Note: You are currently viewing documentation for Moodle 3.4. Up-to-date documentation for the latest stable version of Moodle is likely available here: Authentication.

Authentication

From MoodleDocs

Location: Administration > Users > Authentication >

Authentication is the process of determining whether someone is who they say they are when entering a Moodle site. Some Moodle sites initial authenticate a user as a "guest" then re-authenticates them by a login.

Once someone is authenticated, a user's role authorizes them, through permissions, to be capable of interacting with different contexts. A course is a good example of a context. The enrolment process looks for someone who has been authenticated and gives them a role in the context of the course.

Overview of authentication

One of the first things the site administrator needs to consider when setting up a Moodle site is user authentication. A standard Moodle has 15 types of authentication methods and additional contributed code plugins are available.

The user authentication menu is broken into 5 submenus. The site administrator will typically manage most authentication menus from the Manage authentication menu. Other sub menus under Authentication are for convenience because they lead to the same page as the edit links found on the manage authentication menu page.

See also