Sharing

Connections, links and customized scans may be shared with other users. This saves the trouble of having to configure the same connections, links etc. for many users.

Procedure for sharing a node

Note: The steps mentioned below only apply to nodes of a type that can be shared. If you try to share a node which cannot be shared (see below), relevant menu or form options will be found missing.

The procedure to share a node is:

1. In the folder list, right mouse click the connection, link, or customized scan you want to share
2. In the popup menu, click "Properties..."
3. On the "Properties" form, click the Sharing "Edit" button
4. On the "Sharing Properties" form, select the radio button "Shared". Enter a share name. Click the "Permissions..." button.
5. On the "Permissions" form, remove or add permissions for users:
   • To add permission for a user, click "Add". On the "Add Users" form, select one or more check boxes for the user(s) you want to give permission. If adding a user, the "Type of Access" must be specified. This is "Read" or "Write". Select "Read" always (the "Write" option is an access type which has meaning for document sharing only. Document sharing is a feature which is currently disabled)
   • To remove permission for a user, select one or more users, and click the "Remove" button
   Note: The users "Everyone", "admin", and "default" are special users, see below.
6. After adding or removing users, click "OK" to leave the "Permissions" form
7. Click "OK" to leave the "Sharing Properties" form
8. Click "OK" to leave the "Properties" form

If you've given permission to one or more users, upon the next logon they will get to see the shared nodes under the "Neighborhood" folder. Users that were already logged on at the time the share was created have to log off and on to see the share.

The users "Everyone", "admin" and "default"

The user "Everyone" as such is not a user, but rather a user group that includes all users. If you give share permission to user "Everyone", as the name suggests, all users will see the share. Remember to remove that user if you want to grant specific users access privileges only.

The admin and default user are special users. These user accounts are not intended for operational use, but rather for administrative purposes. Therefore sharing to these users is not a common action.

Nodes which cannot be shared

Nodes that cannot be shared include:

• The "Recycle Bin", nor entries therein
• The "Connections" folder (you may share connections within the "Connections" folder, though)
• Questions and question groups
• The "Diagnostic Scans" folder, nor Diagnostic Scans therein
• The "Neighborhood" folder, nor entries therein
• The "Remote Servers" folder, nor entries therein

This list is not necessarily complete.

There is a workaround for the fact that Diagnostic Scans cannot be shared. This is explained next.

A useful application: Configuring a Diagnostic Scan using shared connections

The most cumbersome step in configuring the OnePoint Diagnostics portal is to setup connections. Normally each user must setup connections. This is time consuming and for certain connection types may have the disadvantage that connection parameters are made known to the other users. 

A solution is that one user creates the necessary connections, and shares them to all other users who need to execute questions, question groups, and/or Diagnostic Scans.

To allow other users to execute Diagnostic Scans using shared connections, a special procedure needs to be followed:

1. Create a new folder under the root node ("OnePoint Diagnostics"):
   • Right mouse click the root node "OnePoint Diagnostics" in the folder list
   • In the pop-up menu, click "New Folder..."
   • In the "Create New Folder" form, enter a name for the new folder (e.g. "MyShare") and click "OK"
2. Create all the necessary connections in the "MyShare" folder (or drag existing connections to that folder)
3. Add one or more services to the folder "MyShare": Right mouse click the "MyShare" folder, in the popup menu highlight "Add", "Scan", "Diagnostic Scans", and click the Diagnostic Scan(s) of your choice. Adding the Diagnostic Scan(s) is all you need to do, do not start the wizard
4. Share the "MyShare" folder to the users of your choice, as described in the abovementioned procedure for sharing

It is important to add all required connections plus the required Diagnostic Scan(s) to the self same folder. After sharing the folder all its contents is implicitly shared as well.

The user(s) that received share permissions can now execute a Diagnostic Scan as follows:

• Logoff (if necessary) and logon to the portal
• Open the "Neighborhood" folder
• Open the folder with the user name that granted permission
• Double click the Diagnostic Scan node

E.g. in the following screen shot, user "demo" created a folder "MyShare", placed four connections in it, plus a SSA ERP LN Diagnostic Scan. "demo" shared the folder "MyShare" to the current user. The current user sees:

When opened, the SSA ERP LN Diagnostic Scan "Existing Connections" form will display the shared connections in the "MyShare" folder, together with connections that belong to the current user. The scan can be started using the desired connections.