9.2. How User Logins Work

Engineering Knowledge Manager

Installation Guide | Chapter 9: Configuring Login Authentication and Access Settings |

9.1.4. Authenticating EKM Logins to the Linux Operating System |  | 9.3. Configuring Login-related Access Settings
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## 9.2. How User Logins Work

Each user must specify a user name and password when signing in to EKM. The user name is referred to as the authentication identity because it may take a different form depending on the configuration. In the previous section, Configuring Login Authentication, you chose a module that will authenticate users via the operating system (`WindowsLoginModule` or `LinuxLoginModule`) or LDAP/Active Directory (`LdapLoginModule`).

When using an OS-based login module, the authentication identity must be a valid OS account name, as the module will try to authenticate that identity with the operating system.

If using an LDAP directory for authentication, you have more flexibility. The authentication identity may be an OS account name or some other unique identifier. It will be based on the RDN of the user entry that you are using in your Directory Server. This relates to the `authIdentity` module option specified in step 3 in Authenticating EKM Logins to an LDAP Server.

When a user signs in to an EKM workspace for the first time, and is successfully authenticated, a user account will be automatically created for that user in the workspace provided that automatic account creation is enabled in the WorkspaceConfig.xml file (see Creating User Accounts Automatically in the Administration Guide). The value entered in the User name field during login will determine the following for that user:

- EKM user name: The name used to identify the user in EKM (for example, when viewing user accounts on the Users page, viewing an object’s ownership, or when assigning tasks to users).

- Operating System (OS) account name: The OS account name that will be used to run RSM jobs.

You can also create accounts for users before they log in. See Setting Up Users and Groups in the Administration Guide for details.

Important:

- User names and passwords are case-sensitive when signing in to EKM, even if the system to which users are authenticated (LDAP or Windows, for example) is configured to ignore case. For example, a user may be able to sign in to their Windows machine as `jsmith` or `JSMITH`, but if their EKM user name has been defined as `jsmith` in a particular workspace, then they cannot sign in to that workspace using `JSMITH`.

- EKM will not allow multiple variations of the same user name in a workspace. For example, there can be a `jsmith` in Workspace1 and a `JSMITH` in Workspace2, but there cannot be both a `jsmith` and `JSMITH` in Workspace1. (See Adding a New User in the Administration Guide.)

- If a user has inadvertently created different variations of their user name in different workspaces (for example, `jsmith` in Workspace1, and `JSMITH` in Workspace2), the designated Root User of a workspace can rename a user by right-clicking the user’s name on the Administration/Users page and selecting Rename from the context menu.

- Users are signed in to a default workspace at login. If automatic account creation is disabled for that workspace, and a user account has not been created for a particular user in that workspace, EKM will attempt to sign that user in to another workspace in which automatic account creation is enabled, or in which a user account has been created for that user. If no workspace meets one of these criteria, the user will not be able to sign in to EKM.

- The authentication identity entered at login can be mapped to a different user name. See LDAP Mapping.

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