Deployment issues
9
Although these questions may seem obvious, it’s good to think about them before you create a
connection to your website with Contribute. The sections below will help to provide you with
background information on these questions, and how they relate to installing and configuring
Contribute.
Understanding network and server permissions
Contribute is unique in that it allows editing of web pages directly on the server hosting your
website. This level of server access makes network permissions and access control especially
important. There are at least three levels of permissions for every Contribute site: the permissions
defined by the network operating system (for instance, Windows or UNIX server software), the
permissions defined by the web server software, and the roles you define within Contribute.
Network permissions can be set in several ways through a variety of systems. Contribute always
adheres to the network permissions for read and write access to folders. It also obeys permissions
set through LDAP and similar systems. Contribute can never overwrite any server- or network-
level permissions.
Note:
The server’s network and operating system permissions, and the web server software’s
permissions, always take precedence over Contribute permissions.
Whenever you provide access to a web server, you should take precautions to ensure that the
operating system of the server hosting the site, as well as the web server software itself (and the
FTP server, if you are using FTP), are secure. For the best practices related to securing your
website from accidental and malicious tampering, see the documentation provided with your
server’s operating system, FTP, and web server software.
Note:
You can set folder permissions to allow a user or group of users to modify a folder and later
define more restrictive folder- or file-editing options when you define the Contribute user roles.
Related topics:
•
“Contribute user roles” on page 17
•
“Contribute and website security” on page 18
Contribute administrative connections
After you gather information about your website infrastructure and configure the network and
server permissions for appropriate read, write, and modify permissions, you must install a copy of
Contribute and create a Contribute administrator connection to the website.
As an administrator, you are responsible for configuring Contribute administrative settings,
identifying users, defining user roles, installing Contribute on each user’s computer, and
distributing connection information so that users can connect to the website.
When you set up the Contribute administrator user role, consider whether you will be the only
administrator of the website. If more than one person will be administering the site, you may
need to create a group e-mail account that notifies all administrators when a user encounters a
problem.
To learn more about creating a connection, see “Creating and Managing Website Connections” in
Macromedia Contribute Help.
