User Account Types in AVEVA Integration Service

This section provides the various user account types involved while using AVEVA™ Integration Service (Service).

Local System User Account

This user account provides basic access to the user on the local computer. By default, the Service is started using this account. Using this account, the user cannot retrieve data from data sources that are available on other computers in the network.

Service User Account

A Service User is a user with administrator privileges on the computer. If the Service is started using a Service User account, and if the user has relevant access rights, the user can retrieve data from data sources available on other computers in the network. A Windows user account can be used as a Service User account. For information about how to start the Service using a Service user account, see Changing to a Service Account.

Project User Account

A Project User (also known as User in AVEVA™ Administration) is the category to which a user belongs. This is a user group created in AVEVA™ Administration for managing user access controls. For example, Project users can be INST.ENG, ELEC.ENG, MECH.ENG, PIPE.ENG and so on. After creating a Project user account, individual users are added to this account. For example, a user xyz@aveva.com can be added to one or more Project user accounts based on their role so that their access to data is restricted accordingly.

Data sources can be created either using a Project user account or CONNECT user account. A data source created using a Project user account is accessible by users who have been added to that user account. Therefore, in case where Authentication is User or CONNECT, to retrieve data from a data source created using a specific Project user account, users must be mapped to that user account. For example, to retrieve data from a data source created using PIPE.ENG, xyz@aveva.com must be mapped to PIPE.ENG. Else, an error message is displayed or logged to the log file.

Based on the Security setting in AVEVA™ Administration, the Project user accounts are of two types:

• Free User Account

  A Free user is any Project user whose Security is set to Free. A Free user account is recommended for creating a data source. Further, if your project is NT Authenticated, the NT authenticated users who create the data sources must have been mapped to a Free user account.

  This user account must be used only for creating a data source, and never for retrieving the data.

• General User Account

  A General user is any Project user whose Security is set to General. Ideally, the General user account must be used only for retrieving the data. If you use a General account for creating a data source, you cannot set the Authentication column on Integration Settings Editor to User, thereby compromising on the security of data. For information about the column, see Authentication in Integration Settings Editor.

For more information about this user account type, refer to the documentation of AVEVA™ Administration.

Active Directory User Account

An Active Directory user (also known as NT Authenticated user in AVEVA™ Administration) is the user added to a Project user account. In the above example, the user xyz@aveva.com is the Active Directory or NT Authenticated user. Based on their roles, the NT Authenticated users must be mapped to the required Project user accounts so that they can retrieve data without errors.

When a user is NT Authenticated, a password is not required while logging on to the Service.

CONNECT User Account

An CONNECT user account is required when you want to access the REST API of the Service, data sources available on CONNECT or if you are using AVEVA's Licensing as a Service (LaaS) to license your application. You can also create data sources using an CONNECT user account. Data from such data sources can be retrieved only by users who have valid CONNECT credentials.

To obtain an CONNECT user account, you must be a user in your organization's CONNECT account. To avoid errors while retrieving the data, an CONNECT user must also be mapped to a Project user account.