Authentication

Authentication is the process of allowing a user to log in to a Moodle site with a username and password.

Authentication plugins

Moodle provides a number of ways of managing authentication, called authentication plugins.

Standard authentication plugins are:

• Manual accounts - accounts created manually by an administrator
• No login - suspend particular user account
• Email-based self-registration - for enabling users to create their own accounts
• CAS server (SSO) - account details are located on an external CAS server
• External database - account details are located on an external database
• LDAP server - account details are located on an external LDAP server
• LTI - works with the Publish as LTI tool enrolment method to connect courses and activities
• Moodle Network authentication - how different Moodle sites can connect and authenticate users
• No authentication - for testing purposes or if the Moodle site is not available on the Internet. Do NOT use on public servers!
• Shibboleth - account details are located on an external Shibboleth server
• OAuth 2 - authenticate with an OAuth 2 service
• Web services authentication

There are also many additional authentication plugins in the Moodle plugins directory. New feature
in Moodle 4.3!

Multi-factor authentication can be enabled and managed from Site administration > Plugins > Admin tools in order to increase site security by requiring additional steps before users can log in.

See also

• Authentication FAQ