diff --git a/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/BasicSession.java b/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/BasicSession.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c738e06377d1e57771cd2226750cdf1b36628a99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/BasicSession.java
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008 ETH Zuerich, CISD
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package ch.systemsx.cisd.authentication;
+
+import java.io.Serializable;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang.time.DateFormatUtils;
+
+/**
+ * Basic session object.
+ *
+ * @author Franz-Josef Elmer
+ */
+public class BasicSession implements Serializable
+{
+ protected static final String DATE_FORMAT_PATTERN = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
+ private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+
+ private final String sessionToken;
+ private final String userName;
+ private final Principal principal;
+ private final String remoteHost;
+ private final long sessionStart;
+
+ /**
+ * Creates an instance from the specified session token, user name, principal, remoteHost, and
+ * session start (in milliseconds since start of the epoch).
+ */
+ public BasicSession(String sessionToken, String userName, Principal principal,
+ String remoteHost, long sessionStart)
+ {
+ assert sessionToken != null : "Given session token can not be null.";
+ assert userName != null : "Given user name can not be null.";
+ assert principal != null : "Given principal can not be null.";
+ assert sessionStart > 0 : "Given session start must be larger than zero.";
+ assert remoteHost != null : "Given remote host can not be null";
+
+ this.sessionToken = sessionToken;
+ this.userName = userName;
+ this.principal = principal;
+ this.remoteHost = remoteHost;
+ this.sessionStart = sessionStart;
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Returns the unique session ID.
+ */
+ public final String getSessionToken()
+ {
+ return sessionToken;
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Returns the owner of the session.
+ */
+ public final String getUserName()
+ {
+ return userName;
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Returns full information about the user.
+ */
+ public final Principal getPrincipal()
+ {
+ return principal;
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Returns the remote host.
+ */
+ public final String getRemoteHost()
+ {
+ return remoteHost;
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Returns the time when the session has been started (in milliseconds since start of the
+ * epoch).
+ */
+ public final long getSessionStart()
+ {
+ return sessionStart;
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public String toString()
+ {
+ return "BasicSession{user=" + userName + ",remoteHost=" + remoteHost + ",sessionstart="
+ + DateFormatUtils.format(sessionStart, DATE_FORMAT_PATTERN) + "}";
+ }
+}
+
diff --git a/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/ISessionFactory.java b/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/ISessionFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..614bc1fdd5b0a9d17c61733a56c41565f870425e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/ISessionFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008 ETH Zuerich, CISD
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package ch.systemsx.cisd.authentication;
+
+/**
+ * Interface for a factory of {@link BasicSession} objects.
+ *
+ * @author Franz-Josef Elmer
+ */
+public interface ISessionFactory<T extends BasicSession>
+{
+ /**
+ * Creates a session from the specified session token, user name, principal, remoteHost, and
+ * session start (in milliseconds since start of the epoch).
+ */
+ public T create(String sessionToken, String userName, Principal principal,
+ String remoteHost, long sessionStart);
+}
diff --git a/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/ISessionManager.java b/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/ISessionManager.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b0c096643eddd34bf1f9d7b267d2f2af896e403d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/ISessionManager.java
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008 ETH Zuerich, CISD
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package ch.systemsx.cisd.authentication;
+
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.exceptions.UserFailureException;
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.server.IRemoteHostProvider;
+
+/**
+ * Implementation of this interface takes care of creating, managing and removing sessions.
+ * <p>
+ * It is a good idea to think about session synchronization when implementing this interface: you
+ * should synchronize access to <code>Session</code> objects.
+ * </p>
+ *
+ * @author Christian Ribeaud
+ */
+public interface ISessionManager<T extends BasicSession> extends IRemoteHostProvider
+{
+
+ /**
+ * Opens a new session with given <code>user</code> and given <code>password</code>.
+ *
+ * @return A session token that is used afterwards to get the <code>Session</code> object, or
+ * <code>null</code>, if the user could not be authenticated.
+ */
+ public String openSession(String user, String password);
+
+ /** Closes session by removing given <code>sessionToken</code> from active sessions. */
+ public void closeSession(String sessionToken);
+
+ /**
+ * For given <var>sessionToken</var> return the <code>Session</code> object.
+ * <p>
+ * You should already be authenticated before calling this method.
+ * </p>
+ *
+ * @throws UserFailureException If user is not authenticated.
+ */
+ public T getSession(String sessionToken) throws UserFailureException;
+
+}
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