SCRAM authentication, a feature introduced in Couchbase version 4.5, is utilized automatically if both the Java SDK version is 2.2.5 or higher and the Couchbase Server version is 4.5 or higher, allowing secure authentication for accessing buckets with a password. To monitor the SCRAM handshake process in Java, developers can adjust the logging level to FINEST, which provides detailed insights into the authentication exchange between the client and server. The server supports multiple authentication methods including SCRAM-SHA512, SCRAM-SHA256, SCRAM-SHA1, and CRAM-MD5 PLAIN, with the client typically opting for the strongest, SCRAM-SHA512. For older versions like Couchbase 4.1, CRAM-MD5 is used instead. Network traffic can also be monitored using tools like Wireshark, but the use of TLS is recommended to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, as SCRAM's mutual authentication requires the server to verify its knowledge of the secret using the client's hashed password.