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Environment

Apache 2.2.13 connect to Tomcat 5.5 with mod_jk (ajp13). Apache requires basic-auth for "/" i.e. for all URLs it serves.

Problem

Once the request arrives at my app in Tomcat (it's a Servlet filter) request.getUserPrincipal() returns null. Apache, however, did authenticate the request. I did enter user/password in the browser's dialog.

Any ideas?

Marcel Stör
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1 Answers1

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After hours I finally found the culprit. As so often, a single flag makes all the difference.

In server.xml the AJP/1.3 connector must be configured with tomcatAuthentication="false". An explanation of this parameter can be found here (scroll to bottom): http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-5.5-doc/config/ajp.html.

The following threads helped quite a bit: mail-archive.com/users@tomcat.apache.org/msg55080.html.

Marcel Stör
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  • To complete the "documentation" I just added a blog entry about the issue: http://www.frightanic.com/2009/09/11/no-principal-in-request-after-apache-basic-authentication-with-mod_jk/ – Marcel Stör Sep 11 '09 at 21:10