User Roles

A SmartFile installation includes 3 default roles (User, Manager, or Administrator) that define what type of actions they can take with your site. You can also define custom roles with different sets of allowed actions.

User

By default, the user role cannot manage other users, but they can change their own profile information and password. In addition, users with this role can connect via unencrypted FTP or encrypted methods (SFTP and FTPS).

The default User role grants the ability to create notifications.

Manager

Oftentimes, our customers want to allow organizational units to manage their own users without needing an administrator's involvement. The Manager role makes this possible.

Managers have all of the capabilities of the User role. In addition, they can create users, and they can edit or delete the users that they’ve created. Unlike administrators, Managers are restricted to only managing users they have created.

Managers are able to view and export file activity history.

Manager Home Directory

When the SmartFile installation is not in HyperPrivacy Mode, a manager's home directory restricts what access they can grant to users. Manager cannot set users' home directories to be outside of their own home directory, nor can they grant file permissions they do not have themselves. This prevents a manager from creating a new account with elevated permissions and then using that.

Administrator

The Administrator role has full access to all the settings for your site.

Administrators have all User and Manager capabilities. They can edit and delete all users, even their own account. Administrators can grant file permissions that they themselves do not have.

Administrators can upgrade or downgrade the site, which affects the monthly bill.

Administrator Home Directory

When the SmartFile installation is not in HyperPrivacy Mode, administrators must have the "/ Home" folder for their home directory because they can assign any folder access to users and groups.

Modifying Role Capabilities

All of the Roles provided by default can be modified to match your organization's needs. For example, you might want to prevent your Managers from accessing the system via FTP or SFTP.

You can also create new custom roles, such as a Billing role that only has the ability to access the site settings and billing, but can't manage users at all.