Starting with version 12.11, Cerberus FTP will enable Web Client users to locate their account user name. This account recovery feature relies on the end-users and requires no action from the system administrators to reduce their administrative burden.
In addition, we’ve added a notification for users in case their account is disabled.
About the New Feature
Often, users may not remember their login credentials for Cerberus FTP server; this feature allows users to find their account name (Username).
In addition, the User Manager / Users tab now has an email address column on the dashboard, and accounts are searchable and sortable by their email address.
This new feature is in addition to the current ability for users to reset their account password. We have updated wording during a password reset to notify users that their account has been disabled, letting them know they would need to contact their system administrator, even if they successfully reset their password.
Web Client User Experience
On the Web Client’s login page, users may be presented with a “Forgot your username?” link side-by-side with the password recovery “Forgot your password?” link.
User Name Account Recovery
Clicking “Forgot your username?” takes users to a screen where they can enter their email address. Once this email address has been entered and provided that the reCaptcha is passed, the Web Client will acknowledge the submission and not indicate to the Web Client user if the email address is known to Cerberus FTP. This prevents leaking account information to unauthorized users.
Cerberus FTP will send an email to the user with a list of user accounts associated with the email address. If multiple accounts are associated with the address, they will be listed in a column. If an account is disabled, the user must contact their system administrator to handle reactivation.
Please note, this feature is only available for native Cerberus FTP user accounts.
Password Reset
Starting in version 12.11 of Cerberus FTP, we now directly notify users when attempting a password reset of a disabled account. Once a user clicks on the “Forgot Your Password?” link from the login page above and enters their account information, we will fail the password reset if their account is disabled.
If the user was instead already in the middle of a password reset, but their account got disabled while they were resetting the password, the reset will carry through, but both the informational toast in the UI on completion and the confirmation email sent are changed to reflect that ‘though the password may be reset, the account is still disabled.
This new messaging is unambiguous and immediately sets them on the right path to account recovery.
User Manager Administrator UI Update
As an admin directly interacts with users based on their email address, Cerberus FTP has upgraded its UI to handle this new feature. From the User Manager / User page, we now have the option to sort the current users by Email and have added a user’s email address to the fields filtered via the search bar.
The figure above shows an example of searching for “paul.” All instances of account names containing “paul” are shown, and filtered from the total users. In addition, the account “aaa” is included, which contains “paul” in its email address. This is newly added to the filter as part of this feature.
Listener Administrator UI Update
Not all listeners should have access to the account recovery feature, and we have updated the listener’s UIs to give administrators control over who can use this and if they require a reCaptcha to be set while using this feature.
Server Manager / Listeners / Specific listener now added a new checkbox of “Allow Account Recovery” to control if the “Forgot your username?” link appears on a Web Client login or not. Of particular note, just like the “Allow Password Reset” feature, the DNS name of the listener must be set in the list of allowed domains to allow communication back to the Cerberus FTP server. That Client Domain Allow list is located in Server Manager / Protocols / HTTP and HTTPS.
There is also an additional checkbox to make the Captcha check optional. It is located in the listener’s detailed information after clicking the Configure Captcha button. Here there is a new checkbox determining if a user must solve a captcha before submitting their account recovery request, “Show For Account Recovery.”
Conclusion
Release 12.11 of Cerberus FTP introduces a way for Web Client users to look up their account names without requiring an administrator to spend the time to find a user manually. In addition, recovery operations now include whether the account in question is disabled. This reduces the administrative burden from forgetful users. This release also updated the native user’s UI to make it easier to find accounts that have a specific email address.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact us and give us feedback on your Cerberus FTP Server experience.