User management and LDAP configuration in VersionVault Express

The new web UIs and REST APIs in VersionVault Express 2.0 make it easier than ever to execute a whole host of common tasks, like creating a new project, quickly fixing a typo in a source code file without having to open an IDE, and more.

One of the two web UIs included with VersionVault Express is an appliance setup UI which allows a system administrator to configure anything from SSH keys, to an SMTP server and SSL certificates.

More importantly, it allows you to manage users within VersionVault, whether you want to do so on your own or with the help of an existing LDAP server.

Once you’re logged into the appliance setup UI, located at https://hostname:38443/setup by default, the user management capabilities will be front and center.

The VersionVault Express appliance will be configured for self-managed accounts by default, but this can be easily changed to “Enterprise LDAP accounts” with the drop-down menu at the very top.

The UI will alert you that switching to LDAP may render existing projects inaccessible or accessible to the wrong users, so it’s a good idea to do this either before any projects are created or after you’ve sufficiently backed up any existing projects, if possible.

The UI will then change to display fields for entering information for the LDAP server you wish to connect to, like the hostname, port, search base, and more.

Optionally, groups can be restricted from using VersionVault Express, and custom field mappings can be set up for the user’s full name, email address, and avatar image so that this information can be pulled from fields that you already have set up with different names.

When you’ve set all your desired configurations, the “Validate” button at the top lets you ensure that VersionVault Express can communicate with your LDAP server properly before saving and applying it.

If you opt to use the self-managed accounts option, you’ll get some finer user management controls.

For example, you can add a user directly to VersionVault Express by typing their email in the “Email” box and then clicking “Add user” at the top right.

If you have an SMTP server configured, an email will be sent to the user which they can use to complete the registration process.

Below that, there’s a list of users that exist in VersionVault Express. The list includes users that have fully registered and those that have been invited but haven’t completed the registration process.  If that’s the case, the user’s invite status will be “Pending”, and there will be an icon of a circular arrow to let you resend the invitation email.

On the right side, there’s also actions that can be performed on users. For any user, the garbage can icon allows you to delete the user from VersionVault Express. For any user that is listed as “Joined”, the icon of a lock with an arrow lets you force the user to reset their password. An email will be sent to the user with a link to set a new password.

Also, hovering any row in the list of users will show a pencil icon which can be clicked to change that user’s email address.

The “Temporarily disable SMTP” toggle, as the name implies, disables SMTP functionality so VersionVault Express won’t attempt to send out any registration emails or password emails, which may be useful in cases where your SMTP server is down or not working properly.

However, with SMTP disabled, the button next to any “Pending” invite statuses will open your computer’s email client with the necessary contents filled in so that the email can be sent manually, and this will be the same for password resets.

There’s a lot more that the appliance setup UI is capable of, so if you’re interested you can check out our product documentation.