Chapter 6 Understanding Access Manager Functions

The topic summarizes how Portal Server administrators use the Access Manager to manage tasks that affect how Portal Server services are delivered.

This topic provides the following sections:

• About Access Manager Functions

• Identity-Specific Content

• Delegated Administration Functions

• Login Accounts

About Access Manager Functions

Portal Server administrators use the Access Manager administrative console to manage tasks related to identity. These tasks are provided by Sun Java^TM System Access Manager, not Portal Server. Administrators can perform the following tasks:

• Manage identity-based objects, including users, roles, and organizations to administer and assign appropriate access to users according to roles they have within organizations or suborganizations

• Delegate administrative functions to specific end users by authorizing the end users to administer organizations, suborganizations, users, policy, roles, and channels

• Reset administrator passwords, in the same way other passwords are changed

Identity-Specific Content

Access Manager allows portal administrators to deliver portal content that is based on identities of specific end users. Administrators can define portal pages, attributes and access policies so that portal content is available only to the following:

• A specific organization

• A specific suborganization

• A role

• An individual

Individual end users who access the portal see a combined view of all portal pages.

Delegated Administration Functions

Portal Server enables portal administrators to delegate the responsibility for managing various tasks in a particular organization to other individuals, called delegated administrators. In complex enterprises, delegated administration can decentralize the administrative function to improve portal management.

To make delegated administration functions available to other users, portal administrators give them access to the Admin tab on the standard Desktop. The tab includes the following portlets:

• User Administration portlets

  • Reset Password Admin

  • Role Admin

  • Create/Delete User Admin

• Tab administration portlets

  • Create Tab Admin

  • Delete Tab Admin

  • Tab Configuration Admin

• Channel administration portlets

  • Create Channel Admin

  • Delete Channel Admin

  • URLScraper Admin

  • Create WSRP Channel Admin

Login Accounts

A default administrator's account for logging in to the management console is set up during Portal Server installation.

Administrators can set up additional login accounts for other portal administrators. Each new user must have the following:

• A valid user entry in the Access Manager console

• A Top-level Admin Role assignment