Public Access to Portals

Portals can be configured to allow public access without requiring a NetX user login. This is achieved by creating a public user account and granting it appropriate permissions to portal content.

Creating a public user

1. Navigate to the Users tab of the Systems area.
2. Use the upper-left plus icon to begin user creation. For more detailed information regarding user management, see managing users. 
3. Fill out all required fields (see below).
4. Save your new user.

User creation form

The following are required fields to created your public user:

• First name / Last name: Give your user a first and last name. This name should be identifiable as the public user, but a particular name is not required.
• Email: An email address is required.
• Username: The username must be publicuser.
• User level: Assign a user level.
  To grant only viewing access to the portal, assign the public user as a browser – meaning they can navigate the portal and view assets but cannot download or share assets. If you would like the public user to also be able to download and share assets they must have a user level of at least consumer or above.

In addition to creating the public user with a user level, the public user's groups can be managed directly during user creation or management which can simplify its permissions while creating a portal.

Granting permissions to the public user

The public user account must be granted explicit permission to view content in your portal. In addition to assets this includes any fonts, carousels, logos, watermarks, and favicons used in its creation. 

Typically, this means granting access to the content folder specified in your portal's settings. For recommendations regarding portal folders and permissions setup, see Configuring Portals.

Enabling public access

Configuring a portal for anonymous access involves two steps: setting a property and enabling the Public access setting in portal settings.

Configuring public access

1. Navigate to your portal's Settings tab.
2. Toggle Public access on. 
   Note: if the viewer.userLogin property is not set, or is set incorrectly, this setting will be disabled.
3. Click Apply when the confirmation dialogue appears.
4. Save your change.

To also allow regular internal users to log in and utilize their individual permissions and user level settings, toggle Enable sign-in once public access is enabled. 

Property setting