implemented in HTTP servers with Microsoft IIS being the biggest problem. Merton Campbell Crockett -- BEGIN: vcard VERSION: 3.0 FN: Merton Campbell Crockett ORG: General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems; Intelligence and Exploitation Systems N: Crockett;Merton;Campbell EMAIL;TYPE=internet: mcc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx TEL;TYPE=work,voice,msg,pref: +1(805)497-5045 TEL;TYPE=work,fax: +1(805)497-5050 TEL;TYPE=cell,voice,msg: +1(805)377-6762 END: vcard
