User Admin

Note: These settings are accessed via the Admin menu, which is displayed to Admin users only (hidden from Member users).

The setup of users in the Kentik portal is discussed in the following topics:

Note: If you would like assistance with any aspect of registering a user, please email us at support@kentik.com.

 

About Users

A user is anyone at your company that is given authorization to access Kentik. Kentik supports two levels of users:

  • Administrator: Can perform all actions.
  • Member: Can view all data but have no access to the Admin menu (e.g. cannot add or edit users or devices).

Note: An Administrator can apply a filter in the user settings of any other user (see User Filters).

 

Users Page

The Users page is home to the User List, which lists the users that are currently registered for your organization. To open the Users page, choose Admin from the Kentik navbar, then Users from the sidebar at left. Details of the Users page are covered in the following topics:

Note: The Users page is visible only to users whose level is Administrator.

 
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Users Page UI

The Users page has the following main elements:

  • Filter field: Enter text to filter the User List. The Full Name and Email columns are checked for a match on the string entered in this field.
  • Add User button: Opens the Add User dialog (see User Admin Dialogs).
  • User List: A table listing your organization’s currently registered users (see User List).
 
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User List

The User List is a table that lists all existing users for a given customer. The table provides the following information and actions for each user:

  • ID: The system-generated unique ID assigned when the user was registered.
  • Full name: The user’s full name.
  • Email: The user’s email address.
  • Level: The user’s level: Administrator or Member (see About Users).
  • Last login: The date of the user’s most recent login.
  • Delete: Opens a confirming dialog that allows you to remove the user from Kentik.

Click on a column heading to sort the list (ascending or descending).

Note: To see additional information about a given user, click anywhere in the row for that user, which opens an Edit User dialog in which you can review and edit settings (see Editing a User).

 

User Admin Dialogs

Adding or editing a user via the Kentik portal involves specifying information in the fields of the user admin dialogs, which are covered in the following topics.

Note:
- User admin dialogs are visible only to users whose level is Administrator.
- Users can also be added and edited with the User API.

 
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About User Dialogs

The Kentik portal uses user admin dialogs to collect and display user information. The required information is entered into the fields of either of the following dialogs:

  • Add User when registering a new user with Kentik.
  • Edit User when editing an already registered user.
 
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User Dialogs UI

The Add User and Edit User dialogs share the same layout and the following common UI elements:

  • Close button: Click the X in the upper right corner to close the dialog. All elements will be restored to their values at the time the dialog was opened.
  • Remove button (Edit User dialog only): Remove the user from your organization’s collection of Kentik-registered users. This button is only present if the user being edited was manually added.
  • Cancel button: Cancel the add user or edit user operation and exit the dialog. All elements will be restored to their values at the time the dialog was opened.
  • Add User button (Add User dialog only): Save settings for the new user and exit the dialog.
  • Save button (Edit User dialog only): Save changes to user settings and exit the dialog.
 
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User Field Definitions

User admin dialogs (Add User and Edit User) contain the elements shown in the following table.

Element Type Description
Email address Editable field The user’s email address.
Full name Editable field The user’s full name.
User level Drop-down menu Administrators can perform all actions.
Members can view all data but have no access to the Admin menu (e.g. cannot add or edit users or devices).
API token
(Edit User only)
Text field A Kentik-generated string that is used to authenticate the user in an HTTP header (X-CH-Auth-API-Token).
Reset API Token Button Generates a new API token, which is displayed in the API Token field.
2-Factor
(Edit User only)
Button or text If 2-factor authentication is enabled (see User Authentication), the button disables it.
If it’s not enabled, the text says it’s disabled.
Product updates Toggle switch Check to receive email updates from Kentik about the product (e.g. updates to features, interface, capabilities, etc.).
Service updates Toggle switch Check to receive email updates from Kentik about service status (e.g. scheduled maintenance, etc.).
Add Filters Button Opens the Filtering dialog to enable the application of filters that limit the traffic seen by the user (see User Filters).

 
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User Filters

User-based filtering allows the application of one or more filters that restrict the data that can be queried by a given user. Because the Admin menu is not available for Members, only Administrators can set user filters. The intent is to enable control by Administrators over the data that can be accessed by specific Member users.

User filters are set from a dialog accessed via the Add Filters button on the Add User or Edit User dialog. The interface for setting a user filter is the same as the Filtering dialog accessed via the sidebar on portal pages such as Data Explorer (see Filtering Pane Settings). Both Saved Filters and Filter Groups can be applied.

Once a user-filter is associated with a given user it is systematically appended (ANDed) with any query run by that user, including:

  • Data Explorer or Dashboard queries in the Kentik Detect portal.
  • SQL queries from the portal’s Query Editor or via PostgreSQL clients.
    Note: Both the Query Editor and psql access to KDE are now deprecated. For additional information, contact Kentik support.
  • Queries via Kentik APIs (see Query API).

One use case for a user filter would be to allow certain Members to only query data from routers whose description contains “backbone.” Another use case would be to allow certain Members to only query data for interfaces whose description contains CUSTOMER and that have been assigned to the sites Ashburn DC3 and Ashburn DC4 (see About Sites).

 

Add or Edit User

Users are added and edited via the Users page of the Kentik Detect portal (choose Admin from the Kentik navbar, then Users from the sidebar at left). Adding and editing users is covered in the following sections:

Note: The Users page is visible only to users whose level is Administrator.

 
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Adding a User

To register a new user on Kentik Detect:

  1. Open the Users page (choose Admin from the Kentik navbar, then Users from the sidebar at left).
  2. Click the Add User button to open the Add User dialog.
  3. Specify the values of the fields in the dialog (see User Field Definitions).
  4. If the new user is a Member, specify any desired User Filters.
  5. Save the new user by clicking the Add User button (lower right).
 
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Editing a User

To edit the settings for an existing user:

  1. In the User List, click in the row of the user that you’d like to edit. The Edit User dialog will open.
  2. Edit the user settings:
    - Change any fields that you’d like to modify (see User Field Definitions).
    - If the user level is Member, change any User Filters.
    - To reset the API token, click the Reset API Token button. A new token will appear in the field.
  3. To save changes, click the Save button (lower right).

To remove the user from your organization’s collection of Kentik users, click Remove (lower left).

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