Authenticate User in Active Directory using C# or VB.Net

This function enables a username and password to be authenticated against Active Directory, as with Login the caller does not need to be logged into the domain, if the AD server is visible it can be called.

Langauges Supported

ASP.NET, C#, VB.Net, Visual Studio 2010, Visual Sutdio 2008

Method: Authenticate

Parameters:  (string) Username, (string) Password

Precondition

An instance of the LDAP manager must be instantiated for a valid ADDS server.

Functionality

The method is called passing the Username and the Password as strings. Three things can then occur:

1. If authorization is successful the method returns true.
2. If authorization is unsuccessful the method returns false
3. An Exception will be thrown for other errors

Example

Where LdapConnection is an instance of LdapManager

public Boolean AuthorizeLDAP(String UserName, String PassWord)
        {
            try
            {
                return LdapConnection.Authenticate(UserName, PassWord);
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                throw;
            }
        }

Post Condition

It should be noted that there is no residual connection to the authenticated User Name, this method does not result in any "Login" context.