I apologize if this is a FAQ, or the wrong place to post, or any other potential offense.

The end goal is for DNN to be a portal where users can register.  Registered users who subscribe (probably using DNN's facilities for this) will have access to other non-DNN applications. 

The one application I have in mind (but I'm sure there will be others) uses AD LDS for authentication and rights management.  AD LDS is its "internal directory." It also accepts data from external directories.  I have it configured to accept data from an Active Directory.  In AD, I create security groups and assign users to the security groups for consumption by the application.  From within the application, I can assign rights to the AD security groups, and all is good.

Problem is we'd like to open this up to external users who will be registering and subscribing via a DNN portal.  So how might I go about creating the necessary information in DNN and making it available to this application?  In addition to authentication data, is it possible to provide something similar to security groups to the application so it will know what to make available to the users?  (There will be different types of users who have access to different content within the application.)

I will be grateful for any thoughts. TIA.

-Jeremy