Authentication Classes and Interfaces

To authenticate a subject (user or service), the following steps are performed:

1. An application instantiates a LoginContext.
2. The LoginContext consults a Configuration to load all of the LoginModules configured for that application.
3. The application invokes the LoginContext's login method.
4. The login method invokes all of the loaded LoginModules. Each LoginModule attempts to authenticate the subject. Upon success, LoginModules associate relevant Principals and credentials with a Subject object that represents the subject being authenticated.
5. The LoginContext returns the authentication status to the application.
6. If authentication succeeded, the application retrieves the Subject from the LoginContext.

The authentication classes are described in the following sections.