Authenticating web site visitors through Active Directory??

[WestSide2003]

Hi,

How can I authenticate my website users through active directory.

I am building a site where users will register. Once registered, they will log back on. Instead of storing username, password, etc in a database table called "Login" for example. I wanted to have Active Directory (AD) perform all the authentication.

Since these are external users that will be random, etc. How can I use Active Directory to do this? I am hoping to avoid querying my sql server database for each login..

Any help appreciated.

Thanks..

-WEstSide