RSS feeds at work

RssimageI have just tested out the first RSS feeds from my companies enterprise portal,  worked fine once I had authenticated (we use forms based authentication using SiteMinder) from within the RSS reader (in this case RSS Bandit).  I usually use NewsGator but in my quick test it didn’t seem possible for NewsGator to use the SiteMinder cookie that IE had downloaded, and there was no way to authenticate to SiteMinder directly, although it is possible to use basic authentication with SiteMinder.

Greg Reinacker describes his view of RSS and Security, which is going to be a big issue in enterprises (as I found, in this first test) but had no solution for how to use off-line RSS readers to access feeds that are protected by forms based authentication.  My work around (interactive authentication in a browser first) is going to be a significant constraint in many scenarios including:

  • Scheduled download of feeds
  • Application to application subscriptions
  • Search engine indexing
  • Enterprise management platforms – like NewsGator Enterprise

Steve Richards

I'm retired from work as a business and IT strategist. now I'm travelling, hiking, cycling, swimming, reading, gardening, learning, writing this blog and generally enjoying good times with friends and family

3 Responses

  1. vle says:

    I am facing the same problem. Have you found a solution?

  2. Steve Richards says:

    Hi, some feed readers allow you to open up a browser window within the reader and authenticate to the site using forms based authentication. The cookie will then be re-used by the RSS reader. IE7, Maxthon and Firefox all have built in feed readers that support this. I’ve been told that Feedreader and RSS bandit will also work this way.

    Steve

  3. Saqib Ali says:

    Steve,

    Have you found other RSS readers that can support Siteminder authentication?

    Thanks

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