Authentication modes for connectors

You may have to change the authentication mode for some connectors so that they are available for use with Spotfire web clients. This is done in the Spotfire.Dxp.Worker.Host.exe.config file (Spotfire.Dxp.Worker.Host.dll.config file for services installations on Linux).

To change the authentication mode for a connector on a Spotfire Web Player service, you must modify an existing configuration or create a new configuration and assign it to the deployment area on which the Spotfire.Dxp.sdn and/or Spotfire.Dxp.netcore-linux.sdn distribution file has been deployed. Instructions are available in Preconfiguring Spotfire Web Player services (optional), but details specific to the connectors are listed here.

The authentication mode settings are located in the section <Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Access.Adapters.Settings>. To edit the configuration file, you must first export it from Spotfire Server using the export-service-config command. For instructions, see Preconfiguring Spotfire Web Player services (optional).
These are the available authentication modes:
- Prompt
- ServiceAccount
- Kerberos
- WebConfig
By default, all the connectors use the Prompt mode. To read more about the settings, see Configuration file examples.

Tip: If you are unsure of what a certain connector is called in the configuration file, see Connector names in configuration file.

Authentication modes

The effect that a certain authentication mode has for users who are logging in to a web client depends on the authentication method that was selected for the connection in the analysis. All authentication alternatives are not available for all connectors.

Prompt

Prompt is the default authentication mode. When it is used, web client users are prompted for their username and password when they log in to analyses that contain connections.

Example: <adapter name="Spotfire.SparkSqlAdapter" mode="Prompt"/>

ServiceAccount

ServiceAccount is used as authentication mode for connectors that are configured for anonymous authentication (for example Cloudera Hive, Cloudera Impala, Hortonworks, and OData). Web client users are connected to the external data source using the computer account or dedicated user account that is running the node manager.

Example: <adapter name="Spotfire.ClouderaHiveAdapter" mode="ServiceAccount"/>

Kerberos

To use Kerberos as authentication method, the following must be true:

Spotfire Server is configured to use delegated Kerberos.
In the analysis' connection login dialog, Kerberos is selected as authentication method.

For more information about Kerberos configuration, see Kerberos authentication.

Example: <adapter name="Spotfire.SqlServerAdapter" mode="Kerberos"/>

WebConfig

When WebConfig is used as authentication method, you can configure data sources in analyses so that web client users log in automatically with credentials stored in a credentials profile.

To learn more, see Credentials profiles for connectors .

Example: <adapter name="Spotfire.SparkSqlAdapter" mode="WebConfig"/>