# Using Multiple Authentication Providers in Portal Development

WebLogic Portal supports the use of multiple authentication providers in a Portal domain, which means that users in external providers can log in to your portal applications. It also means that in your code you have access to potentially multiple user stores.

In Portal Controls, JSP tags, and classes in the Portal API that deal with user and group management, you can specify the authentication provider you want. (Use the WebLogic Administration Portal to see a list of available authentication providers.)

For user and group management, the roles you specify in the WebLogic Administration Portal Authentication Security Provider Service determine who can perform certain management tasks in your portal applications.

Note: It is possible (but not recommended) to store an identical username or group name in more than one authentication provider. For example, user "foo" can reside in the default WebLogic Server LDAP provider and in an external RDBMS provider. In that case, WebLogic Portal uses only one user profile for user "foo."

If you are using an RDBMS authentication provider, be aware of case sensitivity when entering names for users and groups. For example, user "Bob" is different than user "bob."

## Setting up Multiple Authentication Providers

For information on setting up and configuring multiple authentication providers, see Using Multiple Authentication Providers with WebLogic Portal in the WebLogic Administration Portal help system.

Related Topics

How WebLogic Portal Uses the WebLogic Server Security Framework