User Creation and Configuration

Only a user with admin privileges can create users and assign security roles. We recommend creating a new user with admin privileges instead of using the default admin user profile (see Admin user setup).

Ideally, each user account corresponds to a single person. This helps track who performs tasks in your Meridian instance. Assigning different security roles to each user helps restrict what tasks the user can perform.

In addition to local users, you can configure external authentication services including LDAP and LDAPS, RADIUS, and Single Sign On (SSO). Specific configuration instructions for these services are outside the scope of this documentation.

Do not delete the default admin and rtc user profiles. The start page uses the rtc profile to communicate with the Real-Time Console to calculate node and service availability.

Create a user

To create a new user account, follow these steps:

  1. Log in as a user with admin permissions.

  2. Click the gear symbol at the top-right of the screen.

  3. Under OpenNMS System, click Configure Users, Groups and On-Call Roles  Configure Users.

  4. Click Add New User and specify a username and password, confirm the password, and click OK.

    You cannot use angle brackets (<>), single (') and double quotation marks ("), or the ampersand symbol (&) in a username.

  5. (Optional) Add user information in the appropriate fields.

  6. (Optional) Assign user permissions.

    By default, a new user has permissions to acknowledge and work with alarms and notifications. They cannot access the Configure OpenNMS administration menu.

    To create a user with admin privileges, add the ROLE_ADMIN role to their account.

  7. (Optional) Specify how to send messages to the user in the notification information area.

  8. (Optional) Set a notification schedule for the user.

  9. Click Finish to save changes.

Create duty schedule

A duty schedule specifies the days and times a user or group of users receives notifications, on a per-week basis. This feature lets you customize a schedule based on your team’s hours of operation. Schedules are additive: a user could have a regular work schedule, and a second schedule for days or weeks when they are on-call.

If Meridian needs to notify an individual user, but they are not on duty at the time that the notification is generated, it never sends the notification to them.

Notifications sent to users in groups are different, depending on the scenario:

  • For a group on duty at time of notification: all users also on duty receive the notification.

  • For a group on duty with no members on duty: the notification is queued and sent to the next user who comes on duty.

  • For an off-duty group: the notification is never sent.

To add a duty schedule for a user or group of users, follow these steps:

  1. Log in as a user with admin permissions.

  2. Click the gear symbol at the top-right of the screen.

  3. Under OpenNMS System, click Configure Users, Groups and On-Call Roles  Configure Users or Configure Groups, as appropriate.

  4. Choose the user or group that you want to modify.

  5. In the Duty Schedule area, choose the number of schedules you want to add from the list and click Add Schedule.

  6. Specify the days and times during which you want the user or group to receive notifications.

  7. Click Finish.