PhixFlow Help
Configure Groups for External Login
- Gary Parden
Introduction
PhixFlow can be configured to allow external logins, where users are authenticated by external servers i.e. the user's credentials (username/password) are maintained on external servers and PhixFlow delegates to those external servers to check whether the user's credentials are valid. Currently we support Active Directory and SAML / Single sign-on.
In order to login to a PhixFlow instance, an External User must have an external group matching the PhixFlow instance's external login group which is set in System Configuration.
Once logged in, External Users have access rights based on membership of a number of User Groups, but whereas local users are manually added to User Groups in PhixFlow, the User Groups for an External User are determined by mapping their groups in the external system (e.g. their Active Directory groups) to PhixFlow User Groups.
This document describes how to configure the external login groups in System Configuration and how to map external user groups to PhixFlow's User Groups.
See Active Directory or SAML / Single Sign-on for how to configure external login.
Multiple PhixFlow Instances
Where you have multiple PhixFlow instances (e.g. test v. prod) we recommend the use of group names that contain the instance name e.g. phixflow_test_designer and phixflow_prod_designer. This will allow you to have users who have different access rights in different instances.
Contents
Configure the Login Groups
Go to the External Login tab in the System Configuration details.
Set the External Login Groups field to a semi-colon-separated list of external group names. An external user having any one of the external groups listed will be allowed to login.
You can use {instance} to include the PhixFlow instance name.
Examples
Assume the PhixFlow Instance is set to 'TEST'.
| External Login Groups | Description |
|---|---|
| phixflow_login | Any user with the external group phixflow_login will be allowed to login. |
| phixflow_admin;phixflow_{instance}_login | Any user with the external group phixflow_admin or the group phixflow_test_login will be allowed to login. |
Configure the User Groups
When Active Directory users log into PhixFlow, their Active Directory groups are mapped to PhixFlow User Groups. You can set up this mapping by specifying an Active Directory Group in a PhixFlow User Group. When an AD user in that Active Directory group logs into PhixFlow, they will be put into that PhixFlow User Group.
It is not necessary to map all of a user's External Groups to PhixFlow User Groups. For each user, any External Groups that are not mapped are simply ignored.
The mapping is configured in the User Group's External Login Group field.
You can use {instance} to include the PhixFlow instance name.
Examples
Assume
- the System Configuration External Login Group is set to pf_login
- the System Configuration instance is set to test
- the following User Groups are configured:
| User Group | External Login Groups |
|---|---|
| Administrator | pf_admin;pf_{instance}_admin |
| User | pf_user;pf_tester |
Jane is in external groups user, pf_login, pf_user and pf_admin: Jane is considered to be in both user groups.
Tim is in External groups administrator, user, pf_login and pf_tester: Tim is considered to be in the User user group only.
Max is in the external groups pf_user, user and manager: Max is not allowed to login as he doesn't have the External Login Group.
John is in the External groups administrator, user, and pf_login: John is allowed to login but will not be considered to be a member of any user group.
Please let us know if we could improve this page feedback@phixflow.com