Another lost soul in SharePoint 2010 Claims Authentication mire

I just got a ping from StackOverflow on a query I posted there when I was first wrasslin’ with SharePoint 2010’s really awful claims authentication scheme back in early May. Mike Vallotton responded with a link to his blog where he’s written up a three entry how-to guide for configuring claims and getting a custom login form stood up.

Well worth the read as he bears the scars of one who has been there – his first paragraph gives you the tenor (emphasis mine):

Setting up Claims Authentication in Sharepoint proved to be a difficult process. There are a huge variety of configuration options, and unless the planets align and you set everything properly, it simply won’t work.

I’ve covered this rather extensively here, including my frustration with three web apps behaving differently based on their URLs and getting a rather unsatisfying explanation after running it up to Premier Support and then on to an Escalation Engineer.  A really troubling issue is that Microsoft and the PG team, for whatever reason, decided to go opaque on providing clear, concise documentation on what was touted as a first-class feature for SharePoint 2010.  Almost all knowledge you will ever glean on FBA/CBA is going to be on a blog, some posts likely written when 2010 was in beta.

If you’re setting up Claims Based Auth, you’re in for a world of pain, son.  Best to strap on your helmet and just dive in.  Accept that you’re going to be banging your head against a wall for some time.  And take solace in that there are folks like Mike Vallotton who have written about their experiences so you don’t have to.