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

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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.

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Edit Group

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

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Group Settings

allow_2fa_self_enrollment

Allow users to self enroll two factor devices in the profile settings page when enabled.

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_totp_2fa

Allow for TOTP tokens (e.g.: Google Authenticator) to be used as a two factor authentication method for the group.

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_webauthn_2fa

Allow for WebAuthn devices (e.g. YubiKeys) to be used as a two factor authentication method for the group.

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_add_local_user

When enabled, local users will automatically be added to this group when created and upon each authentication.

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_display_manager

Whether the display manager is present on the Kasm Session control panel. The display manager allows the user to add and remove additional displays.

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_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.

require_2fa

Enables two factor authentication for group. Users will be prompted to set Key on next log on.

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:

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Session Time Usage

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

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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

../_images/session_time_limit_in_session.png

Session Time Limit Countdown

Group Permissions

Groups have an optional list of permissions attached to them. When a user logs in, all permissions across all groups the user is a member of are aggregated and determine what actions a user is authorized for. There are two built in groups, Administrators and All Users. The Administrators group has the Global Admin permission while the built-in All Users group has the User permission. All users are automatically a member of the All Users group.

To configure group settings:

  • Log into the UI as an administrator.

  • Select Groups

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

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Edit Group

  • Select the Permissions tab to view and edit the permissions applied to the group.

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Group Settings

The following table lists the permissions and descriptions of each permission.

Name

Description

User

Default level of permissions for normal users.

Global Admin

Global Administrator with all permissions.

Users View

View users and user information.

Users Modify

Modify existing users.

Users Create

Create new users.

Users Delete

Delete exiting users.

Users Modify Admin

Modify users with Global Admin permissions.

Users Auth Session

Login and logout on behalf of another user.

Groups View

View groups, group members, and group settings.

Groups Modify

Modify group members and settings.

Groups Create

Create new groups.

Groups Delete

Delete existing groups.

Groups View IfMember

View groups you are a member of, excluding system groups.

Groups Modify IfMember

Modify groups you are a member of, excluding system groups.

Groups View System

View groups, group members and group settings of system defined groups.

Groups Modify System

Modify group members and settings of system groups.

Groups Delete System

Delete a system group.

Agents View

View agents and agent settings.

Agents Modify

Modify agent settings.

Agents Create

Create agents.

Agents Delete

Delete existing agents.

Staging View

View staging list and stage configuration settings.

Staging Modify

Modify existing staging settings.

Staging Create

Create new staging configurations.

Staging Delete

Delete existing staging configurations.

Casting View

View casting list and casting configuration settings.

Casting Modify

Modify existing casting settings.

Casting Create

Create new casting configurations.

Casting Delete

Delete existing casting configurations.

Sessions View

View all user sessions.

Sessions Modify

Perform modifications to a session of another user.

Sessions Delete

Delete the session of another user.

Session Recordings View

View user session recordings.

Images View

View images

Images Modify

Modify image configurations.

Images Create

Create new images.

Images Delete

Delete existing images.

Images Modify Resources

Modify image resource settings, such as CPU and Memory settings.

DevAPI View

View developer API list.

DevAPI Modify

Modify developer API configurations.

DevAPI Create

Create a new developer API key.

DevAPI Delete

Delete an existing developer API key.

Webfilters View

View webfilters

Webfilters Modify

Modify existing webfilters

Webfilters Create

Create a new webfilter.

Webfilters Delete

Delete an existing webfilter

Brandings View

View branding configurations.

Brandings Modify

Modify existing branding configurations.

Brandings Create

Create new branding configurations.

Brandings Delete

Delete existing branding configurations.

Settings View

View global settings.

Settings Modify

Modify global settings in all categories.

Settings Modify Auth

Modify global settings in the authentication category.

Settings Modify Cast

Modify global settings in the casting category.

Settings Modify Images

Modify global settings in the images category.

Settings Modify License

Modify global settings in the license category.

Settings Modify Logging

Modify global settings in the logging category.

Settings Modify Manager

Modify global settings in the manager category.

Settings Modify Scale

Modify global settings in the scale category.

Settings Modify Subscription

Modify global settings in the subscription category.

Settings Modify Filter

Modify global settings in the filter category.

Settings Modify Storage

Modify global settings in the storage category.

Settings Modify Connections

Modify global settings in the connections category.

Settings Modify Theme

Modify global settings in the theme category.

Auth View

View LDAP/OIDC/SAML configurations.

Auth Modify

Modify LDAP/OIDC/SAML configurations.

Auth Create

Create LDAP/OIDC/SAML configurations.

Auth Delete

Delete LDAP/OIDC/SAML configurations.

Licenses View

View licenses.

Licenses Create

Add new licenses.

Licenses Delete

Delete licenses.

System View

View system information.

System Export Schema

Export system schema.

System Import Data

Import system data.

System Export Data

Export system data.

Reports View

View system reports and logging. Warning: Providing access to logs can provide a lot of potentially sensitive information.

Managers View

View the managers.

Managers Modify

Modify existing managers.

Managers Create

Create a new manager.

Managers Delete

Delete existing managers.

Zones View

View Zones and Zone settings.

Zones Modify

Modify Zone settings.

Zones Create

Create new Zones.

Zones Delete

Delete existing Zones.

Companies View

View companies.

Companies Modify

Modify existing company.

Companies Create

Create a new company.

Companies Delete

Delete an existing company.

Connection Proxy View

View connection proxies.

Connection Proxy Modify

Modify connection proxies.

Connection Proxy Create

Create a connection proxy.

Connection Proxy Delete

Delete an existing connection proxy.

Physical Tokens View

View physical 2FA tokens.

Physical Tokens Modify

Assign/Unassign physical 2FA tokens.

Physical Tokens Create

Import or create physical 2FA tokens.

Physical Tokens Delete

Delete a physical 2FA token.

Servers View

View servers.

Servers Modify

Modify existing servers.

Servers Create

Create new servers.

Servers Delete

Delete servers.

Server Pools View

View server pools.

Server Pools Modify

Modify server pools.

Server Pools Create

Create a new server pool.

Server Pools Delete

Delete a server pool.

Autoscale View

View auto scale configurations.

Autoscale Modify

Modify an existing auto scale configuration.

Autoscale Create

Create a new auto scale configuration.

Autoscale Delete

Delete auto scale configurations.

VM Provider View

View VM Provider configurations.

VM Provider Modify

Modify VM Provider configurations.

VM Provider Create

Create new VM Provider configurations.

VM Provider Delete

Delete VM Provider configurations.

Autoscale Schedule View

View an auto scale schedule.

Autoscale Schedule Modify

Modify an auto scale schedule.

Autoscale Schedule Create

Create an auto scale schedule.

Autoscale Schedule Delete

Delete an auto scale schedule.

DNS Providers View

View DNS provider configurations.

DNS Providers Modify

Modify DNS provider configurations.

DNS Providers Create

Create new DNS Provider configurations.

DNS Providers Delete

Delete DNS Provider configurations.

Registries View

View Workspace Registries.

Registries Modify

Modify existing Workspace Registries.

Registries Create

Add new Workspace Registries

Registries Delete

Delete a Workspace Registry

Storage Providers View

View Storage Providers.

Storage Providers Modify

Modify existing Storage Providers.

Storage Providers Create

Create new Storage Providers.

Storage Providers Delete

Delete an existing Storage Provider.

Permission Changes

A user’s permissions are embedded in their session token, which is generated on login. A user’s token lifetime is controlled by the Session Lifetime global setting. The UI will get a new session token every 5 minutes. The fastest way to get new permissions to apply, is to have the user log out and log back in, otherwise, the change will apply generally within 5 minutes.

Permission Dependencies

While most permissions can stand alone, there are dependencies between some permissions. Generally, a Modify, Create, and/or Delete permission will need the corresponding View permission. The following are additional permission dependencies, which means you will need to grant multiple permissions to have the desired effect.

  • Licenses View requires System View

  • Permissions View requires Groups View

  • Registries View requires Images View, System View, and Agents View

  • Autoscale View requires Server Pools View

  • Autoscale Schedule View requires Server Pools View

  • DNS Providers View requires Server Pools View

  • VM Providers View requires Server Pools View and Autoscale View

  • Users Delete requires Sessions Delete if the target user has running sessions and Users Modify

  • Users Delete requires Users Modify Admin to delete a user that has the Global Admin permission

There are many cases where multiple permissions are not required, however, certain UI elements will be hidden if the user does not have the permissions to view them. For example, a user may have permissions to View Images, however, they may not have permissions to View Servers. If the user goes to view an individual Workspace Image that targets a Server, they will not see the drop down to view or edit the server the image is targeting.

Special Permissions

There are more available permissions around groups, beyond the basic View, Create, Modify, and Delete. The Groups View IfMember and Groups Modify IfMember allow a user to view or modify a group if they are a member of that group. This does not extend to built-in system groups (All Users and Administrator). To edit or view System groups, they will also need the Groups View/Modify System permission.

There is an additional permission that protects modification of users with the Global Admin permission. In order to modify a Global Admin, the user requesting the modification must themselves be a Global Admin or have the User Modify Admin permission.

There are two permissions that allow modifications to Workspace Images, Images Modify and Images Modify Resources. The Images Modify allows modification of all Image settings except those that would modify the physical/virtual compute resources. The following settings require the Images Modify Resources permission to edit:

  • GPU Count

  • Cores

  • Memory

  • CPU Allocation Method

  • Uncompressed Image Size

  • Docker Registry

  • Docker Registry Username

  • Docker Registry Password

  • Hash

  • Volume Mappings

  • Docker Run Config Override

  • Docker Exec Config

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.

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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.

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SSO Group Mappings

../_images/sso_group_mapping_config.webp

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.

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File Mappings Table

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

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File Mapping Definition