Managing temporal group memberships
By using temporal group memberships, you can manage group memberships of objects such as user or computer accounts that need to be members of particular groups for only a certain time period. This feature gives you flexibility in deciding and tracking what objects need group memberships and for how long.
This section guides you through the tasks of managing temporal group memberships in the Web Interface. If you are authorized to view and modify group membership lists, then you can add, view and remove temporal group members as well as view and modify temporal membership settings on group members.
Adding temporal members
A temporal member of a group is an object, such as a user, computer or group, scheduled to be added or removed from the group. You can add and configure temporal members using the Web Interface.
To add temporal members of a group
- In the Web Interface, select the group, and then choose the Members command.
- On the Members page, click Add.
- In the Select Object dialog box find and select the objects that you want to make temporal members of the group, and then click Temporary Access.
- In the Temporal Membership Settings dialog box, choose the appropriate options, and then click OK:
- To have the temporal members added to the group on a certain date in the future, select On this date under Add to the group, and choose the date and time you want.
- To have the temporal members added to the group at once, select Now under Add to the group.
- To have the temporal members removed from the group on a certain date, select On this date under Remove from the group, and choose the date and time you want.
- To retain the temporal members in the group for indefinite time, select Never under Remove from the group.
NOTE: You can make an object a temporal member of particular groups by managing the object rather than the groups. Select the object, and then choose the Member Of command. On the Member Of page, click Add. In the Select Object dialog box, find and select the groups, and specify the temporal membership settings as appropriate for your situation.
Viewing temporal members
In the list of group members displayed by the Web Interface, you can distinguish between regular and temporal group members. It is also possible to hide or display so-called pending members, the temporal members that are scheduled to be added to the group in the future but are not actual members of the group so far.
To view temporal members of a group
- In the Web Interface, select the group, and then choose the Members command.
- Review the list on the Members page:
- An icon of a small clock overlays the icon for the temporal members.
- If the Show pending members check box is selected, the list also includes the temporal members that are not yet added to the group.
The list of group memberships for a particular object makes it possible to distinguish between the groups in which the object is a regular member and the groups in which the object is a temporal member. It is also possible to hide or display so-called pending group memberships, the groups to which the object is scheduled to be added in the future.
To view groups in which an object is a temporal member
- In the Web Interface, select the object, and then choose the Member Of command.
- Review the list on the Member Of page:
- An icon of a small clock overlays the icon for the groups in which the object is a temporal member.
- If the Show pending group memberships check box is selected, the list also includes the groups to which the object is scheduled to be added in the future.
Rescheduling temporal group memberships
The temporal membership settings on a group member include the start time and end time settings.
The start time setting specifies when the object is to be actually added to the group. This can be specific date and time or an indication that the object should be added to the group right away.
The end time setting specifies when the object is to be removed from the group. This can be specific date and time or an indication that the object should not be removed from the group.
You can view or modify both the start time and end time settings using the Web Interface.
To view or modify the start or end time setting for a member of a group
- In the Web Interface, select the group, and then choose the Members command.
- In the list on the Members page, select the member and then click the Temporary Access button.
- Use the Temporal Membership Settings dialog box to view or modify the start or end time settings.
The Temporal Membership Settings dialog box provides the following options:
- Add to the group | Now Indicates that the object should be added to the group at once.
- Add to the group | On this date Indicates the date and time when the object should be added to the group.
- Remove from the group | Never Indicates that the object should not be removed from the group.
- Remove from the group | On this date Indicates the date and time when the object should be removed from the group.
Regular members have the Add to group and Remove from group options set to Already added and Never, respectively. You can set a particular date for any of these options in order to convert a regular member to a temporal member.
NOTE:
- You can view or modify the start time and end time settings by managing an object rather than the groups in which that object has memberships. select the object, and then choose the Member Of command. On the Member Of page, select the group for which you want to manage the object’s start or end time setting and click Temporary Access.
- On the Members or Member Of page, you can change the start or end time setting for multiple members or groups at a time. On the page, select multiple list items, click Temporary Access, and then, in the Temporal Membership Settings dialog box, make the changes you want.
