GeoFence is a java web application that provides an advanced authentication/authorization engine for GeoServer using the interface described in GSIP 57.
GeoFence can be run either as a standalone application, or embedded into GeoServer.
The GeoFence standalone application provides a graphical user interface to administer GeoServer users and authorization rules. Furthermore, a quite complete REST API allows the programmatic administration of the rules and their ancillary data.
In this configuration GeoServer needs a module (the probe) that will send authorization queries to GeoFence using a configurable internal protocol (by default it uses Spring remoting over HTTP).
The embedded configuration will make the GeoFence engine run within GeoServer itself. The administration GUI will be seamlessly embedded into GeoServer itself.
GeoFence core modules and GUI, as well as the part of GeoFence that shall be installed as a module into GeoServer (either the probe or the embedded logic), are free and Open Source software, released under the [GPL v2] license, (which is GPL v2.0), as it implements a GeoServer Java API.
Since there are two different ways to run GeoFence, you'll need different set of files according to your configuration.
- Standalone
- You'll need the GeoFence .war file, and the probe module to be deployed into GeoServer.
- Embedded
- You'll only need to deploy the linked embedded module into GeoServer. The embedded version is only available starting from the 3.0 version.
Since GeoFence and GeoServer run side to side, every change of the API in either side requires a change on the other one. Here's a compatibility table for the versions of both applications:
| GeoFence | GeoServer | Main changes |
|---|---|---|
| master branch: - stable: 3.2.0 - nightly: 3.2.x |
2.9 (probe) (embedded) | Spring 4, JDK 8 |
| 3.1.x branch: - stable: 3.1.0 - nightly: 3.1.x |
2.8 (probe) (embedded) | Handle Workspace admin (feature for embedded version only) |
| 3.0.x | 2.8 | GeoFence embedded into GeoServer (Only for older 2.8 releases; Not recommended) |
| 2.2.x branch: - stable: 2.2.0 - nightly: 2.2.x |
2.7, 2.6 |
Once you have downloaded the resources you need, please follow the instructions on the [GeoFence installation] (https://github.com/geoserver/geofence/wiki/GeoFence-installation) wiki page.
- How to install GeoFence
- 5 Minutes intro to using GeoFence
- How to configure GeoFence
- How to build GeoFence
- Documentation Index
The GeoFence project is now part of GeoServer, so any question can be directed to the GeoServer user mailing list, and developer collaboration discussed in the GeoServer developer mailng list.