IBM DataPower Operations Dashboard v1.0.8.5
Note: A more recent version of DPOD is available. See IBM DPOD Documentation for the latest documentation.
Role Based Access Control
DPOD uses Role Based Access Control to splice user access to the information available through the system.
User and Group Registries
DPOD supports two types of user and group registries:
- DPOD's internal database registry
- Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) user registry
An installation may choose to use either DPOD's internal database registry or an LDAP user registry.
DPOD's Internal database registry
For ease of use, DPOD uses its internal database registry by default. Within this registry:
- Users and security groups are defined via the Web Console.
- Users may be members of several groups.
For more information, read the Users and Security Groups sections under Security Management.
This registry should only be used for non-production environments or during an evaluation process of DPOD.
For production environments, the only supported registry is the LDAP user registry.
LDAP User Registry
DPOD may be configured to use an LDAP user registry. In that case:
- Users and security groups are managed within the LDAP user registry.
- DPOD performs LDAP queries to authenticate users and to assign them with security groups and roles.
- Defining users and security groups is not available via the Web Console.
- The internal database registry is not in use.
Configuring DPOD to use LDAP user registry is described in Configuring LDAP.
Security Roles
Security roles are used to provide a means for the administrator to filter the view users have of the system. Administrators can use the roles to filter out devices, domains, services, client IP addresses, payload and more from a user's view, thereby providing each user with insights to only the parts of the system they are allowed to access.
There are two types of security roles available with DPOD:
- Built-in Roles - DPOD's own built-in roles, which can not be added, deleted or altered.
- Custom Roles - defined by the administrator. These roles may be added, deleted or altered by a DPOD Administrator.
Built-in roles
Built-in roles are hard-coded, system-provisioned roles that limit access to certain pages of DPOD's Web Console or REST API.
Each user must be assigned to at least one built-in role, or they will not be able to login to the console.
The built-in roles are available for view-only under [Manage→ Security → Roles] page (As described in Security Roles).
When using DPOD's internal database registry, users and security groups may be assigned with a built-in role from the Web Console. When using an LDAP user registry, built-in roles are assigned based on LDAP queries.
The table below lists the available built-in roles:
| Role Name | Description |
|---|---|
| OpDashAdminRole | Built-in Administrator role. Provides full access. |
| OpDashPowerUserRole | Built-in Power User role. Allows access to Dashboards, Investigate, Explore, Reports execution and viewing services configuration. |
| OpDashOperatorRole | Built-in role for controllers. Allows access to Dashboards, Investigate and Explore views. |
| OpDashInvestigatorRole | Built-in role for investigators. Allows access to some of the Dashboards and Investigate views. |
Custom roles
Custom roles are optional, application-level roles managed by the administrators. They can be used to limit access to certain data such as specific devices, domains, payload etc.
Each custom role is configured with several permission directives that dictate the allowed or denied access to devices, domains, services etc.
A user does not have to be assigned with custom roles. Users that are not assigned with any custom role have access to all the data in the system, as limited by their built-in role.
The custom roles are accessed and managed using the [Manage → System → Roles] page (As described in Security Roles).
Each custom role should be linked to users or groups (defined in DPOD's internal database registry or in the LDAP user registry).
Effective Access Rights
A user may be assigned with several custom roles, directly or via groups. The effective access rights of a user is calculated according to the rules described below:
- If the user has access to certain items (devices/domains/services/client IP addresses), they are denied from all other items of the same type. For example, if a user is allowed access to devices MyDevice1 and MyDevice2, they can only have access to these devices, and are denied from all other devices.
- If the user is denied from certain items, they are allowed to all other items of the same type. For example, if a user is denied from devices MyDevice1 and MyDevice2, they still have access to all other devices.
- If the user is denied from certain items, they will not be able to access them, even if they have access to the same items in other custom roles they are assigned to. For example, if a user is assigned with CustomRole1, which denies access to MyDevice1, and the same user is also assigned with CustomRole2, which provides access to MyDevice1, the user will not have access to MyDevice1.
- If a user is assigned with several custom roles, field values are merged. For example, if a user is assigned with CustomRole3, which provides access to MyDevice3, and the same user is also assigned with CustomRole4, which provides access to MyDevice4, the user will have access to both MyDevice3 and MyDevice4.