UserManagement

Managing Users

In the MST, a "group" is a bundle of one or more permissions which all users belonging to that group have. Groups are the only source of permissions for users, so it is important that they be configured correctly. A group contains one or more of the following permissions, which correspond to the tabs on the MST’s main menu:

• Repositories: The user can view, add, edit, and delete OAI repositories known to the MST.
• Harvest: The user can view, add, edit, and delete schedules for harvesting metadata from OAI repositories known to the MST.
• Services: The user can view, add, edit, and delete metadata services which the MST uses to process and refine metadata. The user can also view the services and other jobs that the MST is currently running.
• Processing Rules: The user can view, add, edit, and delete the rules that govern which metadata services process which metadata records.
• Browse Records: The user can access the MST’s faceted browsing interface for viewing metadata processed by the MST.
• Logs: The user can view logs detailing the actions the MST took while harvesting and processing metadata, as well as which metadata was harvested from the MST by outside OAI harvesters.
• Users/Groups: The user can create new users and groups and can assign and revoke permissions from them.
• Configuration: The user can edit the information about the SMTP Server and LDAP Server used by the MST.

A user with the correct permissions can define a new group by selecting Add Group from the Users/Groups tab in the MST’s menu. This directs the user to a form which allows them to provide a name for and optional description of the group, and to select one or more permissions that members of the group will have (CTRL+click to select multiple permissions from the list). Clicking Add Group will create the group according to the user’s specifications, and clicking Cancel will return the user to the All Groups page. The All Groups page—which can also be accessed by selecting All Groups from the Users/Groups tab—shows the basic information about all groups in the MST and gives the option to delete any group (except for Administrator, which contains all permissions and cannot be deleted).

Users may be added to the MST in two ways: users with Users/Groups permission can add them directly, or a user can create an account with no permissions and request that a user with the appropriate permissions assign them the appropriate privileges. To add a new user, hover over Users/Groups in the main menu and select Add Local User. Enter the user’s first name, last name, username, initial password, and email address in the form, and select one or more groups to which they belong. (Groups determine what permissions a user has and will be described later in this section.) Click Add Local User when the form is filled out to add the user, or Cancel to return to the list of users without adding a new user.

A user may create their own MST account on the User Registration screen here. This form allows them to specify their first and last names, select a username and password for their account, enter their email address, and send a message to the MST administrator. It also allows them to select the server which they authenticate against. At this time, the Local Server is the only option, which means that the user will authenticate directly against the MST.

When a user creates an account in this way, the account will be created immediately but will not have permission to access any functionality of the MST. An email will be sent to the MST administrator group (MST users who have "administrator" permission) informing them that the account has been created and requesting that they assign permissions to the user. A user with Users/Groups permission may then assign permissions by selecting Users from the Users/Groups menu and clicking on the username of the new user. From this screen, the user may select one or more groups for the new user to belong to and click Update Local User.