Using My Combell for user rights management: a powerful feature

Since the release of My Combell version 4 (on September 16^th 2011), the control panel is equipped with an intuitive access rights system. This system makes it possible to create users who can each have specific rights to products that can be managed through the panel.

Why is such a system necessary? In the past, every customer had only one username to log into the control panel. If you wanted to provide access to your customers or your staff, you had to share your personal login and password with them. Not only did that entail disclosing sensitive information (your password could be a password you also use for other purposes), but the person getting access also instantly gained all the rights to access your products and had the possibility to order new products.

Therefore, in response to the numerous requests we have received from our customers, we developed a handy system including users and access rights that you can use creatively for your specific goals. We will briefly explain its use so you can get started right away.

• In your My Combell panel, click “Users” in your “Settings”.
• You will then get an overview screen showing the different users. The Customer ID with which you usually log in is a “read-only” user with full rights. Possible other users have specific rights. On this screen, there is an input field where you can create a new user.
• After confirmation, you can further configure this user. You can e.g. enter the password with which the user will be able to connect. You can also enter the language and specify via which e-mail address the user can be contacted e.g. in case he forgets his password.

Another great option is the choice between https://my.combell.com and https://my.webhosting.be. The first control panel is entirely Combell branded. If you are a reseller and do not want your customers to known that you work via Combell, you can also provide users with access to an anonymous control panel via https://my.webhosting.be, where you will not find any mention of Combell. This is an ideal solution for your end customer.

Once the user has been added, you can start assigning access rights to this user.

Access rights management made easy

By default, new users do not have any access rights. Via the access rights screen, adequate rights can be assigned. They are classified as follows:

• No rights
• Administrator
• Rights per account or product group
• Rights via account group

Rights per account or product group are the easy way to limit access. The user only has the right to access individual packages of a certain product type or all packages of one single product type.

By clicking “Specify” next to a product type, all products of that type are displayed. Click a product to assign access rights to the user.

Use of account groups for a clever classification of users

Assigning rights to a user is a typical “one-to-many” relationship. For a large group of packages and many users, management can therefore become somewhat complicated. To solve this problem, we also devised account groups. One group can hold rights to one or several accounts or product groups.

Users can then be linked to one or several account groups.