Troubleshooting tip for web access control issues

Here's a tip from your uncle Al on a real handy thing you can do to help troubleshoot access problems on the web. I've found it invaluable to troubleshoot access problems on my server. It requires you be running R5, though.

I created a database called test.nsf in the root of the server. The database has no forms or views and only has the About document, which is the 'on launch' default. Set the ACL so that Anonymous has No Access and No read/write public. Set the Default to be Reader.

In the about doc, simply put a computed text formula of @UserNamesList.

Now, when you go to the URL http://server.company.com/test.nsf , you will be prompted to log in, then when you do, you'll see your authenticated user name, and all groups (and roles) you belong to.

It's a very simple but very useful troubleshooting tool. If you are unable to log in when prompted, your problem is definitely in your account or password or directory assistance or something. If you don't see the group

Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us

RELATED CONTENT ACL Display Lotus Notes user group membership details in a tree view Update the ACL from the Roles view with LotusScript Controlling access to the Domino Directory with Extended ACL Security expert offers Notes/Domino downloads Seven tips to strengthen your Domino e-mail security Meet the Extended ACL How to remove "Enforce uniform/consistent access" flag even without access to the database! Managing groups entries in ACL Retrieve documents from Notes database, which are locked by Readers field Bulk ACL fixer

RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary

s you were expecting, then it's a problem with the groups. Check the name as listed HERE and make sure it's the exact same format that is in the group, as the name you type in when you log in may not be the same as the name that shows up here, and it's THIS name that has to be included in groups.

You can also jazz it up a little, like I put a 'Welcome, ' banner, and I also put a bunch of roles in ACL and added certain groups to the ACL with those roles, so you also get a list of roles to prove that that is working properly too. You can probably think of other things to add to this screen, but it's been very useful to us in troubleshooting user problems, especially since our users are being authenticated from an LDAP directory and their group list is populated by a DSAPI program I wrote to pull attributes from the directory, so this is the first page I go to when a user reports a problem so I can see exactly what their name is and what groups they belong to.

Hope it helps...