title: web api authentication in MVC application?
body: <p>I'm confused on how the Web API implements the authentication?</p>
  
  <p>I have gone through the links 1. </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p><a href="http://www.dotnetcurry.com/aspnet/1223/secure-aspnet-web-api-using-tokens-owin-angularjs" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Link1</a></p></li>
  <li><p><a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/web-api/overview/security/authentication-and-authorization-in-aspnet-web-api" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Link2</a></p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>and need to summarize what I understood.</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>Owin katana is a mechanism that can be implemented for authorization.</p></li>
  <li><p>There will be Iprincipal which can be created either in the host or
  in the httpmodule which will be attached to the currentthread to
      validate.</p></li>
  <li><p>Token based authentication implements owin.</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I have very little idea about the authentication mechanism in web api. If someone can help me to understand this, It would be great.</p>
  
  <p>I have the following doubts.</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Owin is a new way of authentication in MVC? or its already exists as
  a part of windows and form based authentication?</li>
  <li>If I wrote a module to authenticate what are the different ways I can use to authenticate an api method/controller?</li>
  </ol>