Using MacLeland with Stanford Web Authentication

When using a web browser such as Netscape Communicator, if you request a web page that is protected by Stanford Web Authentication, then the server where the page resides will require identification from you (in the form of your SUNet ID and password) in order to determine whether you are eligible to see the page.

On many web sites, if you are logged into MacLeland, the server will not have to ask you for your SUNet ID and password when you come to a protected page. If you are not logged into MacLeland when you come to a protected page, the MacLeland login dialog box will appear, asking you to login to MacLeland before the page is shown to you. If you cancel the MacLeland login (or if the server is using older web authentication software), you will be asked to authenticate yourself on special web pages. The web page should provide some additional help.

Some Stanford web sites, such as Axess, will require you to enter your SUNet ID and password onto a Stanford Web Authentication page, even if you are logged into MacLeland. The site owners have chosen to be doubly secure by requesting your SUNet ID and password at the time you begin using their web site's services.

Some web pages may use a feature called "silent authentication". These pages will behave one way or another, depending on whether you are already logged into MacLeland or not. You can see an example of this behavior on the Directories page of the Stanford home site: the result of a Stanford.Who QuickSearch will be a page showing you Stanford-only directory information if you are logged into MacLeland (which shows you are a Stanford community member). If you are not logged in, the QuickSearch result will be a web page of information for the public. The designers of Stanford.Who chose this technique because it wasn't desirable to ask everyone who used the QuickSearch box to login to SUNet; members of the public can't, of course. But by using this method, people who are already identified on SUNet as Stanford community members can get the more restricted "Stanford-only" directory information without having to specially request it. This "silent authentication" technique is likely to be used more often on Stanford websites in the future, so we generally recommend that you login to SUNet via MacLeland so you can take advantage of these situations.

For more information about Stanford Web Authentication, see: http://www.stanford.edu/services/webauth