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Visual Composer uses the user management and authentication mechanisms provided with the SAP NetWeaver platform, in particular the SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java. Therefore, the security recommendations and guidelines for user administration and authentication as described in the SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java Security Guide also apply to Visual Composer. For more information, see SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java Security Guide.

Visual Composer does not implement any separate user administration mechanism apart from the one provided by the portal.

Authorizations

During installation, a predefined role – VC Role – is deployed to the portal as part of the initial Visual Composer content. This role has all the necessary permissions to allow a user to perform modeling tasks while working with Visual Composer Storyboard, such as create, develop, manage and deploy models to the portal. The role includes full permissions for the Visual Composer folder in the portal. Additionally, each Visual Composer user should be assigned (at least) read permissions to back-end systems accessed through the portal in order to access the needed data services.

It is a portal administrator's responsibility to manage user accounts for the designers who create models with Visual Composer, and assign them the VC Role.

The following table lists the standard roles used by Visual Composer.

Standard Roles

Role

Description

VC Role

  • Use the Storyboard

  • Manage models on the server

Administrator

  • Manage VC users

  • Deploy prepared content to a production server

For more information about permissions and about assigning VC Role to security zones, see the Configuring Permissions section of the SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Installation & Configuration Guide.

Critical Notes

Caution Caution

Be aware that a serious risk exists when deploying a model from Visual Composer Storyboard on a production server.

To ensure file integrity and security of the production server when Flex models are generated by Visual Composer Storyboard, Visual Composer developers (assigned the VC Role) must perform their modeling on a development server only.

To deploy the model to the production server, the System Administrator must:

  1. Qualify the model on the development server.

  2. Deploy the model on the development server, where it is stored in the Portal Content Directory (PCD) on the development server.

  3. Transport the deployed application as a package to the PCD on the production server.

This is relevant for models deployed in Flex only.

End of the caution.

Note Note

The   Tools   Define Web Service System   option in Storyboard creates a portal alias for a defined web service. This function also includes optional user mapping. As such, only a user with Administrator rights can use this function.

End of the note.