Entitlement type
The entitlement type setting is basically intended to determine the entitlement target object—the object to which Active Roles applies the entitlement rules when building the entitlement profile. Entitlement types can be classified by how a user’s entitlement to a resource is configured:
- Personal resource entitlement Configured by setting certain attribute of the user’s account itself. In this case, the user’s account plays the role of the entitlement target object.
- Shared resource entitlement Configured by adding the user to a certain security group. In this case, the group plays the role of the entitlement target object.
- Managed resource entitlement Configured by assigning the user to the manager or owner role for a certain object. In this case, the object managed or owned by the user plays the role of the entitlement target object.
The following table summarizes the types of entitlement.
Table 92: Types of entitlement
Personal resource entitlement |
The user’s account has certain resource-specific attributes set in the directory. |
The user’s account |
Shared resource entitlement |
The user’s account belongs to a certain security group in Active Directory. |
The user’s group |
Managed resource entitlement |
The user’s account is specified as the primary owner (manager) or a secondary owner of a certain object in the directory. |
The object managed or owned by the user |
Entitlement rules
When building a user’s entitlement profile, Active Roles uses a specifier’s entitlement rules to tell whether the user is entitled to the resource represented by that specifier. The rules are evaluated against the entitlement target object. If the object matches the rules, then Active Roles regards the user as entitled to the resource, and adds information about the resource to the user’s entitlement profile.
Entitlement rules can be classified by rule condition as follows:
- Explicit exclusion The rule condition is a list of directory objects. If the entitlement target object occurs in that list, it is regarded as not matching the rules.
- Explicit inclusion The rule condition is a list of directory objects. If the entitlement target object occurs in that list, it is regarded as matching the rules.
- Filter-based exclusion The rule condition is one or more filters each of which represents certain requirements on an object’s location and properties. If the entitlement target object satisfies the requirements of at least one filter, then it is regarded as not matching the rules.
- Filter-based inclusion The rule condition is one or more filters each of which represents certain requirements on an object’s location and properties. If the entitlement target object satisfies the requirements of at least one filter, then it is regarded as matching the rules.
For details on how Active Roles applies entitlement rules, see About entitlement profile build process later in this document.
Resource display
For each resource that is to be included in the entitlement profile, Active Roles applies entitlement rules to single out the appropriate specifier and then it uses the resource display settings of that specifier to build the entitlement profile’s section that displays information about the resource.
The resource display settings include the following:
- Resource type icon Graphics that helps distinguish the type of the resource in the entitlement profile.
- Resource type name Text string that identifies the type of the resource in the entitlement profile.
- Resource naming attribute Entitlement target object’s attribute whose value is used to identify the resource in the entitlement profile.
- Other resource-related attributes List of the entitlement target object’s attributes whose values are to be displayed in the entitlement profile.
The entitlement profile’s section for a given resource is divided into two areas:
- Heading Displays the resource type icon, resource type name, and value of the resource naming attribute.
- Details Lists the names and values of the resource-related attributes.
The Details area can be customized by adding HTML code to a certain attribute of the user account for which the entitlement profile is being built. The LDAP display name of that attribute should be supplied in the edsaHTMLDetailsAttribute of the entitlement profile specifier. As a result, Active Roles renders that HTML code instead of displaying the attributes list in the Details area.
About entitlement profile build process
When requested to build a user’s entitlement profile, Active Roles performs the following steps.
- Prepare a list of the user’s groups, that is, a list of the security groups to which the user belongs whether directly or because of group nesting.
- Prepare a list of the user’s managed objects, that is, a list of the directory objects for which the user is assigned as the primary owner (manager) or a secondary owner.
- For each entitlement profile specifier of the personal resource entitlement type, evaluate the entitlement rules of that specifier against the user’s account. If the user’s account matches the entitlement rules, then add information about the resource to the entitlement profile, presenting the resource in accordance with the resource display settings found in the specifier.
- For each of the user’s groups, apply the entitlement profile specifiers of the shared resource entitlement type as follows:
- For each specifier, evaluate the entitlement rules of that specifier against the group.
- Once a specifier has been found such that the group matches its entitlement rules, then add information about the resource to the entitlement profile, presenting the resource in accordance with the resource display settings held in the specifier.
- If the group matches the entitlement rules of more than one specifier, apply the first specifier found and disregard the others.
- For each of the user’s managed objects, apply the entitlement profile specifiers of the managed resource entitlement type as follows:
- For each specifier, evaluate the entitlement rules of that specifier against the managed object.
- Once a specifier has been found such that the managed object matches its entitlement rules, then add information about the resource to the entitlement profile, presenting the resource in accordance with the resource display settings held in the specifier.
- If the managed object matches the entitlement rules of more than one specifier, apply the first specifier found and disregard the others.
Entitlement rules play a central part in the process of building the entitlement profile. It is the entitlement rules that determine whether Active Roles regards a given user as entitled to a given resource, and thus adds information about that resource to the user’s entitlement profile. When evaluating entitlement rules against a particular object, Active Roles performs the following steps.
- Apply the explicit exclusion rules. If the object is in the list of excluded objects, then disregard the remaining rules, and mark the object as not matching the rules. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
- Apply the explicit inclusion rules. If the object is in the list of included objects, then disregard the remaining rules, and mark the object as matching the rules. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
- Apply the filter-based exclusion rules. If the object satisfies the rule condition, then disregard the remaining rules, and mark the object as not matching the rules. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
- Apply the filter-based inclusion rules. If the object satisfies the rule condition, then mark the object as matching the rules.
It may occur that the entitlement target object matches the entitlement rules of more than one specifier. In this case, Active Roles needs to choose a single specifier from those matching the entitlement target object. This is accomplished as follows:
- Examine the edsaPriority attribute of each specifier, and look for specifiers that have edsaPriority not set. If no such specifier found, then proceed to Step 3. If a single specifier found, then apply that specifier. Otherwise, proceed to Step 2.
- Range the specifiers that have edsaPriority not set in ascending alphanumeric order by name, and apply the specifier that goes first. Do not perform Steps 3–4.
- Choose the specifiers with the lowest edsaPriority value. If a single specifier has the lowest edsaPriority value, then apply that specifier. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
- Range the specifiers with the lowest edsaPriority value in ascending alphanumeric order by name, and apply the specifier that goes first.
Note that the specifiers that have edsaPriority not set take precedence over those for which edsaPriority is set.
Once Active Roles has identified a single specifier for entitlement to a given resource, it uses the resource display settings of the specifier to build a section of the entitlement profile that displays information about the resource. If multiple resources match a particular specifier, then the sections specific to those resources are grouped together in an expandable block, to prevent the entitlement profile display from cluttering.