Refactor auth for better readability

**Feature request**
It would be great to have serialization for auth.

**Use case**
Many users need this functionality for production deployments.

**Implementation idea**
Add a new config option `enable_serialization` with default `false`.

Start by locating the authentication configuration and the existing serialization entry points. Clarify which authentication state must be serialized, where it is stored for production deployments, and how the `enable_serialization` option should affect behavior; done means the default remains false and the requested deployment use case is covered.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.