User:Pfrields/Drupal notes

External authentication

From http://www.darrenmothersele.com/content/using-external-data-source-drupal-user-authentication-and-login

The normal login process will call your custom authentication when the built in login process fails.

The process is as follows:

1. user submits login information
2. drupal checks if user is blocked, if so message is displayed and login fails
3. drupal then attempts to load the user locally
   • if this is successful then the user object is loaded and drupal fires the load and login hooks. the user is then directed towards the 'user' page.
   • if user is not found locally then drupal will call external authentication

External authentication involves firing the auth hook, and on success either validating an existing user or creating a new user object. When a user is created this way a record is stored in the authmap table that confirms which module validates this user login.