Subsites are grouped into zones. Zones are used in combination with site user permissions to control which sites a user can log into.
Zones and User Logins
Subsite zones are groups of subsites. A subsite can only exist in one zone, but a zone can contain any number of subsites.
Site Users are given access to one or more subsite zones:
- You can grant access to a zone when creating/editing a user manually
- When a user registers with a site (or logs in for the first time using an external provider) they are automatically given access to the zone that the subsite is in
Users can log into subsites in the zones they have access to. That means they can use the same username and password to log into any of the sites in a zone.
Once logged in, article security then determines the content the user can see.
Creating Zones
To create a new subsite zone right-click on the root SUBSITES folder and select "Create a subsite zone". Zones cannot be nested, they are always top-level items in a flat list.
Give the zone a meaningful name and description. These values are only visible in iCM.
Deleting Zones
To delete a subsite zone right-click on it and select "Delete this subsite zone". It is not possible to delete a zone if it has a subsite in it.
Enterprise Zone
The Enterprise zone is present in every installation. It is the default zone. When an existing iCM installation that does not use subsite zones (ie 10.0.6.0 and earlier) is upgraded to 10.0.7.0 or higher, all subsites are placed in the Enterprise zone and all users are given access to it. This maintains the previous behaviour, where the only determining factor for access to a subsite (IP restrictions aside) is article security and the site user groups a user is a member of.
Changing Zones
You can change the zone a subsite is in by editing its Subsite Properties.
Take care if you do decide to change a subsite's zone. Any existing users registered with the site won't be able to log into the site unless their user already has access to the new zone. This is true for sites in the Enterprise zone too. If you do want to segregate existing subsites into zones of their own, you'll also need to update all existing users so they have access to the new zone.
Using Zones
Subsite zones are primarily designed to be used when a single iCM installation is shared between different organisations. They allow users to have distinct accounts between subsites by placing subsites into separate zones.
For example, you might have a subsite for a local authority and a subsite for a leisure centre. If you want your users to use the same login for both, put those sites in the same zone. If users should have separate accounts/logins, put the sites in separate zones.
If you have a public site and a staff intranet you'll need to decide whether or not your staff users need to log into the public site or not - if they do, put both sites in the same zone. That's something you should do if your staff users need to assist users on the public site.
Remember that IP restrictions are applied at the subsite level, not the zone, so you can still restrict subsites by IP address, even if they are in the same zone.
