TWiki User Authentication

Controlling TWiki site access and logging authorized user activity

Overview

TWiki does not authenticate users internally, it depends on the REMOTE_USER environment variable. This variable is set when you enable Basic Authentication (.htaccess) or SSL "secure server" authentication (https protocol).

TWiki uses visitor identification to keep track of who made changes to topics at what time and to manage a wide range of personal site settings. This gives a complete audit trail of changes and activity.

Authentication Options

No special installation steps need to be performed if the server is already authenticated. If not, you have three remaining options to controlling user access:

1. Forget about authentication. All changes are registered to TWikiGuest user, so you can't tell who made changes. Your site is completely open and public - anyone can browse and edit freely, in classic Wiki mode.
   
2. Use Basic Authentication for the edit and attach scripts. This uses .htaccess and generates the familiar grey log-in window. The TWiki Installation Guide has step-by-step instructions.
   
3. Use SSL to authenticate and secure the whole server.

Tracking by IP Address

The REMOTE_USER environment variable is only set for the scripts that are under authentication. If, for example, the edit, save and preview scripts are authenticated, but not view, you would get your WikiName in preview for the %WIKIUSERNAME% variable, but view will show TWikiGuest instead of your WikiName.

There is a way to tell TWiki to remember the user for the scripts that are not authenticated, ex: in case the REMOTE_USER environment variable is not set. TWiki can be configured to remember the IP address/username pair whenever an authentication happens (edit topic, attach file). Once remembered, the non-authenticated scripts like view will show the correct username instead of TWikiGuest. You can enable this by setting the $doRememberRemoteUser flag in TWiki.cfg. TWiki persistently stores the IP address/username pairs in the file $remoteUserFilename, which is "$dataDir/remoteusers.txt" by default. Please note that this can fail if the IP address changes due to dynamically assigned IP addresses or proxy servers.

Authentication Test: You are TWikiGuest (%WIKIUSERNAME%)

TWiki Username vs. Login Username

This section applies only if your TWiki is installed on a server that is both authenticated and on an intranet.

TWiki internally manages two usernames: Login username and TWiki username.

• Login username: When you login to the intranet, you use your existing login username, ex: pthoeny. This name is normally passed to TWiki by the REMOTE_USER environment variable, and used by internally by TWiki. Login usernames are maintained by your system administrator.
• TWiki username: Your name in WikiNotation, ex: PeterThoeny, is recorded when you register using TWikiRegistration; doing so also generates a personal home page in the Main web.

TWiki can automatically map an intranet username to a TWiki username, provided that the username pair exists in the TWikiUsers topic. This is also handled automatically when you register.

NOTE: To correctly enter a WikiName - your own or someone else's - be sure to include the Main web name in front of the Wiki username, followed by a period, and no spaces. Ex:

Main.WikiUsername or %MAINWEB%.WikiUsername

This points WikiUser to the TWiki.Main web, where user registration pages are stored, no matter which web it's entered in. Without the web prefix, the name appears as a NewTopic everywhere but in the Main web.

-- PeterThoeny - 16 Mar 2001
-- MikeMannix - 29 Aug 2001