Add or edit User Groups

 

User Groups are collections of end users you can use to configure features in Smoothwall Filter or Monitor.

• Smoothwall comes with three built-in User Groups: Default users, Banned users and Unauthenticated IPs Groups.
• You can map Directory groups from your organisation’s Directory service to a custom User Group.

You can use custom User Groups in many ways, including:

• In Web Filter Policies to filter content differently for different users, such as students or staff.
• To send Safeguarding Alerts to different staff for different User Groups.
• In Alerting Profiles to send Monitor Alerts.

 

Before you begin

Check where directories were set up

If you have a Hybrid setup (both Cloud Portal and Smoothwall On-Premise Appliance), the Directory type and platform it was originally set up on determine how Directory group mappings sync.

See Directories and Group mapping in a Hybrid setup to check whether you’ll need to use Cloud Portal or On-Premise Appliance to manage mappings, then follow the relevant instructions below.

Decide on your User Group Naming Conventions

We recommend using a naming convention for your User Groups, to ensure consistency and clarity. For example if a User Group contains only Staff members, you could call it “Tenant Name - Staff Only”.

The User Groups are listed alphabetically, so label your most used User Groups accordingly to have them appear at the top of the list.

Naming Requirements:

• You must use at least one character, up to 128 characters maximum.
• You can use any special characters, except for a name made up of only spaces.
• You can’t reuse a name from a Global User Group, or an existing User Group in your Tenant.

Cloud Portal

Go to Admin Panel > Directories to check what directories you sync. If you don’t see the Directory, set up a new one.

Add new User Groups

1. Go to Admin Panel > Smoothwall Groups/Linewize Groups.
2. Select the Tenant if you have multiple Tenants.
3. Select Add Smoothwall Group/Add Linewize Group.

     Important

   If the button is greyed out, select Submit a request from the top of the Help Centre to contact the Support Team.

4. Add a name for the group and a comment if needed.
5. Search or move down the list to find Directory groups.
6. Select the checkboxes to add the Directory Groups to your User Group.
7. Select Save.
8. Go to Filter > Publishing and select Publish.

Delete a User Group

You can’t delete a group after creating it because other Smoothwall services may use it.

You should rename the group to indicate it should not be used, or prefix the name with ‘Z’ so it will show at the bottom of the list.

1. Select the group.
2. Select Edit Smoothwall Group/Edit Linewize Group.
3. Change the name and select Save.

Change the users in your User Groups

You can only change the users in your Directory groups directly in your Directory service.

To amend the mapping of your Directory groups to your User Groups:

1. Select the group.
2. Select Edit Smoothwall Group/Edit Linewize Group.
3. Select or clear the Directory groups as needed.
4. Select Save.
5. Go to Filter > Publishing and select Publish.

Smoothwall On-Premise Appliance

Go to Services > Authentication > Directories to check what directories you sync. If you don’t see the Directory here, set up a new one.

Add new User Groups

1. Go to Services > Authentication > Groups.
2. Select Add new group.
3. Add a name for the group and a comment if needed.
4. Select Add.

Edit or Delete User Groups

You can’t edit or delete the Unauthenticated IPs, Default Users or Banned Users groups. If you try to edit them, an error banner appears. Revert to the original name or cancel the edit.

To edit the name of a User Group:

1. Hover over the group.
2. Select Edit to change the name.
3. Select Save changes.

To delete a User Group:

1. Hover over the group.
2. Select Delete.

Change the users in your User Groups

You can only change the users in your Directory groups directly in your Directory service.

To add a new Directory group to User Group:

1. Go to Services > Authentication > Directories.
2. Select the Directory name to expand the relevant directory.
3. In the Group mappings section, select Add new group mapping.
4. In the Directory group list, select the groups to map from.
5. Select a Local group (User Group) to map your Directory groups to.
6. Make sure the Enabled checkbox is selected.
7. Select Add.

To edit or delete a group mapping:

1. Go to Services > Authentication > Directories.
2. Select the Directory name to expand the relevant Directory.
3. In the Group mappings section, select Edit or Delete.