_Nested Groups

Effect of Nested Groups

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

Login

When a user logs in, they will be allowed access to the application if they belong to an authorised group or any of its sub-groups.

Permissions

The user will be allowed access to a function if they belong to a group that has the necessary permissions, or if they belong to any of its sub-groups.

Viewing Lists of Group Members

If you ask to view the members of a group, you will see all users who are members of the group and all users belonging its sub-groups, consolidated into one list. We call this a 'flattened' list.

You cannot view or edit the nested groups themselves. You will not be able to see that one group is a member of another group.

Adding and Updating Group Memberships

If you add a user to a group, the user is added to the named group and not to any other groups.

If you try to remove a user from a flattened list, the following will happen:

• If the user is a member of the top group in the hierarchy (tree) of groups contained in the flattened list, the user will be removed from the group.
• Otherwise, you will see an error message stating that the user is not a direct member of the group.

Examples

Example 1: User is Member of Sub-Group

Let's assume that the following two groups exist in your directory server:

• staff
• marketing

Memberships:

• The marketing group is a member of the staff group.
• User jsmith is a member of marketing.

You will see that jsmith is a member of both marketing and staff. You will not see that the two groups are nested. If you assign permissions to the staff group, then jsmith will get those permissions.

Example 2: Sub-Groups as Members of the 'jira-developers' group

In an LDAP directory server, we have groups 'engineering-group' and 'techwriters-group'. We want to grant both groups developer-level access to our JIRA site.

• Add a group called 'jira-developers'.
• Add the 'engineering-group' as a sub-group of 'jira-developers'.
• Add the 'techwriters-group' as a sub-group of 'jira-developers'.

Group memberships are now:

• jira-developers — sub-groups: engineering-group, techwriters-group
• engineering-group — sub-groups: dev-a, dev-b; users: pblack
• dev-a — users: jsmith, sbrown
• dev-b — users: jsmith, dblue
• techwriters-group — users: rgreen

When JIRA requests a list of users in the 'jira-developers' group, it will receive the following list:

• pblack
• jsmith
• sbrown
• dblue
• rgreen

Diagram: Sub-groups as members of the 'jira-developers' group

Example 3: Sub-Groups as Members of the 'confluence-users' group

In an LDAP directory server, we have groups 'engineering-group' and 'payroll-group'. We want to grant both groups access to our Confluence site.

• Add a group called 'confluence-users'.
• Add the 'engineering-group' as a sub-group of 'confluence-users'.
• Add the 'payroll-group' as a sub-group of 'confluence-users'.

Group memberships are now:

• confluence-users — sub-groups: engineering-group, payroll-group
• engineering-group — sub-groups: dev-a, dev-b; users: pblack
• dev-a — users: jsmith, sbrown
• dev-b — users: jsmith, dblue
• payroll-group — users: rgreen

When Confluence requests a list of users in the 'confluence-users' group, it will receive the following list:

• pblack
• jsmith
• sbrown
• dblue
• rgreen

Diagram: Sub-groups as members of the 'confluence-users' group

Notes

• Possible impact on performance. Enabling nested groups may result in slower user searches.

• Definition of nested groups in LDAP. In an LDAP directory, a nested group is defined as a child group entry whose DN (Distinguished Name) is referenced by an attribute contained within a parent group entry. For example, a parent group 'Group One' might have an objectClass=group attribute and one or more member=DN attributes, where the DN can be that of a user or that of a group elsewhere in the LDAP tree:

  member=CN=John Smith,OU=Users,OU=OrgUnitA,DC=sub,DC=domain
  member=CN=Group Two,OU=OrgUnitBGroups,OU=OrgUnitB,DC=sub,DC=domain