Authentication
This section contains tutorials specific to authenticating authors when they submit content.
Overview
Bazaarvoice support the following two ways for you to identify content authors:
Bazaarvoice-mastered
In this authentication type, authors do not login to your site prior to submission. Instead, they authenticate by providing an email address with their submission. User IDs are created by the Bazaarvoice authentication system, which is considered to be the authoritative (master) source for user identification, and are associated with the email addresses. Bazaarvoice-mastered authentication is also referred to as "Bazaarvoice-hosted authentication" because Bazaarvoice manages the user IDs.
Client-mastered
In this authentication type, authors must login to your site prior to submission. User IDs are created by your authentication system, which is considered to be the authoritative (master) source for user identification, and are submitted to Bazaarvoice along with the author's content. Client-mastered authentication is also referred to as 'Client-site authentication' because it relies on your site's authentication system.
Requirements comparison
The following table summarizes the high-level requirements you must complete to use either Bazaarvoice-mastered or Client-mastered authentication:
| Requirement | Bazaarvoice-mastered | Client-mastered |
|---|---|---|
| Build and host a submission form, including server side submission to Bazaarvoice. | ✓ | ✓ |
| A verification service that makes an API request to Bazaarvoice to confirm the author owns the email address used during submission. | ✓ | |
| Persist a Bazaarvoice provided user token as users browse your site. | ✓ | |
| An authentication service that creates and stores user IDs, logs users into your site, and persists user state as users browse your site. | ✓ | |
| Securely store a shared key and use it to create an encrypted user token. | ✓ |
Which to choose
Bazaarvoice-mastered authentication is best if your site login system is difficult to customize or you don't have site login capabilities.
Client-mastered authentication may be used if you already have a user authentication system or you have legal or other business requirements necessitating that you maintain user IDs.
Our experience has shown that many users will not complete the content submission process when site login is required (Client-mastered authentication). If this is a concern, consider using Bazaarvoice-mastered authentication.
Updated 25 days ago