ASP.NET Impersonation

Question

Hi All Can anyone explain me what is Impersonation. I have went through some of the articles in google . But did'nt get axactly what is that ... when to use that...etc I got the article wer its written like this .. By default ASP.NET executes in the security context of a restricted user account on the local machine. Sometimes you need to access network resources such as a file on a shared drive which requires additional permissions. One way to overcome this restriction is to use impersonation. With impersonation ASP.NET can execute the request using the identity of the client who is making the request or ASP.NET can impersonate a specific account you specify in web.config. I think u got it clearly but may b I m a tubelight .. not gettin it .. By default ASP.NET executes in the security context of a restricted user account on the local machine. Sometimes you need to access network resources such as a file on a shared drive which requires additional permissions... what these lines exactly mean... If possible ...plz explain.. Tnx and Regards s_raj0205

kalyan Bandarupalli · Answer

Hi By default asp.net application run under localuser a/c means all code that execute will configured to local a/c. u may not have permissions to access the registry active directory accessing write information in event logaccessing the shared drive etc..... In order to access some restricted sources u should impersonate as any other user a/c who is having the full permissions on those resources. For Eg: You may required to validate a username and password against the users in the active directory at that point u need to impersonate as ADMINITRATOR. so u can mention his a/c details in web.config. this is called impersonation. hope you understand the difference