What does the Manage Users tool do?

The Manage Users tool on Web Central allows an administrator for a site to manage what users can edit their site.  Site Administrators can grant or remove access to another member of the BU community. A user can either be added as a Contributor, or Administrator.  A Contributor can create, edit, or delete any page on your site. An Administrator can create, edit or delete any page on your site, and has the added ability to add Contributors and other Administrators.

How do I use the Manage Users tool?

The Manage Users tool on Web Central automatically populates a list of sites you are an Administrator of, as well as sites you are a Contributor to when you view the page.  The sites listed under the Administrator section are linked to a page that will allow you, as an Administrator, to edit the users who have access to your site.  The sites listed under the Contributor section of the page are simply for informational purposes. You cannot make any access modifications to those sites since you are not an Administrator.

Can I restrict access to my pages?

Yes. All pages are viewable by anyone in the world unless you take the necessary steps to restrict access. See Restricting Access to Selected Web Content.

Can I get a list of the contributors and administrators who can edit the web site I work on?

If you are a current contributor or administrator of a site on www.bu.edu, you can view a list of other contributors and administrators via the Manage Users tool on Web Central.  Choose the desired web site from the list of the sites for which you are an administrator and a complete list of individuals with administrator and contributor permissions will be displayed.  If you are not a current administrator on the web site, contact the IT Help Center to request this information.

If I should be listed as an Administrator for a site but am not, who should I contact?

If you know of someone in your department who’s correctly listed as an Administrator, they can easily add you as one via the Manage Users tool.  If you’re unsure of who is an Administrator, you can ask the IT Help Center for this information.

I administer my own server. Can I use BU’s Kerberos authentication system to restrict access to web pages on my site?

If you are using a UNIX-based server on the BU network, it is likely that you can. (In fact, the current distribution of BU Linux has some built-in features that take advantage of BU’s authentication systems.) To learn more, contact UNIX Systems Support. There is no support for Kerberos-based authentication for Microsoft servers, nor for UNIX-based servers outside of the BU network.

I’m familiar with the path to my web directory on www.bu.edu that I use when connecting to my site using Dreamweaver or FTP software. However, I have a special purpose for which I need to know the full path. How can I determine the full path to my web site?

Web sites on www.bu.edu are part of a shared file system known as AFS. For servers that are part of AFS, the full path to your site is:

/afs/.bu.edu/cwis/webuser/web/[1stletter]/[2ndletter]/[dirname]/

where [1stletter]/[2ndletter] are the first two letters of your web directory’s name, and [dirname] is your directory’s name. For instance, for the site at www.bu.edu/webcentral/:

/afs/.bu.edu/cwis/webuser/web/w/e/webcentral/