How are PeopleSoft User ID and Symbolic ID Connected
What is a PeopleSoft User Id?
User IDs: A PeopleSoft user ID is the ID you enter at the PeopleSoft sign-in dialog box. You assign each PeopleSoft user, a user ID and password. The combination of these two items grants users online access to the PeopleSoft system. The system can also use a user ID stored within an LDAP directory server. The user ID is the key used to identify the user profile definition.
What is a PeopleSoft Connect ID?
The connect ID performs the initial connection to the database.
Note: PeopleSoft no longer creates users at the database level.
A connect ID is a valid user ID that, when used during sign-in, takes the place of PeopleSoft user IDs. Using a connect ID means you don’t have to create a new database user for every PeopleSoft user that you add to the system.
When is Connect Id Used?
- Connect ID is required for a direct connection (two-tier connection) to the database.
- Application servers and two-tier Microsoft Windows clients require a connect ID.
- You specify the connect ID for an application server in the Signon section of the PSADMIN utility.
- For Microsoft Windows clients, you specify the connect ID in the Startup tab of PeopleSoft Configuration Manager.
- You can create a connect ID by running the Connect.SQL and Grant.SQL scripts.
Warning! Without a connect ID specified, the system assumes that workstation is accessing PeopleSoft through an application server. The option to override the database type is disabled.
What is a PeopleSoft Access ID?
Access IDs: When you create any user ID, you must assign it an access profile, which specifies an access ID and password.
The PeopleSoft access ID is the RDBMS ID with which PeopleSoft applications are ultimately connected to your database after the PeopleSoft system connects using the connect ID and validates the user ID and password. An access ID typically has all the RDBMS privileges necessary to access and manipulate data for an entire PeopleSoft application. The access ID should have Select, Update, and Delete access.
Users do not know their corresponding access IDs. They just sign in with their user IDs and passwords. Behind the scenes, the system signs them into the database using the access ID.
If users try to access the database directly with a query tool using their user or connect IDs, they have limited access. User and connect IDs only have access to the few PeopleSoft tables used during sign-in, and that access is Select-level only. Furthermore, PeopleSoft encrypts the sensitive data that resides in those tables.
When is Access Id Used?
- Access profiles are used when an application server connects to the database
- When a Microsoft Windows workstation connects directly to the database
- When a batch job connects directly to the database.
- Access profiles are NOT used when end users access applications through Pure Internet Architecture. During a Pure Internet Architecture transaction, the application server maintains a persistent connection to the database, and the end users leverage the access ID that the application server domain used to sign in to the database.
Note: PeopleSoft suggests that you only use one access ID for your system. Some RDBMS do not permit more than one database table owner. If you create more than one access ID, it may require further steps to ensure that this ID has the correct rights to all PeopleSoft system tables.
What is PeopleSoft Symbolic ID?
Symbolic IDs: PeopleSoft encrypts the access ID when it is stored in the PeopleTools security tables. Consequently, an encrypted value can’t be readily referenced or accessed. So when the access ID, which is stored in PSACCESSPRFL, must be retrieved or referenced, the query selects the appropriate access ID by using the symbolic ID as a search key.
The symbolic ID acts as an intermediary entity between the user ID and the access ID. All the user IDs are associated with a symbolic ID, which in turn is associated with an access ID. If you change the access ID, you need to update only the reference of the access ID to the symbolic ID in the PSACCESSPRFL table. You do not need to update every user profile in the PSOPRDEFN table.
