# System Administrators: Authentication methods

![](https://748165138-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LH9CCYPqjHw1VKNcuiq%2F-LioVXsO8I_YmhlcnGyg%2F-LioWGAEl3-8dcJrDqcC%2Fimage1.png?generation=1562101797738375\&alt=media)

As a general rule of thumb, all configuration related to authentication methods can be found in a mix of the settings (inside the portal administration or the settings\_current table) and the main/inc/conf/auth.conf.php file.

In order to keep track of who's identified through what, Chamilo usually keeps track of the user's authentication source through the **auth\_source** field in the **user** table. A user identified through LDAP will use « ldap » (if synchronised automatically) or « extldap » (if first registered when logging in for the first time).