Webapp access automatically adding users to enterprise portal

[JohnDeLucio]

I am working on a portal in my company which I have publishing access to. I have published webmaps and created the feature services as shared to everyone and then created an app. I downloaded the app package and launched on my webserver - when I load the page I can see everything fine but when other users are navigating to the page it is trying to register them as named users within the portal and we are simply just wanting to show the map to users without them needing the features available in the portal. I can share, embed and link to the webmap and the app - but each time someone tries to view the map it automatically logs them into the portal. Is there a step I am missing to be able to share the map without the user needing an account within the portal? Thanks.

[DerekLaw]

Hi John,

What release of Portal for ArcGIS are you using?

> ... but each time someone tries to view the map it automatically logs them into the portal

It sounds like you have the "enableAutomaticAccountCreation" property set to true in your Portal. I would suggest you set this property to false. See the help topic,

Automatic registration of enterprise accounts—Portal for ArcGIS (10.5) | ArcGIS Enterprise 

Hope this helps,

[JohnDeLucio]

Hi Derek, Thank you so much for the reply.

I'm using Portal 10.4. I'm not an admin of the server I just have publishing rights. I worked with the Portal Admin and he said that by sharing feature service, maps and apps I create with everyone and then downloading the app or embedding the HTML code that I could share the map with as many users as I wanted to because they would just be viewers - can that be done with the enable automatic account creation being turned on? The goal is to share the maps with multiple non-GIS users without taking up named user space on the portal. Thank you for any information you can provide. 

[DerekLaw]

Hi John,

> ... by sharing feature service, maps and apps I create with everyone and then downloading the app or embedding the HTML code that I could share the map with as many users as I wanted to because they would just be viewers

I'm a little confused by your statement. Can you please tell me your workflow in more detail?

When you create new items in Portal, by default they are set to private and can only be accessed by you. If you share them with 'everyone', then yes, it theory they should be accessible to others and they do not need to have a Portal named user account.

Q1) What security do you have enabled on your Portal? Are you using the built-in security? IWA? or something else?

Also, when you say

> ... then downloading the app ...

Q2) Can you please provide more info? Once you download the app, you would host on your own web server - but the data content(s) it is referencing such as the web map and associated data layers would still have to be shared with 'everyone'. Is this the case?

Hope this helps,

[JohnDeLucio]

Hi Derek,

Thanks again for getting back with me. 

* I'm a little confused by your statement. Can you please tell me your workflow in more detail?

When you create new items in Portal, by default they are set to private and can only be accessed by you. If you share them with 'everyone', then yes, it theory they should be accessible to others and they do not need to have a Portal named user account.

   - Yes, when I publish the service via ArcMap it is initially set private. I change it to be shared with everyone, create the webmap and then create the webapp. From this point, I have done both the share option in the webmap and embedded the HTML into a website and also when to the info page of the web app and downloaded the zipped contents and deployed on my webserver.

* Q1) What security do you have enabled on your Portal? Are you using the built-in security? IWA? or something else?

  - I apologize I'm not able to find out what type of security the portal has enabled because I'm not an administrator, I've emailed the administrator to ask them for the answer to this. I'm almost confident that it is IWA based on how all other services in our enterprise are configured. 

* Q2) Can you please provide more info? Once you download the app, you would host on your own web server - but the data content(s) it is referencing such as the web map and associated data layers would still have to be shared with 'everyone'. Is this the case?

- This is the case - all the data is shared with everyone. I was hoping doing it this way would allow for users to view the map without it automatically creating an account. The users can view the map seamlessly with the way it is currently set up, however when I view the organization in the portal when each user hits the web app on my server the portal is automatically creating an account. 

Thank you so much for your replies, I greatly appreciate your guidance. 

[DerekLaw]

Hi John,

Thanks for providing more info.

> ... what type of security the portal has enabled because I'm not an administrator, I've emailed the administrator to ask them for the answer to this. I'm almost confident that it is IWA based on how all other services in our enterprise are configured. 

If this is the case, I would ask your Portal administrator to follow up on the parameter I mentioned in my first reply. When the "enableAutomaticAccountCreation" property is set to true in Portal, a member of your Windows Active Directory will automatically become a Portal named user account when they attempt to access a Portal resource/page.

Hope this helps,