Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

David Jimenez — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 18:35:08 GMT

I agree with you John, technically it's possible (and the answer was about that) , but it's not the best approach for the problem, because of security and license terms

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

John Rogers — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 17:14:01 GMT

I would recommend confidently against this approach, for two reasons:

1. Any time you replicate authentication behavior using low-code tools, you're likely to introduce security issues. Systems that handle passwords have unique security requirements and passwords should not be passed through Appian integration rules.

2. Because you're using this approach to create authentication for a portal, you are likely to be in violation of portal license terms. As a member of Appian's Product team I cannot provide a definitive answer on whether a given app design pattern is compliant with our licensing terms, but if you're considering this pattern I would recommend working through your account team for a more authoritative answer.

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

Mathieu Drouin — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 11:23:59 GMT

You could pass the user id or uuid in the URL as an additional parameter to identify the user.

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

David Jimenez — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 10:46:03 GMT

Could be this approach an option?

1.- Create an integration in Appian that receives user and passowrd as parameters, and check if are valid credentials in the external systems

2.-Expose that integration via Web api (in that way you can use it from portals)

3.-Receive user and password as parameters in the url and check user existance via the web api exposed.

4.According to the response, grant access to the user or not.

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

brahmatejeswarreddyp4751 — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 09:55:53 GMT

External one

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

David Jimenez — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 09:51:47 GMT

The group is an Appian group or an external one?

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

Stefan Helzle — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 09:38:02 GMT

You cannot directly identify a user in a portal! The only option for your scenario would be to send individual URLs to each group member.

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

brahmatejeswarreddyp4751 — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 09:34:09 GMT

That is fine I can share the url to the user and can access but my scenario is different. I will share the url to one group based on the logged in user the data is going to change. How can we capture the loggedin user data without adding users in Appian environment?

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

Stefan Helzle — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 08:21:14 GMT

You need to create that encrypted URL and send it to that user.

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

brahmatejeswarreddyp4751 — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 08:10:05 GMT

I gone through that link but how can the external user logged into portal url and access the page.? Can you please elaborate it?

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

Stefan Helzle — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:59:08 GMT

https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/24.1/url-parameters.html

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

brahmatejeswarreddyp4751 — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:58:06 GMT

Okay Stefan I will try to use encrypted URL parameters

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

Stefan Helzle — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:53:26 GMT

The whole purpose of portals is to by anonymous!

If you need to identify a user, send some kind of password or code to that user and make him enter that. Or use encrypted URL parameters to identify that user.

RE: Can we set any authentication for external users through portal.?

Konduru Chaitanya — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:45:51 GMT

Hello brahmatejeswarreddyp4751

AFAIK, I don't think that can be done.

"A portal is a public web app that users can access without signing in to Appian." - Portal Object

So there is no way that you can find out the logged in user in order to restrict. Instead have different portals using different service accounts and assign the restrictions based on the service accounts.