Validate if username exits in Active Directory

Question

Hi,
What I want to do is simply validate if a given String username is within ActiveDirectory.
I can already authenticate if I have a username and password with the following code:
Context ctx = null;
Hashtable env = new Hashtable ();
boolean isValid = false;
try {
     //set the name of domain with the user name
     String fullName = userName + "@" + "mycompany.com";
env.put(Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, "com.sun.jndi.ldap
env.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL,"ldap://mycompany.com:389");
env.put(Context.SECURITY_AUTHENTICATION,"simple");
     //set user related information
     env.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, fullName);
     //set user password
     env.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "password");
     //validate user
     ctx = new InitialDirContext(env);
     isValid = true;
     System.out.println("IS GOOD isValid is: " + isValid);
     catch (AuthenticationException ex)
     System.out.println("AuthenticationException is: " + ex);
     isValid = false;                              
     catch (NamingException ex)
     System.out.println("NamingException is: " + ex);
But again, I don't want to authenticate with a username and password - I just want to see if a given username is a valid username withing Active Directory - (I've taken out the
env.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, "password"); in the above code and that does not work) so I am sure I need some sort of different approach. Code samples would be greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks

Answer 1

hi.
how did you manage to authenticate a username and password on AD? i am using simlar code to you but to no avail. do you need to get a ticket from the KDC first? if so how?
the KDC is part of the AD so i would assume you just need to pass a user and pass to the same domain that AD is on.
is there any other way of authenticating a username and password on AD without going through kerberos?
any ideas what im doing wrong?
thanks,
john.