Users and groups introduction
All Spotfire users are registered in the Spotfire database, where they are organized in groups.
The authentication method of your Spotfire environment determines how users are added to the database and where they are administered:
- If your Spotfire implementation is configured for authentication towards the Spotfire database, the administrator adds and administers user accounts directly in the database by using Spotfire Server and the Administration Manager tool. Administration Manager is accessed from Spotfire Analyst.
- If your implementation uses an external user directory such as LDAP, user accounts are added and administered in that context rather than in the server, and changes are automatically copied to the Spotfire database during synchronization.
Spotfire settings, including access to Spotfire features, which are controlled by licenses, are set at the group level, so all users necessarily belong to at least one group. Any user who is entered into the system automatically becomes a member of the Everyone group; this group cannot be deleted and will always contain all registered users.
In addition to the Everyone group, a user can belong to any number of groups, and has access to all of the features that are enabled for those groups. Groups can be created and managed locally in the Spotfire database, or synchronized from an external source such as an LDAP directory.