# Defining users

Derby provides several ways to define the repository of users and passwords. To specify which of these services to use with your Derby system, set the property derby.authentication.provider to the appropriate value as discussed here.

Setting the property as a system-wide property creates system-wide users. Setting the property as a database-wide property creates users for a single database only.

- External directory service: LDAP directory service. This includes Windows NT domain user authentication through the Netscape NT Synchronization Service.
- User-defined class
- Built-in Derby users

Note: Shutting down the Derby system (for example, using the shutdown=true form of the connection URL without specifying a particular database) when user authentication is turned on requires that you define at least one user as a system-wide user.
Parent topic: Working with user authentication
Related concepts
Enabling user authentication
External directory service
Built-in Derby users
Programming applications for Derby user authentication
User-defined class
Related reference
List of user authentication properties