The Windows Media Services Authentication API consists of three COM-compliant interfaces. These interfaces specify how the server and authenticators cooperate with each other. The authenticators must implement two of the interfaces for the server to invoke their methods. The server implements the remaining interface—a callback interface—to be invoked by an authenticator. The server running Windows Media Services also employs several context objects that implement IPropertyMap, a prepackaged generic interface for manipulating named parameters. For more information, see Event Notification Authorization Contexts.
The following table briefly describes those interfaces.
| Interface |
Description |
| INSSAuthenticator |
Used to perform initialization of the authenticator, create a user authentication object, and specify the type of authentication. The authenticator implements this interface, and the server calls its methods. |
| INSSUserAuthentication |
Used to inspect authentication data passed from the client to the server. This interface also exposes the methods necessary for the server to impersonate the client for access control checks. The authenticator implements this interface, and the server calls its methods. |
| INSSAuthenticationCallback |
Used to inform the server of the results of the authentication process. The server implements this interface, and the authenticator calls its methods. |
