Authentication Method and Anonymous Access (Windows SharePoint Services 2.0)

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The default Internet Information Services (IIS) 6 authentication method is Integrated Windows authentication. Because Integrated Windows authentication is not supported over HTTP proxy servers, the Internet Platform and Operations group enabled only Basic Authentication for this external hosting. When enabling Basic Authentication, they specified STSBeta as the default domain and realm.

Note

Integrated Windows Authentication is more secure than Basic Authentication. If no client communications with the server farm go through HTTP proxy servers, it is recommended that you use Integrated Windows Authentication instead of Basic Authentication. If Basic Authentication is necessary, using Basic Authentication with SSL helps ensure security.

To allow some customer sites to allow anonymous access, anonymous access must be enabled in Microsoft Internet Information Services (ISS) on every front-end Web server. Installing Windows SharePoint Services automatically disables anonymous access, so it must be enabled after installation.