Written by
Andreea Chirica
, Communications and Support Specialist
We're bringing into your attention a topic that is frequently addressed by people interested in XWiki: the concept of users.
Defining users in XWiki
From a technical perspective, users inside an XWiki instance can be:
1. Active users – users with a registered account on an XWiki platform, with an Active status. This type of user is able to:
- Login on the wiki with their own credentials;
- And has rights attributed based on the rights management strategy set by the wiki administrators.
Starting with XWiki 11.6RC1 it is now possible to disable a user account (change the status of a user profile to Inactive) and to enable it back from his/her profile (change the status of a user profile to Active).
2. Inactive users – users with a registered account on an XWiki platform, with an Inactive status. An Inactive user is able to:
- Login;
- But cannot perform any action once logged-in (they see a dedicated message describing this aspect);
- These users can either be people that no longer work at a company or new users that need to first verify their email address before gaining access to wiki pages (if you configured the registration page to enable the Use Email Verification).
3. Guest users (also known as Unregistered Users) – users without a registered account on an XWiki instance. A wiki administrator can define permissions for Guest users at wiki or space/page level, depending on the rights' management strategy.
4. Simple users – they have access only to the default editor.
5. Advanced users – they have a wide variety of edit options. See in the following article an image describing the features available for simple versus advanced users.
6. Users with specific rights – learn more about what each permission represents.
From a service plan limit aspect, there are two situations when you would meet the concept of users. When you would purchase:
- XWiki Cloud, and you would need to select a number of users as part of the hosting & support plan.
- A license for an XWiki Pro application, as licenses take into account a user limit.
In both of these cases, a user is any user that can log in to XWiki and, thus, has a user profile registered in the Users Administration on your wiki. Logged out visitors, guest users or inactive users are not counted towards the number of users taken into account by the Cloud plan or the XWiki Pro application license.
FAQ
Q1: Can I connect XWiki with Active Directory?
A: Yes. You can use the Active Directory App, which has been created to help you authenticate users against an Active Directory server (LDAP / LDAPS) with a simple configuration user interface (it includes a visual editor and advanced configuration settings). The Active Directory Application is developed and maintained by the dedicated XWiki Pro Apps team, and with an app license, you would also receive technical support provided by XWiki SAS. A second option is to configure for Active Directory the LDAP Authenticator recommended extension.
Q2: Are storage limits in the service plans applied to user or instance?
A: The storage limits come into discussion when you would purchase an XWiki Cloud plan for your Cloud instance. Thus, the storage limit is set per instance. To increase the storage on your instance, here are some steps to consider.
Q3: For an XWiki Pro application 10 users are counted for instance or per account?
A: The user limit set for XWiki Pro applications means that if you have 10 user accounts registered on your wiki, it would fit to purchase 10 users XWiki Pro license. If you increase the number of user accounts on your wiki, the XWiki Pro application would stop working, and you would need to purchase a license with a higher number of users.
