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Users

A user is an entity that you create to represent the person that uses it to interact with VECTR.

There are two ways a user can interact with the application:

  • Through the website via a username and password.
  • API Key: A combination of an access key ID and secret key. You can use the API key to make programmatic calls to the application via the REST or GraphQL API.

User Types

There are two categories of users:

  • Local User. These are user accounts that are fully managed in VECTR. The accounts live in the local MongoDB. Local users are assigned a username and password. The username uniquely identifies the user in the system.
  • External User. These are user accounts that originate from an external Identity Provider and authenticate with VECTR via SSO. External user accounts and their information such as name and email are not managed by VECTR. A "link" is simply created in VECTR which identifies the external user. No password is associated with external users, only their username which identifies then in the system. VECTR does not have the ability modify any user information that is managed at the external Identify Provider.

User Account Deletion

When a user account, whether local or external is deleted, the person associated with the user account will no longer have access to VECTR.

Note

If you need to temporarily remove access to a user, instead of deleting the account, remove all permissions from the account. This will prevent the person associated with the user account from accessing the application, but will keep the account in the system should they need access later.

Local Users

When a local user account is deleted, a new user can be created using the previously deleted username. This provides the ability to create a new user account for the same person in the event that the user account was mistakenly deleted.

External Users

External user accounts are not deleted in the normal sense. When an external user account is deleted, only the "link" that VECTR creates is removed from the system. The actual account at the external Identity Provider is untouched. When a "link" for an external user is deleted, the person associated with the user account will no longer have access to VECTR permanently.