Administrative Users and Roles
LeasePak Documentation Suite NETSOL website
Administrative Users and Roles

LeasePak Server

Administrative Users and Roles

The LeasePak Administrative User Roles are designed to provide just enough access to system resources to do their jobs for the LeasePak server installation without opening the door to unlimited authority. It must first be understood that these entities, though configured to some degree as users of the server and of the DBMS, are not individual users in the same sense as are the individual workers in the leasing operation; they are instead roles that have specific parts to play in the administration of LeasePak, and have authority tailored to the requirements of intended functions.

Also of interest are the server roles and users that are formally defined as part of the Linux or UNIX operating system, or as parts of the DMBS used to implement LeasePak. LeasePak imposes no new entities at the system level, and asks only for a grant of a handful of privileges to the LeasePak roles in order that they may do their jobs, and do them without requiring the direct hand of the system roles, though of course, by controlling the access to these roles by password administration, the system roles can tailor the trust involved to the circumstances of the individual site.

The System Roles

System Role Name in these Documents Area of Authority Functions Required
System Administrator Administrator Ultimate source of authority for all server operations Installation of LeasePak and its designated DBMS, provisioning of users, printers, disk resources, CPU time, providing for the provisioning of LLDBs, providing for the assignment of those resources to users.
(Oracle DBMS)
sysdba sysdba Ultimate source of authority for the operation of the Oracle Data Base and its associated software, under the aegis of the Administrator Provisioning of LeasePak database roles, providing for the provisioning of LLDBs and users, providing for the assignment of users to those resources
(Sybase DBMS)
sa sa Ultimate source of authority for the operation of the Sybase DataServer and its associated software, under the aegis of the Administrator Provisioning of LeasePak database roles, providing for the provisioning of LLDBs and users, providing for the assignment of users to those resources
The above users are of course the defaults imposed by the software providers. Individual sites can multiply or consolidate these roles.

The LeasePak Roles

LeasePak Role Variable used to reference the Role Name in these Documents Area of Authority Functions Required
DBMS Server Administrator $SRVADM Server Administrator Allocation of resources to the LLDB and to its users Responsible for the allocation of disk space resources to the LLDBs created under LeasePak. Responsible for creation of DBMS users based on administrator- created Operating System users. Responsible for creation of LLDBs for production or testing. Responsible for creation of users to fulfill the roles of DBOs.
LeasePak Release Administrator $NSTADMIN LeasePak Administrator Allocation of resources to the LeasePak installation outside of the database proper Responsible for managing the Queue Manager installation. Responsible for performing and managing system backups. Responsible for assisting the $SRVADM in performing DBMS backups. Maintenance of hardware infrastructure, servers, PCs, printers, terminals, networking. Responsible for installation and upgrade of LeasePak and LeasePak components.
LeasePak Database Administrator $NSTDBA LeasePak DBA Management of DBMS resources used by the LLDBs. Responsible for execution of all NetSol database scripts ($ubin/db_*) and all database conversion scripts.
LeasePak Database Owner $MSIDB_OWNER Database Owner, the DBO Performance of certain LLDB tasks Responsible for creation of tables, indexes, stored procedures, triggers, views, and roles within the LLDB. Responsible for allowing users to access the resources of the LLDB.
LeasePak Supervisor none LeasePak User and work flow Administrator Administering [U0706] Security Assignment of menu options to users, running of EOP and other batch jobs. Configuring the system and subsystems. See LeasePak Supervisor functions.
The above roles are required by LeasePak. How they are administered is determined by individual site policies.
  • The roles can be given the same password if multiple passwords is an issue.
  • The same user-name can be given for $NSTADMIN and $NSTDBA.
  • The $SRVADM and $MSIDB_OWNER are not UNIX or Linux users, and $NSTADMIN and $NSTDBA are not DBMS users. However, $SRVADM's password is required to execute certain commands, and the DBO's password is required for others, but the roles' names are not.
  • $SRVADM's name is stored in $SRVADM, and the DBO's name is stored in $MSIDB_OWNER.
  • If the LLDB was created under Oracle or under Sybase with $SYB_AUTODBO set to "Y", then the name of the DBO is the same as the name of the LLDB, which is stored in $MSIDB_DBNAME.
  • The DBMS commands from NetSol know which roles are needed and prompt only for the passwords for the roles they require. Which personnel have access to a role's password is entirely up to site security policies
  • If the $SRVADM did not exist, then the commands requiring $SRVADM credentials would instead require sysdba or sa credentials.
  • The fact that certain objects belong to the "database owner" is a requirement imposed by the DBMSes, hence we are unable to circumvent the the inconvenience that these pose.

The LeasePak Supervisor Functions

The LeasePak Supervisor is an optional role that NetSol recommends be set up in a LeasePak instance. It is not necessarily a role that is tied to an individual user, and both UNIX/Linux and DBMS accounts are required. This means that the administrator must create tbe UNIX/Linux user, and $SRVADM must create the DBMS user account using db_add_login. The user thus created should be added to each environment that the LeasePak Supervisor is to service using db_add_user. Finally the user must be added to the security table of the LLDB using Security Update [U0706]. The LeasePak Supervisor can, by logging into the $NSTADMIN account, use change_env to assign themselves to whichever environment is needed, and upon logging into the supervisor account again, will be able to interact with the LLDB as a user.

The recommended login name for the supervisor is 'lpadmin', but this is optional. There is no variable name for this role.

The supervisor generally has the following functions:

  • administering database security using U0706
  • configuring various subsystems and capabilities using U0712
  • configuring the various tracking modules (if purchased):
    • Applications Tracking
    • Notes Payable
    • Collection Tracking
    • Collateral Tracking
    • Insurance Tracking
    • Maturing Lease Tracking
    • Customer Service Tracking
    • Recovery Tracking
  • maintaining various auxiliary tables (see U07 Updates)

The supervisor can be put in charge of whatever LeasePak areas are required, or can be limited to just certain ones.