Groups

Groups are used to define roles for specific sets of users in Kasm Workspaces. By default there are two groups created by the system, the Administrators group and the All Users group, the All Users group is the default group for every user where statewide settings can be set.

Groups can be used to specify Kasm images and settings for different sets of users. For example, you may have a custom image for developers with pre-installed developer tools. You can tie that image to a group. You can define settings for that group, such as enabling bi-directional clipboard.

Create Group

Steps to create individual groups for sections of users.

• Select Access Management > Groups tab from navigation menu

• Select Add Group from the top right of the table

• Specify Group properties listed below

Group Properties

Name	Provides the name of the group
Description	Provides the description of the group
Priority	Sets the priority of the settings over other groups
Is System	System level group that cannot be deleted

There is a Users tab in the edit group page that allow for the selection of its users

Users in Group

Group Settings

Group settings may be changed for the specific group by selecting the groups tab, clicking the edit icon on the desired group and the Add Settings button in the Group Settings card. There are delete setting and edit setting icons to the right of the Setting. If a user belongs to mulitple groups, the setting on the group with the lowest priority takes effect. For settings like volume_mapping, all settings are combined from all groups a user is a member of.

Here is a video that has an overview Groups and Group settings.

To configure group settings:

• Log into the UI as an administrator.

• Select Groups

• Next to the desired group select View from the actions menu.

Edit Group

• Scroll down to the Group Settings panel. Update settings as desired.

Group Settings

administrator	Allows users to see and edit all attributes of the Kasm application.
allow_kasm_audio	Allow audio streaming for a Kasm.
allow_kasm_clipboard_down	Allows users to paste text from the Kasm to their local computer.
allow_kasm_clipboard_seamless	Allows users to copy and paste text without using Kasm control panel. This feature is only available on Chrome and Chromium-based client browsers
allow_kasm_clipboard_up	Allow users to paste from their local computer to the Kasm.
allow_kasm_delete	If enabled, users are allowed to delete their running sessions.
allow_kasm_downloads	Allow users to download files from a Kasm.
allow_kasm_gamepad	Allow users to pass local gamepads into the Kasm session. See Gamepad Passthrough for more details.
allow_kasm_microphone	Allow microphone passthrough to a Kasm. When enabled, users can pass their local microphone through to the Kasm session.
allow_kasm_webcam	Allow webcam passthrough to a Kasm. When enabled, users can pass their local webcam through to the Kasm session.
allow_kasm_printing	Allow printing of documents using local printers
allow_kasm_pause	If enabled, users are allowed to pause their running sessions.
allow_kasm_sharing	Allow the user to share access to their session with other users. See Session Sharing for more details.
allow_kasm_stop	If enabled, users are allowed to stop their running sessions.
allow_kasm_uploads	Allow users to upload files to a Kasm.
allow_persistent_profile	Allow the use of persistent profiles if configured on the Workspace. See Persistent Profiles for details
allow_point_of_presence	Allow the user to use point of presence features for certain Workspaces.
allow_user_storage_mapping	When enabled the user is allowed to configure their own Storage Mappings via their profile. When disabled, new user configurations will not be allowed, nor will using any previously configured mappings be allowed when new sessions are created.
allow_zone_selection	Allow the user to specify the deployment zone when creating a session. A dropdown will appear on the user dashboard with the available Zones. Auto represents the default behavior which is to provision in current Zone. If a Zone is specified, the request will not search alternate zones if no resources are available in the requested Zone.
auto_login_to_kasm	Sends users directly to kasm using default workspace after login
chat_history_messages	The number of chat history messages to show when a new user connects to a shared Kasm. Set this value to 0 to disable showing chat history.
control_panel. advanced_settings. show_game_mode	Whether the game mode option is present in the advanced menu on the Kasm Session control panel.
control_panel. advanced_settings. show_ime_input_mode	Whether the ime input mode option is present in the advanced menu on the Kasm Session control panel.
control_panel. advanced_settings. show_keyboard_controls	Whether the keyboard controls option is present in the advanced menu on the Kasm Session control panel.
control_panel. advanced_settings. show_pointer_lock	Whether the pointer lock option is present in the advanced menu on the Kasm Session control panel.
control_panel. advanced_settings. show_prefer_local_cursor	Whether the prefer local cursor option is present in the advanced menu on the Kasm Session control panel.
control_panel.show_fullscreen	Whether the fullscreen option is present on the Kasm Session control panel.
control_panel. show_delete_session	Whether the delete session option is present on the Kasm Session control panel.
control_panel.show_logout	Whether the logout option is present on the Kasm Session control panel.
control_panel. show_return_to_workspaces	Whether the return to workspaces option is present on the Kasm Session control panel.
control_panel. show_streaming_quality	Whether the show streaming quality workspaces option is present on the Kasm Session control panel.
dashboard_redirect	If configured, standard users will be redirected to the defined external website instead of being shown the main dashboard screen.
default_image	The default Workspace used when the /go url is called. This is also used for the auto_login_to_kasm setting. The system will create a Workspace if one does not exist. If the user already has a Workspace, the session is resumed
display_ui_errors	If enabled, detailed information will be displayed on the client browser in the event of an error.
enable_totp_two_factor	Enables two factor authentication for group. Users will be prompted to set Key on next log on.
enable_ui_server_logging	If enabled, log messages will be sent from client browser to the Kasm Workspaces server.
expose_user_environment_vars	Expose KASM_USER and KASM_USER_ID environment variables inside the Kasm.
idle_disconnect	Disconnect the Kasm connection if idle for this long. Time specified in minutes.
inject_ssh_keys	When enabled the system will inject the user’s SSH public and private keys into new sessions automatically. Users can update their keys via the Profile.
kasm_audio_default_on	Default to audio enabled on Kasm start
kasm_ime_mode_default_on	Default to IME enabled on Kasm start
keepalive_expiration	The number of seconds a Kasm will stay alive unless a keeplive request is sent from the client.
keepalive_expiration_action	The action the system should take when a session expires according to the keepalive_expiration. Valid options are delete, stop, and pause. stop and pause actions are only valid for container based Workspaces. All other Workspaces will utilize delete regardless of what is defined.
keepalive_interval	The number of seconds in between keepalive requests from the client when the user is actively in a session.
lock_sharing_video_mode	Locks video quality to static resolution of 720p when sharing is enabled. Recommended for best performance.
max_kasms_per_user	The maximum number of simultaneous sessions a users is allowed to provision.
max_user_storage_mappings	The maximum number of Storage Mappings a user is allowed to have registered to their account.
read_only_user_storage_mappings	When enabled, any storage mappings configured on the user account will be forced to read-only.
run_config	Specify arbitrary docker run params. The settings for run_config on a group will override the run_config settings on an image. See Docker Run Config for more details
session_time_limit	The amount of time (in seconds) a session will automatically expire. A countdown timer will be displayed to the user.
staged_session_language_and _timezone_preference_override	When launching a workspace Kasm will by default try to match the user language and timezone to a staged session. If a staged session does not exist that has the matching language and timezone then Kasm will create a new session with the specified language and timezone. If the override is set to true then Kasm will use a staged session for the selected workspace even if the language and timezone do not match. This overrides the user setting in the user profile.
usage_limit	Limits the total number of hours a user or group can have running sessions. See the usage_limit documentation below for more details. Type Per User - Each user of the group has their own limit. Per Group - All members share the usage limit. Interval Daily , Weekly , Monthly , Total. Hours The number of hours allowed during each interval.
volume_mapping	Map a local server directory to Kasm. Details available in the Volume Mapping Guide
web_filter_policy	Enabled web filtering and sets the Web Filter Policy to be used. Policies can also be set or force disabled on Workspaces. Policies assigned to Workspaces take priority over those defined via Group Settings.

Session Time Limits

There are a multiple settings in the table above that control Kasm session lifetime. We will go into more detail about them and their relationship to each other below:

keepalive_expiration

This can also be described as the session timeout. This value determines how long Kasm will wait before destroying, stopping or pausing a session if no keepalive is received from the client. Keepalives are sent whenever a user is connected to a Kasm session even if the user is not actively using the Kasm Session. This value should be at least twice the keepalive_interval. This setting is 1 hour by default in the “All Users Group”. The action taken is determined by the keepalive_expiration_action Group Setting.

keepalive_expiration_action

Administrators can decide what happens to sessions once they expire. Valid options are:

• delete - The session is destroyed.

• pause - The session is paused, preserving the disk, process and memory state. Paused sessions will still consume resources in physical memory and/or swap. Sessions resumed from a paused state will still have the previous programs launched and active. This action is valid for container-based sessions only. All other types will utilize the delete action.

• stop - The session is stopped, preserving the disk state. Sessions resumed from a stopped state will have the previous files intact, but previously running programs will need to be restarted. This action is valid for container-based sessions only. All other types will utilize the delete action.

Note

When sessions are stopped or paused, the CPU/RAM resources on the Agent become available for other requests to create new sessions. This may lead to a user not being able to resume a paused/stopped session if the Agent’s resources become consumed by other running sessions. When using Cloud Autoscaling, the system will not destroy Agents that have stopped/paused sessions and will similarly allow other sessions to be provisioned on the Agent. If this is undesirable, the admin can ensure users are not given the allow_kasm_pause and allow_kasm_stop permissions.

keepalive_interval

The keepalive_interval is how often the client will send a keepalive request to Kasm when the user is actively using a session. This setting is 300 seconds by default for the “All Users Group”.

idle_disconnect

This setting is the number of minutes Kasm will wait when the user is idle before taking an action. This action will depend on the user context. If the user is in a Kasm session when the idle timeout expires the user is disconnected from the Kasm session and sent back to the dashboard. Any Kasm sessions that the user was connected to will be disconnected and those sessions will be subject to the keepalive_expiration. If the user is at the dashboard when the idle timeout expires the user is logged out of Kasm. This setting is set to 20 minutes by default in the “All Users Group”. This setting must be higher than the keepalive_interval setting to function properly.

usage_limit

The usage_limit setting is a highly flexible option allowing the administrator to configure a maximum usage number of hours either for each user in the group or for the entire group collectively to use over a set time period. This setting is a decimal value. When using the usage_limit setting all time that a Kasm session is running is counted against the total, this includes when the user is not actively connected to the session but the session is still running. This setting is for use cases where user workspace access should be metered. This setting is not enabled by default.

Note

Accounting for paused/stopped sessions are left as is. Users are “charged” for the full duration of the session, even if the session is paused or stopped.

The user can see how much time they have used/have remaining on the user dashboard:

Session Time Usage

Clicking on this icon will bring up a more detailed display.

Detailed Session Time Usage

session_time_limit

The session_time_limit is a set amount of time that a workspace will be allowed to run once that workspace is created. This time limit is irrespective of whether the user is actively using the session or if the session is disconnected and running in the background. When session_time_limit is configured, the keepalive_expiration setting is not used. This setting is not enabled by default

Session Time Limit Countdown

Group Workspaces

Administrators can define which Workspaces are available to each group. By default newly created workspaces are automatically assigned to the All Users group. This behavior can be changed by modifying the Add Images To Default Group global Settings.

Group Workspaces

SSO Group Mappings

Administrators can configure the system to automatically map users that authenticate with an SSO provider (e.g SAML, OpenID, LDAP) into Kasm Groups.

If Assign All Users is selected, any user that authenticates with the defined SSO provider will be added to the Kasm group. Otherwise, only users that have the defined Group Attributes passed in by the SSO provider will be added to the group.

These group mappings are evaluated and updated at each user login. If a mapping is defined and a user does not have the group attributes listed, the user will be removed from the group.

SSO Group Mappings

SSO Group Mappings Config

Group File Mappings

File Mappings allow the administrator to manage files to be mapped to the inside of a user’s container based Workspace session. File Mappings can be defined on a User, Group, and/or Workspace. See the primary documentation on File mappings for more details.

Note

When a user belongs to multiple Groups that define a File Mapping with the same destination, the group with the lowest priority value gets mapped into the user’s container.

File Mappings Table

The following is an example File Mapping of a Chrome Managed Policy to define bookmarks in Chrome.

File Mapping Definition