System user names

IBM® Engineering Requirements Management DOORS® (DOORS) can use system user names to log in to the DOORS database. Your system user name is the name that you use to log in to your computer, for example your Windows user name.
If system user names are enabled for DOORS login, it is important to enter the system user name of each user in their user account. DOORS uses the system user names that are entered in the user accounts to determine whether there are identical system user names.
  • Users who have identical system user names must type their DOORS user name when they log in to the database
  • Users who have unique system user names do not need to type their DOORS user name to log in to the database.

All system user names are unique within a single Windows domain.

Your system user names might not be unique if users are in two or more Windows domains or you have both Linux users and Windows users.

If there is any possibility that your users might not have unique system user names, and you want to enable system user names:
  • Make sure that your DOORS database uses passwords.
  • Make sure that every DOORS user account record has a System Username.
  • Do not ignore warning messages that a user account record does not have a System Username.

CAUTION:
For security reasons, use passwords along with system user names. If you do not use passwords, the DOORS login screen is not displayed, and the database explorer opens.
Restriction:
  • You cannot use system user names when you are using Rational® Directory Server for user administration in SSS mode.
  • An interoperation server can be used with a database that is configured for system user names; however, IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS - Web Access (DWA) does not support system user names.

Diagram illustrating the use of system user names in DOORS

Judy Brown is using Windows 7. Her system user name is Judy, and this user name is recorded in her DOORS user account. No other DOORS user has the same system user name, so when she starts DOORS, she does not need to type her DOORS user name.

Now you create an account for Judy Smith, who is using Windows 2008, and whose system user name is also Judy. You enter her system user name in her user account.

When either Judy Brown or Judy Smith start DOORS, they must type their DOORS user name on the login screen, because there are now two users with the same system user name.

If you forgot to enter the system user name for Judy Smith in her user account and ignored the warning message, DOORS cannot tell that there are two users with identical system user names. When Judy Smith logs on to her computer and runs DOORS, her system user name is matched with the user account for Judy Brown.

  • If the database does not use passwords, Judy Smith does not see the DOORS login screen and is logged straight in to DOORS as Judy Brown.
  • If the database is using passwords, Judy Smith must type a password. What she types does not match what DOORS is expecting (it is expecting the password for Judy Brown). So Judy Smith cannot log in to DOORS.

    She contacts her database manager, who can fix the problem by either disabling system user names or entering her system user name in her account record.


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