> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cocoondata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Managing user whitelists

A Covata Platform administrator can configure and manage the user whitelist, which defines the people that can access their Covata Platform instance.

An email address or a domain (to which an email address belongs) can be specified on the **User Whitelist** page as an individual user whitelist *rule*.

If the email addresses of any Covata users *do not match/comply with* any user whitelist rule on this page (and these users do not have the [System administrator role](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#system-administrator-role)), then these users' accounts are automatically [disabled](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#disabling-or-re-enabling-users).[\*\*](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#disabled-whitelist-description) Therefore, these 'non-whitelisted' Covata users cannot:

* Sign in to the Covata Platform or use any aspect of Covata technologies through their account.
* Be shared files or folders (i.e. added as a collaborator to items) by other Covata users. \

  **Note:** This also includes anyone else who does not yet have a Covata user account, but whose email address does not match/comply with an existing user whitelist rule.

Once a Covata user account is disabled through the user whitelist feature, *it can only be [re-enabled](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#disabling-or-re-enabling-users) through the **Users** page*. The exceptions are [LDAP](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#account-type) user accounts, which are automatically re-enabled when the Covata Platform next synchronizes with the LDAP server.

Additionally, the the Covata Platform will not create user accounts with the [Ad hoc role](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#adhoc-role) for people whose email addresses have not been whitelisted. Therefore, the user whitelist feature can be used to restrict the automatic creation of Covata user accounts to whitelisted domains only.

![User Whistlist page](https://mintcdn.com/cocoondata/XFCH1-fsOPTworsw/images/a99d72cf673c-user-whitelist-page.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=XFCH1-fsOPTworsw\&q=85\&s=72b25d01b71e42aca72658c5013baf62)

\*\* An empty **User Whitelist** page results in the user whitelist feature being disabled. When the user whitelist feature is disabled, interactions between the **User Whitelist** and **Users** pages of Covata Administration become de-coupled, such that:

* Covata user accounts *are not* [disabled](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#disabling-or-re-enabling-users) by *not having a rule* on the **User Whitelist** page.
* [Disabling or re-enabling Covata user accounts](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#disabling-or-re-enabling-users) directly on the **Users** page has no impact on the **User Whitelist** page. See the [Important](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#enabled-whitelist-important-note) note in the [Adding new user whitelist rules](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#adding-new-user-whitelist-rules) procedure for details.
* Any [LDAP](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#account-type) user accounts that were disabled by not matching/complying with a user whitelist rule (when the user whitelist feature was enabled) are automatically re-enabled when the Covata Platform next synchronizes with the LDAP server.

## Managing the user whitelist

The **User Whitelist** page of Covata Administration ([above](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#user-whitelist-page)) allows:

* The [addition of new user whitelist rules](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#adding-new-user-whitelist-rules).
* The descriptions of existing user whitelist rules to be [edited](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#editing-an-existing-user-whitelist-rules-description).
* Existing user whitelist rules to be [deleted](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#deleting-existing-user-whitelist-rules).

### Adding new user whitelist rules

**To add new user whitelist rules to the Covata Platform:**

1. [Sign in](/3.3/admin/accessing-administration.md#signing-in) to Covata Administration.
2. Click the **User Whitelist** option on the left of the [Covata Administration interface](/3.3/admin/accessing-administration.md#the-administration-interface) to open the **User Whitelist** page.
3. Click the **Add New** button.
4. In the **Add Domains/Email Addresses** dialog box, click the **Add Rule** button:

   1. Specify a domain or email address under **Rule**. For example, specify `xycompany.com` to whitelist the domain `xycompany.com` only. \

      **Notes:**

      * When specifying a domain, the '`*`' wildcard character can be used to include variants of a domain. For example, specify:

        * `*.xycompany.com` to whitelist domains `qa.xycompany.com`, `abc.xycompany.com`, etc. (but not `xycompany.com`).
        * `*xycompany.com` to whitelist domains `qa-xycompany.com`, `abc-xycompany.com`, etc. (but again, not `xycompany.com`).
        * `xycompany.*` to whitelist domains `xycompany.com`, `xycompany.net`, `xycompany.abc`, etc.
      * When specifying an email address, it is not possible to use the wildcard '`*`' character. If the '`@`' character is present in a rule, then an explicit email address is expected for the rule to be valid, for example `platform.administrator@xycompany.com`.
   2. ( *Optional* ) Click under **Description** (or press the 'Tab' key) to specify a description for the user whitelist rule.
   3. Repeat the start of step 4 to specify more rules. \

      **Note:** If your Covata Platform instance has many users, be sure to add as many rules as are necessary (before proceeding to the next step) to prevent any Covata users (to keep enabled) from being disabled by this feature. See the [important note below](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#enabled-whitelist-important-note) for more information.
5. Click the **Next** button to validate the user whitelist rule(s) specified above:

   * If the rule(s) validate successfully, the **Add Domains/Email Addresses** dialog box indicates the email addresses of the Covata users that will be disabled by proceeding.
   * If a validation error message is shown, click the **Go Back** button and either:

     * Click in the erroneous rule's field (under **Rule**) to edit + correct its value.
     * Click the erroneous rule's **Delete** link to remove the rule.
6. Click the **Apply** button to add the user whitelist rule(s) to the **User Whitelist** page. \

   Any Covata user accounts that do not match/comply with these user whitelist rule(s) above (including any existing rules on the **User Whitelist** page) are disabled.

> [!WARNING]
>
> The user whitelist feature becomes enabled when at least one rule has been added to/is specified on the **User Whitelist** page. When the user whitelist feature is enabled, interactions between Covata Administration's *User Whitelist* and **Users** pages become coupled. However, be aware that:
>
> * Covata Platform administrator accounts cannot be disabled through a user whitelist rule. Therefore, there is no need to add any user whitelist rules to prevent Covata Platform administrators from being disabled. Covata user accounts with the [System administrator role](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#system-administrator-role) can only be [disabled](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#disabling-or-re-enabling-users) through the **Users** page.
> * If a disabled Covata user account is (re-)enabled on the **Users** page and its email address does not match that of an existing user whitelist rule, then that account's email address is automatically added as a new whitelist rule upon (re-)enabling the account.
> * Any [LDAP](/3.3/admin/administering-users.md#account-type) user accounts that were originally disabled by not matching/complying with an existing user whitelist rule (but now comply with a newly added rule) are automatically re-enabled when the Covata Platform next synchronizes with the LDAP server.

### Editing an existing user whitelist rule's description

Only the **Description** of an existing user whitelist rule can be edited.

**To edit the description of an existing user whitelist rule on the Covata Platform:**

1. [Sign in](/3.3/admin/accessing-administration.md#signing-in) to Covata Administration.
2. Click the **User Whitelist** option on the left of the [Covata Administration interface](/3.3/admin/accessing-administration.md#the-administration-interface) to open the **User Whitelist** page.
3. Locate/scroll to the relevant user whitelist rule and click its **Edit** link.
4. In the **Edit Description** dialog box, modify the rule's **Description** as required.
5. Click the **Save** link to save the modifications or **Cancel** to discard them.

### Deleting existing user whitelist rules

**To delete existing user whitelist rules from the Covata Platform:**

1. [Sign in](/3.3/admin/accessing-administration.md#signing-in) to Covata Administration.
2. Click the **User Whitelist** option on the left of the [Covata Administration interface](/3.3/admin/accessing-administration.md#the-administration-interface) to open the **User Whitelist** page.
3. For a single user whitelist rule:

   * Locate/scroll to the relevant user whitelist rule and click its **Delete** link.

   For multiple user whitelist rules:

   1. Select the check boxes on the left, or select the top check box in the header to select all check boxes of the currently visible user whitelist rules (i.e. domain/email addresses).
   2. Click the

      ![Delete Domain/Email button](https://mintcdn.com/cocoondata/_MzKWwAlmVvZNHNz/images/c674696e0d9f-delete-users-button.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=_MzKWwAlmVvZNHNz\&q=85\&s=e4ff2273e3c0b32d601429ce08207566)

      (Delete Domain/Email) button.

   A **Delete Domain/Email** message box appears, indicating the email addresses of user accounts that will be disabled as a result of deleting the user whitelist rule(s). Click **Delete** on this message box to continue. \

   **Note:** Deleting either the last user whitelist rule or all user whitelist rules disables the user whitelist feature and does not result in any Covata user accounts being disabled. See the description [above](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#disabled-whitelist-description) for more information.

> [!TIP]
>
> To modify the email address or domain of a user whitelist rule, delete it using this procedure above and [add the modified email address or domain](/3.3/admin/managing-user-whitelists.md#adding-new-user-whitelist-rules) as a new whitelist rule.

***

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