Policy Server Guides › Policy Server Configuration Guide › Directory Mapping › Directory Mapping Examples › Directory Mapping Case Sensitivity

Directory Mapping Case Sensitivity

Case-sensitive directories, such as an Oracle database, treat the values "ROBIN" and "robin" as two different usernames. Other directories, such as an LDAP directory, are not case-sensitive and treat the values "Robin", "ROBIN", "robin", and "RobIn" as the same username. This can be a problem when a user is authenticated using a directory that is not case-sensitive, but authorized using a directory that is case-sensitive.

When authentication fails because the authentication directory is case-sensitive, the user can recover by reentering the username in the format required by the directory. If the directory requires the username to be in the format "Name", for example, the user can reenter the name correctly as "Robin". When authorization fails because the authorization directory is case-sensitive, however, the Policy Server has no way to recover.

When the authorization directory is case-sensitive, you can change the format of the authenticated username, so that it matches the format required by the authorization directory. If the authenticated username is "RoBiN", but the authorization directory requires the username to be in the format "Name", you can first change "RoBiN" to "Robin" and then authorize the user.