OPAC patron authentication: LDAP and ALEPH internal

• Article Type: General
• Product: Aleph
• Product Version: 18.01

Description:
Our current Aleph 16.02 setup uses LDAP authentication for our users.

How can I set it up so that we can add users in the CIRC gui that can login to the OPAC?
Can the OPAC be set to use multiple methods of patron authentication?

Resolution:
[From Owen Stephens, Royal Holloway, University of London, on the ALEPH-NA list:] Owen Stephens [owen.stephens@RHUL.AC.UK]

You can support multiple authentication types.

The authentication type for an ID in Aleph is controlled by the ‘verification type’ (Z308_VERIFICATION_TYPE). If this is set to ‘02’ then Aleph uses ldap authentication (using the settings in ldap.conf) for that ID. If it is set to ‘00’ then Aleph uses internal authentication for that ID.

Since the verification type is set per ID, you just have to add a new ID with internal authentication to allow authentication against Aleph rather than against the OPAC. If you set both up for a single user they can then use either method to login.

You need to remember to set up the new type of ID in tab_bor_id.eng so that it can be used for authenticating in the web OPAC.