Username not showing up in access log for authenticated users

Question

I'm using form-based authentication in a Java web application on Sun One Web Server v6.1 to restrict access to authenticated users. However, even after the users authenticate and access the application, the username field in the access log is showing them as anonymous.
request.getRemoteUser() is reporting the correct username, so it just seems to be the access log that is in error. Right now it is set to the default but changing formats to custom doesn't seem to help in displaying the username.
Here's an excerpt from the access log:
// anonymous access attempt, redirects to login page...
10.100.168.110 - - [01/May/2006:14:34:42 -0400] "GET /profile/index.jsp HTTP/1.1" 302 0
10.100.168.110 - - [01/May/2006:14:34:42 -0400] "GET /profile/login.jsp HTTP/1.1" 200 3355
10.100.168.110 - - [01/May/2006:14:34:47 -0400] "POST /profile/j_security_check HTTP/1.1" 302 0
// at this point they are logged in and their username should be reflected in the access log, but is not:
10.100.168.110 - - [01/May/2006:14:34:47 -0400] "GET /profile/index.jsp HTTP/1.1" 200 3532 And the relevant code from the web application's web.xml:
<security-constraint>
    <web-resource-collection>
      <web-resource-name>AllFiles</web-resource-name>
      <description>
                 Restricts anonymous access.
              </description>
      <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
      <http-method>POST</http-method>
      <http-method>GET</http-method>
    </web-resource-collection>
    <auth-constraint>
      <description>
               Authenticated Users
              </description>
      <role-name>user</role-name>
    </auth-constraint>
  </security-constraint>I've searched the forums and the manuals but can't see anything showing that the access log's username field doesn't work with form-based authentication. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Answer 1

Some background:
The Java Servlet container has its own authentication infrastructure (which is what you configure in web.xml) which is separate from the non-Java authentication infrastructure (ACLs, etc.). If you set up authentication via ACLs the resulting user identity can (though you may configure it not to) propagate to the Java Servlet container such that request.getRemoteUser() will return it, even though no web.xml-driven authentication occurred. The coverse is not true, however: if you authenticate via a Java Realm, based on web.xml configuration, that user identity is not available to non-Java code.
(Your web.xml snippet doesn't show you using FORM auth - but it doesn't matter, the explanation above applies in any case.)
That is why the log file (generated from non-Java code) doesn't have access to that user. It probably should, but there's no config option today for you to make that happen.
If you're using BASIC auth you may consider moving the authentication configuration from web.xml to ACLs as a possible workaround. It will then show up in the access logs.
If you prefer web.xml-based authentication, consider the <SECURITY audit="true"> option in server.xml. It won't be in the access log but you'll have an audit trail of authentications, which may help.