Effect of Directory Order

This section summarises the effect the order of the directories will have on login and permissions, and on the updating of users and groups.

Login

The directory order is significant during the authentication of the user, in cases where the same user exists in multiple directories. When a user attempts to log in, the application will search the directories in the order specified, and will use the credentials (password) of the first occurrence of the user to validate the login attempt.

Permissions

The directory order is significant when granting the user permissions based on group membership. If the same username exists in more than one directory, the application will look for group membership only in the first directory where the username appears, based on the directory order.

Example:

• You have connected two directories: The Customers directory and the Partners directory.
• The Customers directory is first in the directory order.
• A username jsmith exists in both the Customers directory and the Partners directory.
• The user jsmith is a member of group G1 in the Customers directory and group G2 in the Partners directory.
• The user jsmith will have permissions based on membership of G1 only, not G2.

Updating Users and groups

If you update a user or group via the application's administration screens, the update will be made in the first directory where the application has write permissions.

Example 1:

• You have connected two directories: The Customers directory and the Partners directory.
• The application has permission to update both directories.
• The Customers directory is first in the directory order.
• A username jsmith exists in both the Customers directory and the Partners directory.
• You update the email address of user jsmith via the application's administration screens.
• The email address will be updated in the Customers directory only, not the Partners directory.

Example 2:

• You have connected two directories: A read/write LDAP directory and the internal directory.
• The LDAP directory is first in the directory order.
• All new users will be added to the LDAP directory. It is not possible to add a new user to the internal directory.