<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Installing > Preliminary Planning > Preparing for Concordance Desktop > Server setup and user management

Your server infrastructure and set-up design are critical to ensuring that Concordance Desktop works in a seamless fashion, and that data processing is running at optimal levels. Planning your strategy in advance saves you frustration, time, and possibly even money in the future. The steps you take now in carefully implementing the product, server database locations, and network directories help ensure your success in using it.

You need to pre-plan:

•Port access and service protocols

•Server placement

•Server firewalls and monitoring services

•User management

Plan your integration of Concordance Desktop server to ensure it coincides with your organization’s network policies and procedures and re-examine them for how they impact Concordance Desktop server requirements. If user restrictions are necessary at the database level to prevent some users from seeing a database to select it, or to limit their field rights and menu access in specific databases, you may want to plan for using the User Management feature to setup those restrictions on a database by database basis.

For information about setting up you users, see About setting up and managing users.

For information about setting up database restrictions, see Restricting user rights to a database.

For information about user groups, see About clients, matters and user groups.

For information about clients and matters, see About clients, matters and user groups.

Identifying Administrating Tasks

Identifying which administrators need access to the Concordance Desktop Admin Console is key to ensuring that ongoing maintenance gets performed.

External Authentication or Concordance Desktop User Management

One of the primary distinctions to make in advance is whether you are using external authentication to manage your users or are simply using Concordance Desktop user management. The server can authenticate users using Microsoft Active Directory while also allowing you to setup field and menu restrictions for each database with Concordance Desktop user management.

•If you are installing the server on the DMZ (demilitarized zone), you should use the external authentication to set up users, in addition to setting Concordance Desktop user management in each database.

•If you are installing the server on a LAN (local area network), you can simply use Concordance Desktop Admin Console to setup users and then use the User Management feature to set field and menu restrictions on a database by database basis. In Concordance Desktop, all  users are assigned access to all databases and have full rights to fields and menus.

For more information about authentication, see About setting up user authentication.

Adding Users and Providing Access

Most Concordance Desktop Server ASPs and organizations are managing hundreds of users simultaneously and they all need access to multiple matters and databases in remote locations. Designing a user matrix that identifies each user’s database access needs may be helpful to reference when setting up and managing users.

Concordance Desktop provides two options for setting user access to databases; you can use the User Management feature to grant users different read/write access to fields and menus within a database, or use the Admin Console (under the Management tab) to grant read/write access to fields and menus across all databases. User management settings, user roles or groups, and user role templates can be modified based on individual needs, and affect what a user can access in Concordance Desktop. You can also control which databases and matters are viewable and accessible to each user based on client and matter organization within the Admin Console (under the Management tab). Understanding what key settings need to be retained in order for users to access the server and underlying databases helps you minimize problem solving later.

For more information about user management, see About setting up user management.

For more information about clients, matters and user groups, see About clients, matters and user groups.

Synchronizing Databases

Synchronizing updates the user lists - adding new users and removing deleted users.

Databases can be synchronized automatically in the Admin Console by clicking the Synchronize now button on the Management tab in the Admin Console. Jobs can also be scheduled to synchronize databases.

Passwords

Concordance Desktop uses the authentication logon name to determine a user's Concordance Desktop database rights, field rights, and menu settings. Check the Concordance Desktop database in the Admin Console and add user names and rights as needed.

Best Practices for New Databases

If you need to restrict access on a database by database basis, first add the users in the Admin Console and then restrict field-specific rights and limit their menu access from the User Management screen.

For more information about adding users to a Concordance Desktop database, see Setting up users.

Be sure to only use single-byte characters when creating user names, passwords, and database names in Concordance Desktop.

Be sure not to use special characters when creating

When adding domain users to Concordance Desktop, it is important to follow these steps:

1.Add all of the domain user names to the Concordance Desktop database and assign database rights and access.

i.For more information about adding users to a Concordance Desktop database, see Setting up and managing users.

2.Add the users to the domain server.

3.Insert the domain users under the Users folder on the Management tab in the Concordance Desktop Admin Console.  

i.For more information about inserting domain users, see Updating the Users list.