newbie question.

[Peter Schober]

* PARDEE, MARTIN  (MARTIN) <mlp at research.att.com> [2012-05-07 17:12]:
> I would like to extend this setup so that my IdP uses an external
> authentication service instead of LDAP. I have a "real"
> authentication service , but rather than go for the highest level of
> complexity at first, I'd just like to have my external auth service
> do something like look up the Userid in a flat file, and return an
> Authenticated/Not Authenticated indication based on that lookup.

As far as (communication with) the IdP is concerned that amounts to
the same thing (i.e., it's not in any way simpler than the "highest
level of conplexity").
The only thing simpler is using an authentication system the IdP
supports directly, but a. you've already done that (LDAP via JAAS) and
b. you specifically want to integrate with an external system of
unkown design.

> Can someone point me to a simple example of this kind of
> customization, or, could someone suggest an article, blog, or web
> page that would help me understand the overall mechanics of this
> problem?  I have read about Login Handlers, IdPAuthExternal,
> etc. but so far the big picture of what I am doing here has not yet
> come into focus.

I don't think there's a shortcut to reading the existing documention
and asking specific questions about it. Same as with most open source
projects (unless you want to hunt down gazillion misinformed and now
outdated blog entries).
-peter