Configure Security Provider

The security provider is responsible for authentication and authorization. Choose your security provider based on your SSO implementation and your security framework.

Select a Security Provider

The following sections provide guidance on using the various security options.

Default File-Based Security Provider

The default security provider is provided as part of the StyleBI installation. Use the default file-based security provider in the following circumstances:

  • You do not have any existing security data store that you want to reuse for your application.

  • You have an existing security data store, but it is not feasible to connect to this store via the InetSoft custom security interface. In this case, you will need to duplicate all your users, groups, and roles for use within StyleBI, and set corresponding permissions. You can do this via Enterprise Manager and/or security API calls. You will be responsible for keeping your existing data store and the StyleBI security provider in sync.

  • You have implemented complete session-based SSO (see Configure Single Sign-On), and your security is predominantly defined at the group/role level. In this case you do not need to define any users in the security provider. Simply define your groups/roles and set corresponding permissions. You can do this via Enterprise Manager and/or security API calls.

LDAP Security

Use the LDAP File Security Provider if you have an LDAP data store (such as Active Directory), irrespective of the SSO mechanism that you select. See Configure LDAP Security in Manage the Server.

The LDAP option is not available when multi-tenancy is enabled. (See Enable Multi-Tenancy.)
Custom DB-based or API-Based Security Provider
This feature is available only in Enterprise Edition.

Implement a custom security provider if your setup requires the security provider to perform authentication of user credentials or user role/group mappings against an external source. For example, if your security data store is a database or another security framework and you have partial session-based SSO, use a custom security provider. The best approach is the compoiste security provider, which splits the responsibility for authentication and authorization tasks. To do this, implement your own authentication provider and use the built-in file-based authorization provider. See Specify Security Provider in Manage the Server for more infomation.

Security Provider Functions

The security provider includes the following key functions for authentication and authorization:

Table 1. Authentication
Function Description

authenticate()

Validates user login.

getUser()

Maps user to groups and roles.

getGroups(), getRoles()

Provide list of users, roles, and groups.

getOrganization()

Provide list of organizations.
Table 2. Authorization
Function Description

getPermission(), setPermission()

Gets and sets InetSoft-specific permissions for users, groups, or roles.

The SSO method that you use will determine which functions of the security provider are bypassed. The list below shows the conditions under which certain functions are invoked or bypassed.

Table 3. SSO Authentication
Function Status

authenticate()

Bypassed

getUser()

Bypassed, depending on information in SRPrincipal object.

getGroups(), getRoles()

Invoked, when you set permissions via Enterprise Manager.

getOrganization()

Invoked, when you set permissions via Enterprise Manager.
Table 4. SSO Authorization
Function Status

getPermission(), setPermission()

Invoked