Authentication

The User Import - Database utility uses API Keys to authenticate all API calls into Hornbill instances, and KeySafe to securely store credentials for the source database.

API Keys

For the utility to read, create and update records via the Hornbill API, it requires an API Key to be securely stored alongside the client.

User

Every action within Hornbill must be performed in the context of a user account. As well as the chosen user account possessing the User Import role (see below) which facilitates the creation of the user accounts into the Hornbill platform, and the updating of user properties, the user account must possess roles for the applications that you are granting access to via the import utility. The above comment about roles refers to the Hornbill Security Model when associating roles with user accounts. This security measure prevents you from inflating your session rights, or granting a user more rights than you have yourself.

Important

We strongly recommend that you create a Service Account in your Hornbill instance, and API Keys against that account which can then be used to perform the required API calls back into Hornbill.

Please read the API Key documentation and best practice guide before creating API keys against your user records.

The service account that you create must be of type User (not Basic), and be granted the following roles:

User Import - Allows the utility to create and update users, and associated records, in the Hornbill Platform.
Basic User Role - Allows the utility to assign Core basic user roles.
Self Service User - Allows the utility to assign Service Manager roles.
Board BPM Access - Allows the utility to assign Board Manager roles.
Docmanager Portal - Allows the utility to assign Document Manager roles.

API Key Rules

The User Imports require access to the following Hornbill Platform APIs, and your API Key rules should reflect those, plus additional security hardening in the form of IP rules:

activity:profileImageSet 
admin:keysafeGetKey 
admin:sysOptionGet 
admin:userAddGroup 
admin:userAddRole 
admin:userCreate 
admin:userDeleteGroup 
admin:userProfileSet 
admin:userSetAccountStatus 
admin:userUpdate 
data:entityAddRecord 
data:entityGetRecord 
data:entityUpdateRecord 
data:queryExec 
session:getSystemLicenseInfo

KeySafe

For the import utility to access data from your source database, authentication credentials are required to be stored in KeySafe.

Note

We recommend that you read the KeySafe documentation before storing credentials in KeySafe.

Key Creation

In Hornbill, navigate to Configuration > Platform Configuration > KeySafe;
Click + Create New Key
Choose a key type of Database Authentication
Give the KeySafe key a Title
Optionally add a Description
Populate the following fields on the form:
- Server - The IP address or hostname of your database host.
- Port - The port used to connect to your database.
- Database - The database name/ID.
- Username - The username of the account that should be used to authenticate the connection to your database.
- Password - The password for the above account.
Click Create Key

Once the key has been created, you can then lock access to it down to the API Key created against your service account. See the KeySafe documentation for more information regarding this.

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