[[servlet-authentication-authenticationmanager]]
= AuthenticationManager

{security-api-url}org/springframework/security/authentication/AuthenticationManager.html[`AuthenticationManager`] is the API that defines how Spring Security's Filters perform  <<authentication,authentication>>.
The `Authentication` that is returned is then set on the <<servlet-authentication-securitycontextholder>>.
If you are not integrating with <<servlet-filterchainproxy,Spring Security's ``Filters``s>>, you can set the `SecurityContextHolder` directly and are not required to use an `AuthenticationManager`.

While the implementation of `AuthenticationManager` could be anything, the most common implementation is <<servlet-authentication-providermanager,`ProviderManager`>>.
// FIXME: link to ProviderManager
// FIXME: add configuration
