question: @ SuppressWarnings ( "unchecked" ) private List < List < GroupAttribute > > searchAuthProvider ( Filter queryBuilder , String [ ] returnAttributes , final long countLimit , AttributesMapper mapper , ValidationFailureReason [ ] failureReason ) throws SizeLimitExceededException { SearchControls groupSearchControls = new SearchControls ( SearchControls . SUBTREE_SCOPE , countLimit , _searchControls . getTimeLimit ( ) , returnAttributes , _searchControls . getReturningObjFlag ( ) , _searchControls . getDerefLinkFlag ( ) ) ; List < List < GroupAttribute > > queryGroupResults = null ; queryGroupResults = safeLdapSearch ( _baseDN , queryBuilder . encode ( ) , groupSearchControls , mapper , failureReason ) ; return queryGroupResults ; }
target:  Searches the Authentication Provider (either LDAP or AD) based on the given search controls and required return attributes and return count limit.