5.3 Allowing Guest Access to Your Teaming Site

When a person arrives at the Novell Teaming site URL, the person is considered to be a Guest user on the site, as indicated by the username displayed in the upper right corner of the page:

Guest page

This page is also the main Teaming login page. Users with Teaming usernames can log in to their personal workspaces, and from there they can access any other locations where they have been granted access.

5.3.1 Understanding the Guest User

You as the administrator can choose whether you want people who do not have Novell Teaming usernames to be able to access information on the Teaming site as the Guest user.

For example, a government organization such as a city might give Teaming user accounts only to key city knowledge workers. However, it is critical that other city workers and regular citizens also access the site to see a listing of upcoming events, read city news, report complaints, and so forth. As a Teaming administrator, you can use the Guest User workspace as a place to present information to non-registered Teaming users.

When people visit your Teaming site as the Guest user, they can have some or all of the following experiences, depending on the access controls that you set for the Guest user:

  • Any user who knows the Teaming site URL can access the Guest workspace.

  • The Relevance Dashboard in the Guest workspace displays only the information that the Guest user has been specifically granted access to see.

  • A Guest user can find out what is accessible on the Teaming site by clicking in the Find Places field and pressing the down arrow on the keyboard.

  • If a Guest user uses the Search feature, the only information returned is information that the Guest user has been granted access to see.

  • When a Guest user adds a folder entry, the entry form requests the user’s name and e-mail address. This information is displayed like a signature when the folder entry is viewed. Providing the name and e-mail address is optional.

  • If you grant Participant rights to the Guest user, people who access the Teaming site as the Guest user can modify and delete entries and comments posted by other people who have accessed the Teaming site as the Guest user.

If you are using Guest user for non-registered Teaming users, the Guest user functionality must be purchased as an additional license for your Novell Teaming site. For more information about Teaming licenses, see Updating Your Teaming License in the Novell Teaming 2.1 Installation Guide.

NOTE:Guest access is not possible if you are using Novell Access Manager to provide single sign-on functionality. For more information about Novell Access Manager, see Configuring Single Sign-On with Novell Access Manager in Advanced Installation and Reconfiguration in the Novell Teaming 2.1 Installation Guide.

5.3.2 Setting Up Guest Access for the Teaming Site

  1. Log in to the Teaming site as the Teaming administrator.

  2. Click Manage > Site Administration > Configure Guest Access.

    Configure User Access page

  3. Make sure that Allow Guest Access is selected, then click Close.

    Even though this option is selected by default, the Guest workspace is initially inaccessible because the default user access control settings do not allow access.

  4. Click Close again to close the Site Administration page.

  5. Click Personal Workspaces to expand the list, then enter Guest in the Go to an Entry field to display the Guest user’s personal workspace.

  6. Set the user access control settings on the Guest user’s workspace:

    1. Click Manage > Access Control.

      Configure Access Control page

    2. Change the user access control settings as needed:

      Workspace Owner: By default, the Teaming site administrator owns the Guest user’s workspace. Click Edit to specify a new owner, select whether this change applies to folders under the Guest user’s workspace, then click OK.

      Role Membership Inheritance By default, role membership is not inherited. Keep this setting.

  7. Add the roles that you want the Guest user to be able to perform in the Guest workspace:

    1. Click Add User, start typing Guest, then select the Guest user to add Guest to the User section of the Access Control table.

      Configure Access Control page, Role Definition section

    2. Select one or more roles that you want the Guest user to be able to perform on the Guest User workspace, for example:

      Visitor: The Guest user can read entries and add comments or replies in folders in the Guest user workspace.

      Participant: In addition to Visitor activities, the Guest user can also create new entries, and modify or delete his or her own entries.

      For more information about the additional access control options, see Controlling User Access in the Novell Teaming 2.1 Advanced User Guide.

    3. Click Save Changes, then click Close.

      Now, when people access the Teaming site who do not have usernames, they see the Guest User workspace.

      Guest User Workspace

  8. Set up the Guest user’s personal workspace with whatever information you want to present to people who visit your Teaming site without logging in.

    For general suggestions on creating useful workspaces, see Managing and Using Workspaces in the Novell Teaming 2.1 User Guide.

  9. (Conditional) If you want the Guest user to be able to access content elsewhere on the Teaming site, add the Guest user to the Configure Access Control page for those workspaces or folders.

    You can also enable specific Teaming users in addition to the Teaming administrator to grant Guest access to locations in your Teaming site, as described in Section 5.3.3, Enabling Individual Users to Grant Guest Access throughout the Teaming Site.

  10. Notify people who might be interested in accessing your Teaming site about your Teaming site URL.

  11. (Conditional) If you want information on your Teaming site to be searchable on the Internet, see Section 5.4, Allowing Web Crawler Access to Your Teaming Site.

5.3.3 Enabling Individual Users to Grant Guest Access throughout the Teaming Site

If you want users in addition to the Teaming administrator to be able to grant Guest access to locations in your Teaming site:

  1. Log in to the Teaming site as the Teaming administrator.

  2. Click Manage > Site Administration, then click Access Control for Zone Administration Functions.

    Configure Access Control for a zone

    A basic Teaming site consists of a single zone. Novell Teaming allows you to set up multiple zones in a single Teaming site. This feature is not available in Kablink Teaming. For more information about zones, see Section 12.0, Setting Up Zones (Virtual Teaming Sites).

  3. Click Add a User, start typing the user’s name, then select the user from the drop-down list to add the user to the Access Control table.

  4. Select Allow Adding Guest Access for the user.

  5. Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 for each user who you want to be able to grant Guest access to locations on your Teaming site.

  6. Click Save Changes, then click Close.

  7. Notify the users who are allowed to grant Guest access.

5.3.4 Monitoring Guest User Access

As the Novell Teaming site administrator, you can create a report of all locations on the Teaming site that the Guest user can access. For instructions, see Section 21.1.3, User Access Report.