The IowaComputerGurus Inc. External Database Authentication provider is an easy to use generic authentication provider that allows integration between DotNetNuke and an external database. The external user database may be hosted locally on the same server as DNN or a different server entirely, that is completely customizable. This provider also takes careful consideration to still allow all standard DNN admin and host accounts to login normally, therefore you do NOT need to add dummy accounts to your external database to maintain DNN administration functionality.

Purchasing options include the installation version, which will work against any database as long as you can insert a needed stored procedure that will return the following fields: fname, lname, mi, email, and password. The column names must be the same, so you may need to alias your current column names.

Features

• Easy to install using standard DNN installation, plus single external step
• Works with DNN 4.6.0 and later
• Flexible implementation allowing for wide compatibility
• DNN host and admin users will continue to use the DNN authentication system
• Auto-synchronization to apply changes to information from external database on login
• Ability to use Username or Email address as DNN Username - New in Version 1.5.0
• Ability to update external system with DNN UserId - New in Version 1.5.0
• Ability to assign roles to users based on external database information - New in Version 2.5.0
• Ability to deny roles to users based on external database information - New in Version 3.0.0
• Enhanced role assignment support for multi-role assignments - Version 3.0.0 and later

Considerations

1.) Due to the nature of this product, you MUST customize the integration script that is used to communicate with your external database. This will require knowledge of SQL Server and your own environment. If you have questions regarding this process, please contact us before purchase, we will gladly discuss options.

2.) This product ONLY solutions for the login process, a separate process is needed to ensure that new user registrations are added to the external database. IowaComputerGurus Inc. will be releasing a Custom Registration Module in the upcoming months to fit this potential gap.

3.) Current limitations of this module restrict to connection to databases that can be queried from the Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.Data.SqlHelper class.  Traditional configurations limit to MS SQL Server.  However, with the purchase of the source version and about 10-15 lines of code a custom version could be created to connect to MySQL, a Web Service, or any other non SQL Server source.

New for Version 3.1.0

This version resolves an issue with DotNetNuke 5.2.x and later sites where the role assignment process was not working as described.

New for Version 3.0.0

Version three includes a full re-vamping of the role assignment process allowing for a role delimiter and a deny option if a user doesn't have a particular role in the external database system. Granting administrators more robust opportunities for configuration.

New for Version 2.5.0

Version 2.5.0 of the module includes fixes to resolve a number of performance issues that were identified in version 2.0.0 and includes the ability to assign role(s) to users on login. Please view the roadmap at productsupport.iowacomputergurus.com for full details.

Support Options

For priority customer support please use the IowaComputerGurus Support Site, this will ensure that we get your information and can respond to your requests in a timely fashion.

Package Options

You have two purchase options with this module, the first is the installation package which can be installed on your DotNetNuke site, and only includes the needed elements. The second option is standard with source which also includes a download of the full C# source code for the provider, allowing easy customization to fit your needs.

Great Teaching Tool

In addition to a great module for your authentication provider needs, you can also use this a teaching tool to understand how a provider is created. The fully commented source code provides an easy to use interface to quickly get up and running with your own provider.

Additional Services

If you have a custom implementation that you need and do not want to perform development on your own, IowaComputerGurus Inc. for an additional charge can customize the provider to meet your needs. For pricing quotes please contact Mitchel Sellers at msellers@iowacomputergurus.com.