SharePoint 2010 - Supported authentication methods

SharePoint Server 2010 supports authentication methods that were included in previous versions and also introduces support for token-based authentication that is based on Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). The following table lists the supported authentication methods.

Method category	Authentication methods	Notes
Windows authentication	NTLM Kerberos Anonymous Basic Digest
Forms-based authentication	Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Microsoft SQL Server database or other database Custom or third-party membership and role providers
SAML token-based authentication (new with SharePoint Server 2010)	Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 2.0 Third-party identity provider Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)	Supported only with SAML 1.1 that uses the WS-Federation Passive Requestor Profile (WS-F PRP). Client certificate authentication is possible through integration with AD FS 2.0. For additional information, see Configure Client Certificate Authentication (SharePoint Server 2010