How do I control user access to Views?

Introduction

To display View access controls

To change View ownership

To change View access for a user group

To display hidden Views

Troubleshooting access to Views

Introduction:

There are three levels of View access and ownership:

• Administrator:
  • has full access rights to all Views.
  • can assign View ownership to a new user.
  • can allow users to create Views.
  • can allow users to create, edit and delete filters associated with Views, events and incidents.
  • can allow users to share Views with other user groups and control the level of permissions they have on that View.
• Owner:
  • has read and edit access to the View that they created.
  • can control access by other user groups.
• User group
  • allows members of associated user groups access to the View.

So as an example, the scope of the My Network View is determined by whether the user is:

• a member of the Administrators user group, in which case, they would have access to all managed objects on a server. This is equivalent to the content of that server's All Objects View.
• not a member of the Administrators user group, in which case they would have access to only the managed objects in the Views associated with their user group(s) or in the Views to which they are assigned ownership.

Permutations:

• If a user has access to a View that is a parent View to Subviews, that user will then have access to those Subviews.
• If a user has access to a View, they will have access to all the components in that View.
• If a user has access to a Subview but not its parent View(s), that user will be able to see the parent View(s) (through the Explorer tree, for example), but will not be able to access it.
• If a user has the 'Edit' permission for a parent View, then that user will not automatically have Edit permission for the Subviews of that parent View.
• If the user wants to have the Edit permission on these Subviews, you will need to specify the Edit permission for that user on each individual Subview.

Please see this article for further help and information on user group permissions.

To display View access controls:

1. Find the View you would like to look at. via View Management (from Entuity v21.0 upwards), the Explorer or the breadcrumbs, or the Contents dashboard/View Contents or Map dashlet.
2. Right click the desired view and click Edit View.
   
   
   
   
3. The Edit View form will slide in on the right of the browser. The View's current access control details are displayed under the heading Access Control.
   
   

To change View ownership:

By default, the owner of a View is the user who created it. Administrators can change the View owner to any other user, even users that do not have permission to access that View through their user group.

As owners of the View, they inherit full owner View access rights. However, to see objects within that View, users must have access permissions to them.

1. Navigate to the Access Control section in the Edit View menu of your desired View, as detailed above.
2. Click on Owner and select which user you would like to take ownership of the View.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Save in the top right of the menu.

To change the View access for a user group:

1. Navigate to the Access Control section in the Edit View menu of your desired View, as detailed above.
2. Click User Groups. This will open the User Groups form, which lists user groups and their access permissions. From Entuity v21.0 P03 upwards, you can use the filter to more easily find the user group you are looking for.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click the desired user group you would like to change the View access for. This opens a dropdown field, from which you can choose one of the following:
   • No Access for no access.
   • View for the permission to see the View.
   • Edit for permission to see and edit the View. This is required for making changes to functionality, e.g. Map dashlets.
     
     
     
     
4. Click Save in the top right of the menu.

To display hidden Views:

The concept of private Views is to help make the Explorer interface easier to manage.

1. On the Main Menu, click Preferences.
   
   
   
   
2. Click Servers and Views.
   
   
   
   
3. Ensure that the Exclude other users' private Views switch is turned off, and click Done in the top right of the form.
   
   
   
   
4. Click Done in the top right of the Preferences menu.

Troubleshooting access to Views:

If the My Network View is empty:

The My Network View shows the managed objects to which a user is permitted access. It is the union of all objects contained in the Views to which a user has access.

If the My Network View is empty, it might be because:

• the user's user groups are not associated to any Views.
• the user's user groups are only associated to empty Views.

If a View has disappeared:

By default, the owner of a View is the user who created it, and they might choose to make a View private. An administrator might have the Exclude other users' private VIews switch turned on in their Preferences (see above), in which case these private Views will not be displayed.

If a View is visible, but its content is not:

When building hierarchies of Views, you must ensure to assign consistent access permissions throughout the hierarchy. Entuity can only display Subviews under their parent View in the Explorer tree. Without permission to access a parent View, a user can see the View but will not be able to see its contents.