Understanding Contribute user management models

User management lets you add and remove user access to websites and create user roles that restrict editing privileges in a site. User management also provides a mechanism that lets users easily connect to a website.

Contribute has two user management models: manual site connections using Contribute only and managed site connections using Contribute plus the CPS User Directory service.

Manual connections
Let you communicate connection information to users, who then create their own connections, either by entering connection information in the Connection Wizard or by importing a connection-key file that you give them.

This user model works best for smaller workgroups and organizations. It allows you to quickly set up Contribute, create a connection to your website, define the necessary user roles, generate connection information for the website connection and user role, and send the information to users in the form of a connection-key file.

Managed connections
Lets you use CPS to integrate Contribute with your organization’s LDAP or Active Directory services, letting you add and remove user access to a website and modify user roles without having to resend connection-key files to users. You can also create a file-based database, using an XML file to manually enter user names and passwords.

CPS is intended for larger organizations that have several Contribute users to manage. CPS lets you add and remove users from websites and roles without having to resend connection information. When you create a connection to a website that uses CPS, you add users to a list that grants access to a given website and user role. When users access the website, CPS prompts them for a user name and password. After they enter their user name and password, they are granted access to the website and the role you’ve assigned to them.

To use CPS, you must have a J2EE application server such as Adobe® JRun™ 4 installed. To learn about other CPS functionality, see Using Contribute Publishing Server with Contribute. For more information about getting CPS for your organization, see the CPS website at www.adobe.com/products/contribute/server/.