User management and authentication

Foundation includes the User Manager component, which allows administrators to maintain a database for all users and groups. This database is synchronized with one or more third-party user directories. User Manager provides authentication, authorization, and user management for services.

User Manager enables Single Sign-On (SSO). SSO allows users to log in by using the Microsoft Windows® authentication mechanism without needing to authenticate. The users can use out-of-box LiveCycle user interfaces such as Workspace or Administration Console. SSO extends to PDF forms rendered within Adobe Reader that leverage web services for prepopulation, look-ups, and data submission. In these cases, the authentication token is leveraged to authenticate the web service call. The same pattern is applied to applications that are built using Flex and remoting to call services that are part of LiveCycle.

Foundation authenticates any user who works with LiveCycle. User Manager implements role-based access control so that administrators can associate users and groups with roles that are already part of the User Manager database. Role-based access control requires access rights to be assigned to roles instead of to individual users. Using the User Management pages in Administration Console, administrators assign appropriate roles to users or groups.

Administrators can create custom roles and associate them with existing permissions. They can also add new users to the database through the Administration Console.

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