+ +Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) specifies a +challenge-response protocol in which data is exchanged between the +client and the server for the purposes of +authentication and (optional) establishment of a security layer on +which to carry on subsequent communications. It is used with +connection-based protocols such as LDAPv3 or IMAPv4. SASL is +described in +RFC 2222. + +
+There are various mechanisms defined for SASL. +Each mechanism defines the data that must be exchanged between the +client and server in order for the authentication to succeed. +This data exchange required for a particular mechanism is referred to +to as its protocol profile. +The following are some examples of mechanims that have been defined by +the Internet standards community. +
+Some of these mechanisms provide both authentication and establishment +of a security layer, others only authentication. Anonymous and +S/Key do not provide for any security layers. GSSAPI and DIGEST-MD5 +allow negotiation of the security layer. For External, the +security layer is determined by the external protocol. + +
+Users of this API are typically developers who produce +client library implementations for connection-based protocols, +such as LDAPv3 and IMAPv4, +and developers who write servers (such as LDAP servers and IMAP servers). +Developers who write client libraries use the +SaslClient and SaslClientFactory interfaces. +Developers who write servers use the +SaslServer and SaslServerFactory interfaces. +
+Among these two groups of users, each can be further divided into two groups: +those who produce the SASL mechanisms and those +who use the SASL mechanisms. +The producers of SASL mechanisms need to provide implementations +for these interfaces, while users of the SASL mechanisms use +the APIs in this package to access those implementations. + +