Panel Name fwAccessControl/fwAccessControl_ConvertFromUNICOS.pnl
Introduction

UNICOS Access Control conversion panel

This panel is used to convert the access control from the UNICOS to the Framework Access Control model.
The panel is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1: UNICOS Conversion panel

The UNICOS-mode of the access control has limitations, introduced because of some historical PVSS limitations. In the UNICOS mode, there is a fixed number of eight domains, with fixed number of four privileges per domain. Privileges in each domain have the same names.

In the new framework implementation of the Access Control Component these limitations does not exist anymore: an arbitrary number of domains can be created, and the privilege names may be different for each domain. Still, the number of privileges per domain is currently limited to eight, but may be expanded (up to 20), yet we believe the same may be achieved by splitting a complicated domain with multiple privileges to a few smaller domains with fewer privileges.

The way the information about domains and privileges is stored in PVSS differs between UNICOS and Framework scheme. From technical point of view, in the UNICOS scheme all domains and privileges are mapped linearly to the 32 PVSS system privileges. This also mean that the first domain coincided with PVSS privileges 1 - 4, which have a special meaning. The information about the names of domains and privileges in stored in a dedicated data point of _FwAccessControl type.

In the Framework mode, (as of current implementation), the whole information is stored in PVSS internal data points, so that there is no need for _FwAccessControl-typed data point. In the Framework mode, the domains are mapped to PVSS areas. There is also a "system" domain, which refers to the PVSS "system privileges".

The conversion which is performed by this panel extracts the information about the domains and privileges in UNICOS mode, then re-creates the domain in the Framework mode and adjusts the privileges appropriately. Then it deletes the _FwAccessControl-typed data point, and this way deactivates the UNICOS-mode.

Before the conversion is performed, a backup information (in form of an ASCII-Manager export file) is created in dplist/UNICOSAccessCtrl.dpl file. It may be used as a "rescue" if the conversion process failed.


Instructions
To convert the project from UNICOS to Framework scheme:
  • Click the Proceed button to perform conversion
  • Once the conversion was performed, restart the project
  • Verify that the access control mechanism still works correctly
Restrictions
  • The conversion may only be used if UNICOS access control is active, otherwise an error will be reported
  • To perform the conversion, the "System Administration" access rightis required.


Back to the documentation of the fwAccessControl component.

Piotr Golonka, CERN IT/CO-BE