Portal user seeing articles in search results that they don't have access to

[Nick Wolf]

I am attempting to configure a portal that has multiple knowledge bases attached such that I can present relevant knowledge to users based on their role or department.  All customers to the portal are employees, and I had planned to put them into groups that gave them JSM Customer access to the JSM project and then adding view access in Confluence as appropriate.

To test, I connected two spaces to the project, one of which does not provide view permissions in Confluence.

Settings in the JSM project:

Space settings in Confluence:

I would expect that a portal customer wouldn't be able to view knowledge articles from the restricted space at all, but when one of the users accesses the space in the portal, they are able to see them:

They also appear in search results:

When the user selects, they see that they don't have access:

Is this expected behavior?  Firstly, it's a terrible customer experience as they're searching for help, not having any indication of whether the results are even viable.  Secondly, the fact that the user can see the article preview could be problematic if there are any sensitive docs published.

If there's another way to finagle the permissions setup, I'd love to know, as this will keep us from scaling out our usage of JSM.

[Marc - Devoteam]

Hi @Nick Wolf 

Permissions don't apply on a Confluence space if JSM users can access the space.

This is set in confluence admin, in the Global permissions.

If you disable this, permissions on the spaces will apply, but users will need a confluence license to view content.

[Nick Wolf]

@Marc - Devoteam  is that to say there's not a way to achieve what I'm trying to do?  Like for request types, I can lock down a server request to an IT group since it wouldn't be relevant for non-IT users to view and submit.  Is the same kind of thing not possible for knowledge w/out licensing everyone in Confluence?

[Marc - Devoteam]

Hi @Nick Wolf 

I think I have misread your question, Yes any article will show, and if not accessible the message your provided will occur.

This is expected behaviour, this is due to the setting mention in my earlier post. If the JSM access is active in global permissions, any linked KB space to a JSM project will show its articles.

Based on permissions on the space or folder (as done by @arielei ), a customer will be able to see the article or get the "No Access" message)

The message "No Access" is a message form Confluence telling the user has no access to the page. It's not a message from JSM.

[arielei]

Hello @Nick Wolf 
When handling knowledge base in Confluence you need to do the following:
In Confluence have 2 main folders:
1. Public
2. Private

Set permissions so users cant access the Private folder.
Place all public pages that you want to be visible in the portal in the Public folder.

Then simply go to your JSM project and access its settings and in the menu search for "Knowledge base", then you can select the space with the specific folder and you will be good to go.

Hope that helps.

Ariel.

[arielei]

Hey @Nick Wolf 
Adding to what i wrote above.
With the method i suggested you can work on uncooked pages in the private area and when its ready for sharing, you can simply move it to the public one.

[Nick Wolf]

Hey @arielei ,

Thank you for the suggestion!  I created a folder as you suggested in a Confluence space that is open to all users and created an article under it. 

What I noticed is that when I first searched for it as the end user in the portal, I couldn't find it, as expected.  However, when I assigned that article a category in JSM, it was searchable again:

I got the same message that I do not have access to it if I click on it, but it looks like putting it into a category overrides the Confluence restriction as far as the user being able to search for it and see it in the category list.  So in cases where you're trying to lock down certain knowledge to your portal users, is there a better way to do it, or can you just not use the knowledge categories?

[arielei]

Hey @Nick Wolf ,
If you have set the knowledge base in your JSM project to point to that public folder - you will need to set the permissions on the space in confluence to include all users and then set restriction on the private folder so it wont show on the portal side.

i've done this many many times, it works, keep in mind! you will need to match the users who can use the portal to your confluence users license.

let me know if you need any help, be happy to assist.

Ariel

[arielei]

Hey @Nick Wolf 
missed that last image, that page has restrictions on it, see that page and on the right upper corner you will see a lock, you need to remove all restrictions on public pages.

you can go to your space settings and to restriction and see all pages with restrictions.