best way implement web service with authentication.

[modi]

hi,
We guys have implement a webservice wherein we authenticate the user
by passing the same in soap headers. once is the user is authenticated
we flag the user as authenticated in a session variable. My doubt is,
is it the right way of implementing this. We are using inproc to store
the session. And i know this is not the right way to store the session.


Our requirements are:
1. We want the webservice to be universally consumed by any client(i.e
the client may be written java etc).
2. We dont want our clients to break their heads in configuring the
soap headers, encrypt those and pass it.
2. Best way to authenticate the client.

This question might seem obvious to many....may be i am
ignorant in this issue.
Please help!!
regards
modi

 

[Mark Nelson]

Modi,

Considering your scenario, your design looks fine.
But it's a better idea to encrypt and pass the SOAP headers.

 

[WishMaster]

Modi,

Considering your scenario, your design looks fine.
But it's a better idea to encrypt and pass the SOAP headers.

Hi,

To achieve good security, you have to compromise and to adding the
security in header is pretty standard way to implement and this is why
we have SOAP standards.

and yes, if your service is going to be accessed universally then I
would suggest to consider SSL as well.

Cheers,
Amer