Initialization

At startup the server queries the system registry for the enabled authenticator. When startup is successful, the server retrieves the Class ID (CLSID) of the authenticator, and creates an instance of the authenticator. Then the server calls the Initialize method of the authenticator, passing in a pointer to the server context. This context contains properties describing certain attributes of the server. These properties include, but are not limited to:

• The server name and alias.
• The version number of the server.

The Initialize method provides an opportunity for the authenticator to perform any preliminary authentication tasks, such as establishing a link to the user account database, and allocating system resources that are used by the authenticator.

During initialization, the authenticator also informs the server whether data exchanged with the client during authentication are to be in text-based or binary format. HTTP-BASIC is text-based, while NTLM is binary.