6.1 Overview

Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On enables an application to authenticate users by means of a shared authentication token or authentication authority. For example, a user authenticated for one application is automatically authenticated for all other applications within the same authentication domain.

Oracle Application Server Forms Services applications can run in a Single Sign-on environment using Oracle Single Sign-On Server and Oracle Internet Directory to store user name and password information. OracleAS Single Sign-On is designed to work in Web environments where multiple Web-based applications are accessible from a Browser. Without OracleAS Single Sign-On, each user must maintain a separate identity and password for each application they access. Maintaining multiple accounts and passwords for each user is unsecured and expensive.

Note: Single Sign-on is not available with the Oracle Application Server Forms and Reports Services installation type. See the Oracle Application Server Forms and Reports Installation Guide for information on how to use an OracleAS Infrastructure.

The OracleAS Single Sign-On Server can be used to enable OracleAS Single Sign-On for other applications that are not Oracle products, like, for example, custom built J2EE applications.

Oracle Forms applications seamlessly integrate into a company's OracleAS Single Sign-On architecture based on Oracle Single Sign-On Server and the Oracle Internet Directory. Oracle Application Server Forms Services provides out-of-the box support for Single Sign-on for as many Forms applications as run by the server instance with no additional coding required in the Forms application.