/*
* @(#)JMXAuthenticator.java 1.14 05/11/17
*
* Copyright 2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
* SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
*/
package javax.management.remote;
import java.security.Principal;
import javax.security.auth.Subject;
/**
* <p>Interface to define how remote credentials are converted into a
* JAAS Subject. This interface is used by the RMI Connector Server,
* and can be used by other connector servers.</p>
*
* <p>The user-defined authenticator instance is passed to the
* connector server in the environment map as the value of the
* attribute {@link JMXConnectorServer#AUTHENTICATOR}. For connector
* servers that use only this authentication system, if this attribute
* is not present or its value is <code>null</code> then no user
* authentication will be performed and full access to the methods
* exported by the <code>MBeanServerConnection</code> object will be
* allowed.</p>
*
* <p>If authentication is successful then an authenticated
* {@link Subject subject} filled in with its associated
* {@link Principal principals} is returned. Authorization checks
* will be then performed based on the given set of principals.</p>
*
* @since 1.5
* @since.unbundled 1.0
*/
public interface JMXAuthenticator {
/**
* <p>Authenticates the <code>MBeanServerConnection</code> client
* with the given client credentials.</p>
*
* @param credentials the user-defined credentials to be passed
* into the server in order to authenticate the user before
* creating the <code>MBeanServerConnection</code>. The actual
* type of this parameter, and whether it can be null, depends on
* the connector.
*
* @return the authenticated subject containing its associated principals.
*
* @exception SecurityException if the server cannot authenticate the user
* with the provided credentials.
*/
public Subject authenticate(Object credentials);
}