User authentication architecture

The MobiLink user authentication system relies on user names and passwords. You can choose either to let the MobiLink server validate the user name and password using a built-in mechanism, or you can implement your own custom user authentication mechanism.

In the built-in authentication system, both the user name and the password are stored in the ml_user MobiLink system table in the consolidated database. The password is stored in hashed form so that applications other than the MobiLink server cannot read the ml_user table and reconstruct the original form of the password. You add user names and passwords to the consolidated database using Sybase Central, using the mluser utility, or by specifying -zu+ when you start the MobiLink server.

See MobiLink user creation and registration.

When a MobiLink client connects to a MobiLink server, it provides the following values:

  • user name   The MobiLink user name. Mandatory. To synchronize, the user name must be stored in the ml_user system table, or you must start the MobiLink server with the -zu+ option to add new users to the ml_user table.

  • password   The MobiLink password. Optional only if the user is unknown or if the corresponding password in the ml_user MobiLink system table is null.

  • new password   A new MobiLink password. Optional. MobiLink users can change their password by setting this value.

 Custom authentication