50 © 2005 VBrick Systems, Inc.

LDAP Directory Server

An LDAP directory server contains User and Group information which the ETV Portal
Server can authenticate against to verify User's identities. The Portal Server then uses this
information to authorize users to access the system. Administrators should authenticate users
with an LDAP Directory server if:
• The organization has an LDAP server that they actively manage to allow products to
authenticate.
• The ETV Portal Server administrator can obtain the necessary configuration information
from the LDAP administrator to allow the authentication to occur.
Using LDAP reduces the amount of administrative time necessary to add and modify users
from the ETV Portal Server system. VBrick Systems encourages customers who have LDAP
directories implemented to use them for authentication with the ETV Portal Server.
3. Create User Groups on the Portal Server
Grouping users is common practice and makes administering access to the ETV Portal Server
less complicated than administering access by individual user. The ETV Portal Server allows
the administrator to create groups, specify group memberships for users, and set access
privileges for the group. A user can be a member of one group or multiple groups. Group
access privileges also can be set and modified on a per group basis.
If an LDAP directory is being used for Authentication, the same group information that is
available in the directory can be used to Authorize end users to access the ETV Portal Server.
For example, if the organization has three User Groups in its LDAP directory—Marketing,
Engineering, and Sales—they can simply create these groups in the ETV Portal Server
system, and assign privileges to the groups.
4. Create Resource Groups on the Portal Server
In the Portal Server software, providing a user with Resources refers to providing them access
to a particular functionality of the EtherneTV system. These include the ability to:
• View Live Channels.
•View VoD content.
• Publish content to the VoD.
• Record content or schedule a recording.
• Launch an emergency broadcast.
A unique feature of the Portal Server software is the ability to group Resources into Resource
Groups. This allows the administrator to quickly and easily assign several resources at once to
more than one User or User Groups. This also makes the ongoing management of this
content for these Users or User Groups much easier.
For example, if the organization has three User Groups – Marketing, Engineering, and Sales –
they might create four resource groups. These Resource Groups would be Full Access, which
are resources that everyone can see, and one Resource Group for each of the user groups.
Full Access would be assigned to all user groups, and the Marketing Resource Group would
be assigned to the Marketing User Group, the Engineering Resource Group to the
Engineering User Group, and the Sales Resource Group to the Sales User Group.