> > - this will activate the mhttpd password protection, so one would have to define a username and password 
> > in the .htdigest file (this is done by the mongoose web server library).
> 
> Actually I'm thinking since a while to have user-level access to mhttpd, similarly to elog.
>

With per-user login, we have the possibility to add better permissions/access controls. In past
discussions we talked about 3 levels of user access:

- read-only user: can look, but cannot affect anything
- operator: same as read-only user, but can start/stop runs, can clear alarms, can push buttons on custom pages, can cause predefined scripts to run, etc.
- root user: can do everything

Technically, this is easy to implement in the mjsonrpc library: each username will be mapped to a privilege level,
and each rpc request handler will specify minimum required privilege: odb write rpc would require root level,
run start would require operator level, odb read permitted for everybody. This will be enforced inside mhttpd.

>
> Each user has to log in with a unique username/password. After some time of inactivity, you're logged out.
>

For now, we use the password protection built into the apache httpd web server.

It is known to be secure, but it does not have the "advanced" user management functions
that we take for granted with the elog, with wiki pages, with github, etc. Missing are self-registration
with approval, password reset and recovery and so forth.

On the other hand, apache httpd is supposed to be easy to integrate with "enterprise" user management
systems, like the CERN single-sign-on system. (We did not look yet at the integration with the TRIUMF
single-sign-on system, based on Microsoft AD).

(I see the nginx web server is gaining in popularity, but I do not know what features it has
for user and password management).

The elog software does have very good user and password management, and we could bring it into midas,
if we figure out how to ensure that it is actually secure. I know a professional security audit was done
for the elog software and I know that mhttpd will not pass such an audit.

But with some extra work it is possible.

>
> This would have the advantage that one knows who is active where, like when using the chat functionality in mhttpd. Or who started/stopped a run etc. This might not be necessary for simple local installations, but if you have 20 
> people controlling an experiment from three different continents simultaneously, this could be beneficial. Using the elog authentication libraries, one could even forward the login process to LDAP or KERBEROS, 
> so you could log in with out institutional account, and don't have to remember an additional password.
> 
> Just some food for thought.
> 

Some of this food looks very good, indeed.

K.O.