1.3.3.2. Security groups
The Security → Security Groups page can be reached by clicking the menu item.
User Account Control
Active Directory Authentication types
Flowster Studio uses two values for the authentication type in the Active Directory entries: Secure and Secure Socket Layer.
The Secure one: requests secure authentication. When this flag is set, the WinNT provider uses NTLM to authenticate the client. Active Directory Domain Services uses Kerberos, and possibly NTLM, to authenticate the client. When the user name and password are a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), ADSI binds to the object using the security context of the calling thread, which is either the security context of the user account under which the application is running or of the client user account that the calling thread is impersonating.
The Secure Socket Layer one: Attaches a cryptographic signature to the message that both identifies the sender and ensures that the message has not been modified in transit. Active Directory Domain Services requires the Certificate Server be installed to support Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption.
Active Directory supports both Kerberos and NTLM. Windows will first try Kerberos and if all the requirements are not met, it will fallback to NTLM.
Keberos is the default authentication method for AD but it can fallback to NTLM in some cases, but that is handled by Windows itself. Kerberos is used every time a login to an AD is made.
As an example, accessing file share by name like \server1\share would invoke Kerberos and should succeed given proper permision. But accessing same file share using IP address would invoke Kerberos first and fail (as there is no SPN for IP Address) and then fail over to NTLM.
Here are some links for a better understanding of how the two protocols are working:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742516.aspx
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/chiranth/2013/09/20/ntlm-want-to-know-how-it-works/
SuperAdmins Security Group
During installation, a super admin user must be entered in order to successfully install the application on a computer. The Super Admin set during installation, can be a custom user (custom users are database users thus no authentication provider is required) or selected from an Active Directory OU, is the only one that can access Flowster Studio components at login. He will be the only one that can define other Active Directory, Google, Azure or Local/Custom users/groups as super admins, administrators or users, by adding them into specific security groups types.
The predefined SuperAdmins group cannot be deleted from Administrator. Also, if there is only 1 user in the SuperAdmins group, it will not be deleted (there should be at least 1 user in this type of group).
On the SuperAdmins group can be performed the following operations:
- create a sub group
- add other Active Directory, Google, Azure or Local users
- add other Active Directory, Azure or Local groups
- rename the group
The following operations cannot be performed on the SuperAdmins group:
- delete the group
- delete all users – there should be at least 1 user inside the group
- change the group’s type.
All users from this group type can access all Flowster Studio components without the need of creating a Permission Role (e.g. case for administrators groups). Only users from the SuperAdmins group will have visibility and control over this group in the Security Groups page.
The Update cache for users button can be used when the data (ex. users) update from database was not automatically done.
Load only custom users: if this option is checked, the user can see only the custom users spread through all security groups.
Export Custom Users:
- click on Export Custom Users
- the custom users will be exported in a csv file
Import Custom Users:
- click Choose file
- select the csv file that you want to import
- click Import
Note: Passwords can be filled in the csv file and imported with the user's data. Dates can be modified, but the format must be kept dd/mm/yyyy.
Other Security Groups
Administrator gives users the possibility to create unlimited number of security groups and subgroups, as well as adding Active Directory, Google, Azure or Local users or groups into manually created groups.
Add group/subgroup
- Click the Add button to add a new security group. The Add new group window will open.
- Type a name and/or a description for the new group.
- Check User Group for an user type group, or Admin Group for an admin type group.
- Click the OK button.
In order to add a subgroup, right-click on an existent security group and select the Add subgroup option. The Add new group window will open.
- Type a name and/or a description for the new subgroup.
- Select the subgroup's type (admin or user group).
- Click the OK button.
Add group/subgroup children
In order to add a child to a group/subgroup, follow the next steps:
- Select a group from the groups list and click the Add Child button from the Selected Admin Group Info panel or right-click on the group and select Add New Child option.
- The Choose Provider window will open allowing the user to select the provider for the new child:
- Selecting an AD provider:
- The AD Browser window will open.
- By default, the Search AD option is toggled.
- The searching operation can be made in three different ways: searching for groups, searching for users or searching for both (AD entries that have User and Group types assigned). The results will be displayed according to the given search criteria outside the AD tree, as seen in the image below.
In order to search for AD groups check the Groups option. Optional searching criteria may be added, like searching for sAMAccountName, name, displayName, distinguishedName or custom. For each of them the user can define a value (Value field). For custom there can be defined an AD attribute different than the ones listed in the Attribute combobox.
In order to search for AD users check the Users option. Optional searching criteria may be added, like searching for sAMAccountName, name, displayName, distinguishedName or custom. For each of them the user can define a value (Value field). For custom there can be defined an AD attribute different than the ones listed in the Attribute combobox.
- The browsing operation can be made in three different ways: browsing all, browsing only groups and browsing only users. In order to browse all let the Both option checked.
In order to browse only for AD groups check the Groups option. Optional browsing criteria may be added, like browsing for sAMAccountName, name, displayName, distinguishedName or custom. For each of them the user can define a value (Value field). For custom there can be defined an AD attribute different than the ones listed in the Attribute combobox.
In order to browse only for AD users check the Users option. Optional browsing criteria may be added, like browsing for sAMAccountName, name, displayName, distinguishedName or custom. For each of them the user can define a value (Value field). For custom there can be defined an AD attribute different than the ones listed in the Attribute combobox.
- Perform a filter (the Browse AD tab) or a search operation (the Search AD tab) on Active Directory Forest.
- Click the Browse or Search button, depending on the toggle.
- Select the desired AD group(s) or user(s) and click Add Selected (for Browse AD). If performing an AD Search, there can be added all found Active Directory entries by clicking the Add All Found button.
- All selected and added information will be displayed in the Final List area. If desired, items can be removed from this area (select item(s) and click Remove Selected) or there can all be cleared (click Clear). If clearing the list, it is necessary to add other data in order to completely finishing this operation.
- click Finish in order to add all selected items in the selected security group/subgroup.
- Check the group to see if the Active Directory or Local user/group was added under the selected group/subgroup.
- Select the child to visualize the properties Display Name, FQDN, Identifier, Category and Member of in Selected User Info panel.
- Selecting an Azure provider:
- The AD Browser window will open
- search after a User or a Group (if no value is set in the search filter then all the results will be displayed)
- select and add the desired users/groups into the Final List area and click Save Changes
- Selecting a Google provider:
- The AD Browser window will open
- insert a Google e-mail address
- insert a display name for the given address
- Selecting a Custom Provider
- The Add Custom Flowster User window will open
- Insert Username
- Click Generate Password - the Password and Confirm Password fields will be prefilled with the generated password
- Check Change password at next login if you want to change the generated password at next login
- Insert Email address
- Insert Name
- Choose activation date (optional)
- Choose expiration date (optional)
- Click Add User in order to save the configuration
User can manage the defined groups by editing or removing them. The added children can also be managed by dragging them from a group to another one or by completely removing them.
In order to edit a group/subgroup, follow the next steps:
- Select a group.
- Right click over it and select the Edit Group option. The Edit Group window will open.
- type a new Group Name and/or a new Group description.
- Click the Save Changes button.
NOTE: the group's name cannot be modified with an already existing name.
NOTE: if a group is assigned to a Permission Role, the group cannot be edited.
In order to move a user from a group to another one, follow the next steps:
- select the group that contains the user and expand it if it is collapsed.
- select the user/group and begin to drag it to the desired group.
- check if the user is moved from the previous group to the new one.
For removing a group, follow the next steps:
- select the group.
- right click on the group and click the Delete button or click the RemoveGroup button.
NOTE: if a group is assigned to a Permission Role, the group cannot be deleted.
For removing a child, follow the next steps:
- select a group and move to the properties area.
- select the child that needs to be deleted from the Members grid.
- click the Remove Child button (if the user/group is not member in any other groups, it will be deleted, otherwise it will only be removed from the selected group).
- or select a child and right click on it from the context menu click on the Delete button
NOTE: If a Local User is used (standalone or included in a Local Group), the user should be also an Administrator, especially when User Account Control is enabled. When login credentials are required (for example Portal, Designer or WebApps ), if it is desired to enter with a local user, the login should look like:
Execution Groups Assignment
The super admin can configure which Security Group has access to which Execution Group (For more details regarding execution groups and agents, please visit Execution Groups page). An admin that belongs to a Role that has permission to configure security groups -> execution groups mappings can configure for other security groups only the execution groups that are visible to him.
In order to assign Execution Groups to a security group/subgroup , follow the steps:
- click on the security group/subgroup
- go to Execution Groups tab in the Selected Admin Group Info panel and check the desired Execution Group