Working with User Roles

User roles define the following:

The user roles that you create should reflect that needs of the users to whom the roles will apply. For example, a user who only needs to generate graphs and reports does not need to be able to view or add accounts for other up.time users.

Adding User Roles

To add user roles, do the following:

  1. Click Users.
  2. In the tree panel, click Add New User Role.
    The Add User Role window appears.
  3. Type a name for this role in the Name of User Role field.
    This name will appear in the up.time Web interface.
  4. Optionally, provide a Description of User Role.
  5. In the first Permissions area of the Add User Role window, you assign the user permissions to View, Add, Edit, or Delete the following items by clicking the check box beside each item:
    • Users
    • Elements
    • Services
    • Element Groups
    • Action Profiles
    • Alert Profiles
    • Time Periods
    • Service Level Agreements
    • Element Views
  6. Optionally, in the second Permissions area enable one or more of the following options by clicking the Allowed check box:
    • Administrator
      The user can perform all up.time administration tasks.
    • Acknowledge Alerts
      The user can acknowledge an alert. See Understanding Alerts for more information.
    • Save Reports
      The user can save reports. Links to the saved reports will appear in My Portal, or the user can save reports to a local or network drive. See Saving Reports for more information.
    • Manage Plugins and Gadgets
      The user can manage custom service monitors and dashboard gadgets using the Extension Manager. See Plugin Monitors or Managing Gadgets for more information.
    • Manage Dashboards
      The user can create a new dashboard layout and add gadgets to it. See Custom Dashboards for more information.
  7. Click Save.

Viewing User Roles

You can view a user role to ensure that the permissions for the role are properly configured.

To view user roles, click View User Roles in the tree panel.

A list of the user roles appears in the Users subpanel. Clicking a user role displays a table that summarizes the role’s configured permissions; those which have been granted as denoted by a green check mark.

Editing User Roles

To edit user roles, do the following:

  1. In the tree panel, click View User Roles.
  2. Click the name of the user role that you want to edit, and then click Edit User Role in the Users subpanel.
    The Edit User Roles window appears.
  3. Edit the user role information as described in the section Adding User Roles.

Working with Users

Users are the individuals who have access to up.time and its various functions. You can grant permissions to users to do any or all of the following:

Adding Users

To add users, do the following:

  1. In the tree panel, click Add New User.
    The Add User window appears.
  2. Type a name for the user, which will be used to log into up.time, in the Username field.
    If you are using Active Directory or an LDAP directory to authenticate up.time users, the user name you input should be identical to the user’s name in the central directory.
  3. If AD/LDAP is enabled for user authentication, leave the Password field blank; otherwise enter a password that will be stored in the up.time DataStore.
    If using an AD or LDAP directory to authenicate users, up.time will refer to the directory for password information during user login. For more information, see Changing How Users Are Authenticated.
  4. If you have set a user password, re-enter it in the Confirm Password field.
  5. Enter the full name of the user in the First Name and Last Name fields.
  6. Optionally, enter the user’s geographical location or department in the Location field.
  7. If the user will be receiving alerts via email, enter the user’s email address in the Email Address field.
  8. Select one of the following options from the Time Period for Emailing dropdown list:
    • 24x7
    • Never
    • 9am to 5pm weekdays
    • another Monitoring Period that you have previously created
  9. If the user will receive alerts on their cell phone or pager, enter the email address of the user’s cell phone or pager in the Pager/Cellphone Address field.
    The email address takes the following format:
    <number>@mobile_provider_domain
    Where <number> is the user’s cell phone number, and mobile_provider_domain is the Internet domain of the user’s mobile phone service. For example, [email protected].
  10. Select an option from the Time Period for Pager/Cellphone Messages dropdown list.
    The options are the same as the ones listed in Step 8.

  11. If the user will receive alerts via the Window messaging service, enter the name of the user’s computer in User's Windows Desktop Hostname field.

    To receive popup alerts, you must enable the Windows messaging service on the user’s computer. See Enabling the Windows Messaging Service for information.

  12. Enter the workgroup or domain to which the user’s computer belongs in the User's Windows Desktop Workgroup field.

  13. Select an option from the Time Period for Windows Popups dropdown list
    The options are the same as the ones listed in Step 8.
  14. Select the user’s Default Login Dashboard.

  15. If the user will receive alerts, select the Should the user receive alerts? option.

    If you select this option, you must also enter information in the Email Address or Pager/Cellphone Address fields.

  16. If you selected the Should the user receive alerts? option in the previous step, select one or more of the following options:
    • Alert on Critical: the user receives an alert when up.time detects a critical problem with one or more of monitored services
    • Alert on Warning: the user receives an alert when up.time detects a potential problem with one or more monitored services
    • Alert on Unknown: the user receives an alert when up.time detects an error in the configuration of the monitor, or if up.time cannot execute the service check
    • Alert on Recovery: the user receives an alert when the service recovers from an error (e.g., an application, process or service restarts, or a server reboots)

  17. Click the Disable ActiveX Graphs option to display graphs using a Java applet instead of in 3D.

    ActiveX graphs are only available to users accessing up.time with Internet Explorer.


    Do not select this option if the user is working with Internet Explorer.

  18. Click the Show Tips option to disable graphical tool tips on pages like View Notification Groups.
  19. Select a role for the user from the User Role dropdown list.
    For more information on user roles, see the section Working with User Roles.
  20. In the Available User Groups field, select the user group to which this user will belong and then click Add.
    For more information on user groups, see the section Working with User Groups.
  21. Click Save.

Viewing Users

To view all up.time users, click Users on the main toolbar. When you are viewing other information on this Users panel, you can also click View Users in the tree panel.

Editing User Information

To edit user information, do the following:

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Click the Edit icon beside the name of the user.

    • Click the name of the user whose information you want to edit, and then click Edit User on the User information page.

    The Edit User window appears.

  2. Edit the information as described in the Adding Users section.

Deleting Users

To delete a user, click its corresponding Delete icon on the main Users page.

Since user accounts, user roles, and user groups are autonomous entities in up.time, deleting a specific user account will not affect the role it was assigned, or the group it belonged to. However, any reports or custom dashboards created and shared with a user group will also be deleted. Before deleting a user account, ensure you re-create the account's reports and dashboards on another account. 

Working with User Groups

User groups are sets of up.time users who have been assigned similar privileges. These privileges enable the members of a group to do the following:

A member of a user group can view either individual systems or multiple systems in a system group:

Each up.time user must belong to at least one user group. In a small installation of up.time there may only be one user and one user group. In larger installations, you can set up such user groups as Operators, Help Desk, System Administrators, Network Administrators, DBAs, Development, QA, Operations Management, and the like.

Adding User Groups

To add user groups, do the following:

  1. Click Users.
  2. In the tree panel, click Add New User Group.
  3. Enter a name for this group in the User Group Name field.
  4. Optionally, type a short description in the User Group Description field.
  5. Select the users to add to the group in the Available Users list, then click Add.
  6. Optionally, select one of the systems or Elements from the Available Elements list, then click Add.
  7. Optionally, select one of the groups from the Available Element Groups list, then click Add.
  8. Optionally, select one of the views from the Available Element Views list, then click Add.
  9. Click Save.

Viewing User Groups

To view user groups, click View User Groups in the tree panel.

A list of user groups appears in the User Groups subpanel.

Editing User Groups

To edit user groups, do the following:

  1. In the tree panel, click View User Groups.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Click the Edit icon beside the name of the user group.
    • Click the name of the user group whose information you want to edit, and then click Edit User Group in the User Group subpanel.
    The Edit User Group window appears.
  3. Edit the information as described in the section Adding User Groups.

Deleting User Groups

To delete user groups, do the following:

  1. In the tree panel, click View User Groups.
  2. Click the Delete icon beside the name of the user group that you want to delete.
    Note that you cannot delete the SysAdmin user group.
  3. On the warning dialog box that appears, click OK.

Managing Distribution Lists

A Distribution List allows you to use an email alias to send alerts to end users who, aside from wanting to be informed of status alerts, have no other reason to use up.time. Using a Distribution List is an easy way to broadcast to a large group of users without having to create and manage individual up.time user profiles for each member.

Distribution Lists, like individual user profiles, are associated with Notification Groups, and can be configured to broadcast specific types of status alerts (for example, only Critical-level and Recovery alerts).

Adding Distribution Lists

To add Distribution Lists, do the following:

  1. Click Users.
  2. In the tree panel, click Add New Distribution List.
  3. Type a descriptive name in the Display Name field.
    You will select this name when defining a Notification Group.
  4. Enter the Email Address field, enter the email alias you are using to notify non-up.time users.
  5. Select a Monitoring Period from the Time Period for Emailing list:
    • 24x7
    • 9am to 5pm weekdays
    • another Monitoring Period that you have previously created
  6. Select the Should the Distribution List receive alerts? check box.
  7. Configure the type of alerts those on the Distribution List will receive by selecting one or more of the following check boxes:
    • Alert on Critical: the user receives an alert when up.time detects a critical problem with one or more monitored services
    • Alert on Warning: the user receives an alert when up.time detects a potential problem with one or more monitored services
    • Alert on Unknown: the user receives an alert when up.time detects an error in the configuration of the monitor, or if up.time cannot execute the service check
    • Alert on Recovery: the user receives an alert when the service recovers from an error (for example, an application, process or service restarts, or a server reboots)
  8. Click Save.

Viewing Distribution Lists

You can view the details of a Distribution List to ensure is properly configured. The details of a Distribution List include an email address, and the conditions under which alerts will be sent.

To view Disbrituion Lists, do the following:

  1. Click Users.
  2. In the tree panel, click View Distribution Lists.
    A list of Distribution Lists appears in the Distribution Lists subpanel.
  3. Click the name of the Distribution List that you want to view.

The details of the group appear in the Distribution Lists subpanel.

Editing Distribution Lists

If you find that a Distribution List is not properly configured, you can edit that list.

To edit Distribution Lists, do the following:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Click the Edit icon beside the name of the Distribution List.
    • Click the name of the Distribution List you want to edit, then click Edit Distribution List on the Distribution List Information page.
    The Edit Distribution List window appears.
  2. Edit the group as described in Adding Distribution Lists.

Working with Notification Groups

When up.time detects a problem with a system or service in your environment, it can issue alerts to specific users. If a group of users in your enterprise should receive certain notifications, you can ensure that they do by defining Notification Groups and adding those users to the group.

A Notification Group specifies the users who will receive the notifications, as well as the Alert Profile that will be used to react to the problems. See the section Alert Profiles for more information.

Users can only view the Notification Groups to which they are members. While users can see the members of Notification Groups to which they belong, they can only view detailed user information for users that belong to the same user groups.

Adding Notification Groups

To add Notification Groups, do the following:

  1. Click Users.
  2. In the tree panel, click Add New Notification Group.
  3. Type a descriptive name in the Name of Notification Group field.
    You will select this name when defining Alert Profiles. For more information on Alert Profiles, see Alert Profiles.
  4. Optionally, type a description of the group in the Description of Notification Group field.
  5. Select one or more Alert Profiles to apply to the group from the Available Alert Profiles list, then click Add.
  6. Select one or more users to add to the group from the Available Users list, then click Add.
  7. Select one or more Distribution Lists to add to the group from the Available Distribution Lists, then click Add.
  8. Click Save.

Viewing Notification Groups

You can view the details of a Notification Group to ensure that the group is properly configured. The details of a Notification Group include:

To view Notification Groups, do the following:

  1. Click Users.
  2. In the tree panel, click View Notification Groups.
    A list of Notification Groups appears in the Notification Groups subpanel.
  3. Click the name of the Notification Group that you want to view.
    The details of the group appear in the Notification Groups subpanel.
  4. To view the details of an Alert Profile, click the name of the profile.

Editing Notification Groups

If you find that a Notification Group is not properly configured, you can edit that group.

To edit Notification Groups, do the following:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Click the Edit icon beside the Notification Group.
    • Click the name of the notification whose information you want to edit, and then click Edit Notification Group on the Notification Group Information page .
    The Edit Notification Group window appears.
  2. Edit the group as described in Adding Notification Groups.

Changing How Users Are Authenticated

By default, user management and authentication is based entirely in up.time: a profile for a User is created in up.time, and all profile information is kept in the DataStore. up.time user lists exist, and are maintained, separately from any other user management framework your organization may be using. In light of this, you can elect to use Active Directory or an LDAP-based service for authentication and user detail synchronization.

If you configure up.time to authenticate users against a central AD or LDAP directory, password entry on login will refer to that directory instead of the DataStore. Additionally, if you choose to synchronize specific user attributes (e.g., email address), the up.time user profiles will draw all information from the central directory instead of the DataStore. Both measures ensure up.time access is automatically kept in sync with the current access levels in your organization: up.time administrators do not have to manually update user access to match staffing changes.

If user detail synchronization with Active Directory or LDAP is enabled, you will no longer be able to manually add users from within up.time: the Add New User option on the Users panel will not be available.

Regardless of which authentication and synchronization method is selected, the up.time “admin” user profile will always be stored, and authenticated against the password found in, the DataStore.

Active Directory Authentication

To use Active Directory for user management, you need to provide up.time with your organization’s AD information. You can also define whether, and how much, user information is synchronized between AD and up.time’s user list.

Enabling Active Directory for Authentication

To configure up.time to check an Active Directory listing for user passwords, do the following:

  1. Click Config.
  2. In the tree panel, click User Authentication.
  3. Click Edit Configuration.
  4. Select Active Directory as the authentication method.
    You will next need to provide access details for the Active Directory server.
  5. In the Primary Domain Controller field, enter the host name of the server acting as the domain controller, most likely enabled as the global catalog.
  6. If applicable, in the Backup Domain Controller field, enter the name of the server acting as an additional domain controller on the same domain.
  7. Enter the Port through which communication to the domain controller occurs.
  8. If communication to the domain controller is secure, select the SSL check box.
  9. In the Domain Name field, enter the domain that contains the domain controller.
  10. Continue to the next section, Defining Active Directory Synchronization Mapping, to enable and configure synchronization from the Active Directory listing to up.time user profiles. If you do not wish to synchronize users, click Save.

Clicking Save switches the authentication source to Active Directory. Administrators still need to create profiles for all up.time users, but will not need to set a password for each one. See Adding Users for more information.

Defining Active Directory Synchronization Mapping

Before synchronizing user details, a populated “uptime” group must already exist in the Active Directory listing; you will also need to know its distinguished group name, as it will be required during configuration.

All DataStore-based user profiles will be deleted when you switch to Active Directory for synchronization--a list of affected users will be displayed during configuration. Before continuing, you should ensure your up.time users are also in the AD listing.

To configure user detail synchronization from the Active Directory list, do the following:

  1. Click Edit Configuration to open the User Authentication Configuration pop-up window.
  2. Select the Synchronization Enabled check box.
    All user synchronization configuration options appear.
  3. In the Synchronize Users field, enter the frequency at which up.time user information will be synchronized with the Active Directory listing.
    By default, synchronization occurs every hour.
  4. In the AD Group Distinguished Name field, enter the name of the AD group of up.time users (for example, CN=uptime users, CN=Groups, DC=yourdomain, DC=com).
  5. If required, enter an appropriate administrative AD Username and AD Password required to access the directory.
  6. In the User Name field, provide the name attribute used to retrieve the user name (for example, sAMAcountName).
    For AD synchronization, a user name is the minimum amount of directory information up.time needs to map to a user profile.
  7. For the remaining Field Mappings, provide attibutes for other user details you would like to synchronize with the up.time user profile:
    1. First Name (e.g., givenName)
    2. Last Name (e.g., sn)
    3. Location (e.g., physicalDeliveryOfficeName)
    4. Email Address (e.g., userPrincipalName)
    5. Pager/Cellphone
    6. User’s Windows Desktop Host Name
    7. User’s Windows Desktop Workgroup

    Any user attributes selected to be synchronized with the directory will not be editable in up.time.

  8. Select a User Role to which any newly detected users will be assigned.

  9. Select a User Group to which any newly detected users will be assigned.
  10. Click Save.

Once saved, up.time will synchronize its list of users with the up.time group in Active Directory at the specified interval.

LDAP Authentication

To use LDAP for user management, you need to provide up.time with your organization’s LDAP information. You can also define whether, and how much, user information is synchronized between LDAP and up.time’s user list.

Enabling LDAP for User Authentication

To configure up.time to check an LDAP listing for user passwords, do the following:

  1. Click Config.
  2. In the tree panel, click User Authentication.
  3. Click Edit Configuration.
  4. Select LDAP as the authentication method.
    You will next need to provide access details for the Active Directory server.
  5. In the LDAP URL field, enter the address for the LDAP server.
    If directory communication occurs through secure channels, such as TLS or SSL, ensure this is reflected in the server address (for example, ldaps:// instead of ldap://).
  6. Enter the LDAP Query that up.time will use on the LDAP server to look up a user’s name.
  7. Continue to the next section, Defining LDAP Synchronization Mapping, to enable and configure synchronization from the Active Directory listing to up.time user profiles. If you do not wish to synchronize users, click Save.

Clicking Save switches the authentication source to the LDAP directory. Administrators still need to create profiles for all up.time users, but will not need to set a password for each one. See Adding Users for more information.

Defining LDAP Synchronization Mapping

Before synchronizing user details, a populated “uptime” group must already exist in the LDAP directory; you will also need to know its distinguished group name, as it will be required during configuration.

Note that all DataStore-based user profiles will be deleted when you switch to an LDAP directory for synchronization; a list of affected users will be displayed during configuration. Before continuing, you should ensure your up.time users are also in the LDAP directory.

To configure user detail synchronization from the Active Directory list, do the following:

  1. Click Edit Configuration to open the User Authentication Configuration pop-up window.
  2. Select the Synchronization Enabled check box.
    All user synchronization configuration options appear.
  3. In the Synchronize Users field, enter the frequency at which up.time user information will be synchronized with the LDAP listing.
    By default, synchronization occurs every hour.
  4. In the LDAP Group Distinguished Name field, enter the name of the LDAP group of up.time users (e.g., CN=uptime users, CN=Groups, DC=yourdomain, DC=com).
  5. If required, enter an appropriate administrative LDAP Username and LDAP Password required to access the directory.
  6. In the User Name field, provide the attribute used to retrieve the user name.
    For LDAP synchronization, a user name is the minimum amount of directory information up.time needs to map to a user profile.
  7. For the remaining Field Mappings, provide attibutes for other user details you would like to synchronize with the up.time user profile:
    1. First Name
    2. Last Name
    3. Location
    4. Email Address
    5. Pager/Cellphone
    6. User’s Windows Desktop Host Name
    7. User’s Windows Desktop Workgroup

    Any user attributes selected to be synchronized with the directory will not be editable in up.time.

  8. Select a User Role to which any newly detected users will be assigned.

  9. Select a User Group to which any newly detected users will be assigned.
  10. Click Save.

Once saved, up.time will synchronize its list of users with the up.time group in the LDAP listing at the specified interval.

up.time DataStore Authentication

By default, up.time uses its own database for password storage and look-up.

If you are switching back to using the DataStore from a central AD or LDAP directory, all up.time users created while either was used as the authentication method will no longer have passwords. You will need to modify all existing user accounts to include passwords.

Enabling the DataStore for User Authentication

To use up.time DataStore to store passwords for user authentication, do the following:

  1. Click Config.
  2. In the tree panel, click User Authentication.
  3. Click Edit Configuration.
  4. Select Database as the authentication method.
  5. Click Save.