Hoping someone can help with this.

 

I'm working with a company that has a website. They would like to at least partially replace the functionality of the site with a FM GO iPad interface accessing their SQL data.

 

We would like to use the existing website logins which sit in a SQL table, including encrypted passwords. External authentication, at least as I understand it, isn't possible because they do not run Active Directory or the like on the server machine. The administrator has expressed extreme reluctance to create a directory on the server which would include non-employees. (The FM GO application is for both employees and clients) 

 

Is there any way to use those existing logins for authentication in FileMaker without creating a directory or a user group on the server?

Not unless you know how to encrypt the passwords that the users would be typing in to compare against the stored encrypted credentials.  If you can do that then things aren't really all that secure in the first place

 

Keep in mind that you do not need AD on the FMS box to use External Authentication.  FMS can EA with the local accounts and groups on the FMS box.  Push the IT guy hard about his reluctance to use that mechanism.  It's much more secure than trying to encrypt & compare against the SQL server.

Thanks, Wim.  We do have the encryption logic, and I have a feeling that he will insist on using it. However, I will certainly take your advice and push for a user group.