Execute Authentication for every device

Question

Hi all,
As Execute authentication requires a Global User with device association, I know that one way to allow an app to Execute to any/every device would be to have it do authentication as a Global User that is associated with every device. However, in environments where the devices number 3000+, doing this can take a long while (and CM appears to lack the resources to do this number of associations in one 'update', anyway). Either way, the maintenance of such a user's associations is the part that gives me overhead-ache just thinking about it.
I know you could also hack c:\CiscoWebs\IPPhoneServices\CCMCIP\authenticate.asp to repsond affirm regardless of authenticator, but as this wouldn't work for 7920s (and surely is not Cisco-supported, anyway), I was wondering:
Any good suggestions to globally authenticate an app to any/all devices during an Execute? Is a redirect-authenticate and proxy like PushAuthenticate the best answer?
Thanks for any assistance!
Craig

Answer 1

yes, you need an authentication proxy. create a web service that mirrors the function of authenticate.asp, and set its URL as the default authentication URL in enterprise parameters. now, when you build applications that require phones to authenticate you can use the authentication proxy instead of the callmanager.
the trick is to build an authentication proxy that also works with other applications that still need callmanager authentication. a good way to do this is to have your applications communicate with the authentication proxy before the phones authenticate. that way, the proxy knows phones are about to authenticate, and can provide the appropriate response. then, if a phone tries to authenticate for an unknown application, the proxy simply passes on the authentication request to the call manager.
there's a trick here: a simple http redirect would be great *except* it doesn't work with all loads of all phones. 7960/7940s have always been fine, but i've had problems with earlier loads on 7912s. don't know if this problem has been fixed yet.