Notifications
See why customers choose Pleasant Password Server with a KeePass client
Notifications allow Administrators or other permitted users to setup and receive email notifications based on various User Access permissions. They allow recipients to receive immediate email updates rather than having to review the logs.
For a simple Configuration Guide: see Notification Configuration
Pre-work:
Notification Triggers
Notification Triggers indicate which events will cause a Notification to be sent. They are reusable and customizable and help control the amount of email.
- A Notification Trigger defines which set of events will trigger an email Notification
- The Triggering Users/Roles are those who activate the Notification by their actions
- Recipient Users/Roles receive the Notification email
- Notify When Password Expires defines the lead time, when an expiry Notification is sent
Example Usage
For example, you may only want Notifications sent out if:
- A user deletes/modifies an entry in a specific folder, or
- A user moves an entry out of the folder, or
- A password will expire soon
These actions and many more are customized via Notification Triggers.
Triggers vs. Access Levels: Notification Triggers look similar to Access Levels, but operate differently.
- Access Levels - restrict access and possible actions for users and roles to particular folders and entries.
- Notification Triggers - activate when one of these Access Level actions are carried out by a defined User.
Setup Notifications
It is possible to add a Notification to an Entry or to a Folder from the menu. The Configuration displays the following:
- Name
- Notification Trigger - events included
- Recipient Roles/Recipient Users - those who receive the email
- (Optional) Triggering Roles/Triggering Users - those who can trigger the action
- Default = <blank> (triggered when anyone makes the change)
-
(Conditional) Notify When Password Expires - when a password expiry notification is sent
Adding a Notification to a folder will also activate on all the sub folders and entries.
Leaving Triggering Roles/Users blank, will trigger the notification when anyone makes the changes.
For Password Expiry notification triggers, the field "Notify When Password Expires" will display and must have a value when it is assigned. If the Access Level has changed you may need to re-create the assignment with this information.
Notification Names:
It's important to setup Notifications with unique names, because they will:
- be used in the email subject
- allow for email filtering within their email client
- allow the Recipients to easily discern what actions took place
Receiving Email
Email must be setup, and the email address confirmed for each user (see Initial Email Setup below).
When a "Recipient Role" is set for a notification, ALL users associated to the Role will receive a notification.
Receiving Multiple Notifications
Emails are combined: if a user would be a Recipient of multiple Notifications from the same Trigger action, they will not receive multiple emails. The subject line of the email will just include all Notifications applicable to the Triggered Event.
For example, adding 1) a "Modify" Trigger Notification on a "Wifi Credential" entry & 2) another "Modify" Trigger Notification on the "Common" Folder could cause the Recipients to receive an email with the subject:
- "Pleasant Password Server Notification - Modify in Common Folder, Wifi Credential Modify"
Triggers - Are Not Activated When...
- If another user/role does an action defined in the Trigger, but is not included in the Triggering Users/Roles, the Notification will not be generated.
- Likewise, Notifications will never be activated if the Triggering user/role does not have the applicable Access Level defined. For example, if the admin has set a Notification when a user deletes an entry in a folder, but the user does not have permission to delete the entry, this Notification will never be generated.
- Access Denied or Access Failure events do not currently activate Notification Triggers.
Tips
- Unconfirmed email addresses will not receive email notifications. Double-check user's email address are confirmed!
- Triggering on "View ..." Access: This event is triggered anytime the Entry or Folder data is 'displayed to' or 'accessed by' the user. These triggers should be used sparingly as the recipients could receive numerous emails rather frequently.
- Triggering on both "View Offline" and "View Entry Password": causes multiple notifications to be sent to the recipient.
- Triggering on "Use Via SSO" Access: Every time the user makes a change while accessing via Proxy, the recipients will receive an email, which could lead to numerous emails.
Initial Email Setup
Before you begin to set up Notifications, some initial steps must be taken.
Step 1: Configure Email
- Enter the SMTP Configuration Settings. These must be setup before emails can be sent. In Settings > Email:
- SMTP Enable SSL: Will enable/disable the SSL protocol for the SMTP connection.
- SMTP Username/Email: The username or email used to login to the SMTP server.
- SMTP Password: The password for the SMTP server login.
- SMTP Host Address: The URL or IP address of the SMTP Server.
- SMTP Port Number: The Port the SMTP Server Communicates over. (Default: 587)
- Click Save: The SMTP configurations must be saved before a test email can be sent.
- Click Test SMTP: Checks that the SMTP configuration is valid, by sending to a specified email address.
Step 2: Confirm User Email Addresses
All users who wish to receive email must have a confirmed email address, otherwise they cannot receive an email notification.
- Ensure valid email addresses are entered for local users. Directory users' email addresses will be auto-confirmed.
- Navigate to:
- Users and roles > Click on user's profile
- Click the Confirmed? checkbox for the email address.
Troubleshooting
There is some setup involved in configuring notifications, before emails can be received. Double-check the steps in these sections:
- Configure Email
- Confirm User Email Addresses
- Receiving email
- Triggers - Are Not Activated When...
- Tips