Suspending, blocking and archiving users

Suspending and unsuspending users

Sometimes you need to suspend a user temporarily. This is useful in service provider scenarios for users with billing or security issues.

A suspended user:

• Has all of the infrastructure’s servers disconnected from WAN networks. Servers remain powered on.
• Can access the infrastructure designer and has access to credentials, although they cannot be used to access the server normally except via the remote console.
• Cannot deploy infrastructures of type create or edit.
• Can delete infrastructures.
• Cannot create reservations.
• Can access the API, but the above operations are not possible.

To suspend a user, go to the Users & Permissions > user’s details page > Advanced > Suspend. A form pops up asking for a suspend reason. An admin can suspend a user for multiple reasons, and must clear all suspend reasons before the account is fully re-enabled. An admin can add “suspend reasons” from the same Advanced tab for the user.

To unsuspend a user, go to Users & Permissions > user’s details page > Advanced > Unsuspend.

Block and unblock a user

In certain rare situations, an admin needs to block a user completely from accessing an environment while keeping the user visible to admins. This is usually due to a serious security issue.

• MetalSoft restricts access to the API.
• MetalSoft restricts access to the UI.
• MetalSoft restricts remote console access to servers.

Caution

The servers and internet connections remain untouched. If the servers need to be blocked, use the suspend function instead.

To block a user, go to: Users & Permissions > user’s details page > Advanced > Block To unblock a user, go to: Users & Permissions > user’s details page > Advanced > Unblock

Archiving a user

Available since 6.2.1

Users cannot be deleted for security reasons. They can have associated audit log events, deleted infrastructure records, and utilization records. Instead, MetalSoft archives them:

• MetalSoft hides them from the Admin UI.
• MetalSoft restricts access to the API.
• MetalSoft restricts access to the UI.

If the same email address or the same account is used again, an admin needs to un-archive the old account. To archive a user, go to: Users & Permissions > user’s details page > Advanced > Archive To un-archive a user, go to: Users & Permissions > Add this search term and click Filter: user_archived:1 Search the user by name or email > user’s details page > Advanced > Unarchive