On 11/3/2011 9:42 PM, Simon Brereton wrote:
Hi
Could someone explain to me the difference between LOGIN and PLAIN? I've been googling for a while, but haven't found anything.
The LOGIN SASL mechanism is an obsolete plain text mechanism. It is documented here:
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-murchison-sasl-login-00
Some clients still support it, but I would not recommend using it when PLAIN or a better SASL mechanism is also available at both ends. The PLAIN mechanism is documented here:
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4616
The main technical difference between the two is that the PLAIN mechanism transfers both username and password in a single SASL interaction, where LOGIN needs two. The PLAIN mechanism also provides support for having an authorization id different from the authentication id, allowing for master user login for example.
Regards,
Stephan.