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Managing NetCrunch Users and Notifications

NetCrunch supports a flexible, role-based user system with access control for views, nodes, and features. You can integrate accounts with Active Directory, define granular access rights, and control notifications per user or group. This topic explains how to manage user accounts, access profiles, and notifications effectively.

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User Access in NetCrunch

NetCrunch allows fine-grained control over what users can see and do. This applies to both the Desktop Console and Web Console, with different capabilities:

  • Desktop Console: Fully supports user permissions and now allows delegated administration—users can be given limited admin rights scoped to nodes, views, or specific features.
  • Web Console: Primarily designed for viewing and interacting with monitored data. It supports access profiles for restricting features, but does not yet offer full administrative functionality. We’re actively working on expanding these capabilities.

Both consoles require users to authenticate. Access rights, personalization settings, and notification profiles are stored per user on the server.

Types of User Profiles

Built-in Admin Profile

NetCrunch includes a predefined Admin user that always has full access—similar to a root account. It cannot be deleted. Its password can be reset from the Desktop Console using User & Access Rights Manager → Change Password.

Resetting the Admin Password Using NCCLI

If the Desktop Console is unavailable or the built-in Admin account becomes inaccessible, you can reset the password using the NetCrunch Command-Line Interface (NCCLI).

To do this:

  1. Open a terminal on the NetCrunch server
  2. Navigate to the NetCrunch\bin directory
  3. Run the following command:
    nccli.exe reset-admin-password

Replace your_new_password with the desired password. This resets the password for the Admin account immediately. You must run this command with administrative OS privileges.

This method ensures password recovery even when no console access is available.

Standard User Profile

Every standard user has:

  • A personal login and access profile
  • Notification settings
  • Console preferences
  • Optional AD integration

You can assign users full or read-only access, or create custom access profiles for fine control.

Shared or Public Profiles

You can create shared login accounts (e.g., noc-operator) with restricted permissions. To prevent unauthorized changes:

  • Enable: User cannot modify profile or password
  • Ensure the profile has a defined password
  • Disable profile editing in the Access Profile

This is useful for rotating operators, kiosks, or NOC stations.

Authentication Options

Local Accounts

Users can authenticate directly with credentials defined in NetCrunch.

Active Directory Integration

NetCrunch supports full AD integration, allowing centralized account management.

User Account Linking

You can link a NetCrunch user to an AD account via the Link with AD Account option. This syncs login identity and delegates password handling to AD.

AD Group Integration

Assign access profiles to AD groups to enable role-based control. When an AD user logs in:

  • NetCrunch checks group membership
  • The first matching access profile is applied
  • If no match is found, login is denied
  • If the user loses group membership, access is revoked automatically

You can control group evaluation order and priorities.

Organizations

NetCrunch supports multi-tenant visibility via organizations.

  • Each user belongs to one organization (default is <root>, which sees all nodes).
  • Nodes can be assigned to specific organizations.
  • Users only see nodes and views relevant to their assigned organization or marked as public.

This model is ideal for MSPs, large enterprises, or restricted internal teams.

Access Profiles

Access Profiles define what a user is allowed to do or see. They control:

  • UI visibility (settings, maps, dashboards, tools)
  • Access to configuration features
  • Permissions to edit, acknowledge, or reset data
  • Profile edit rights

Predefined Profiles

  • Administrator Access – Full control
  • Read Only – View-only access

You can create custom profiles and assign them to users or AD groups.

Notification Profiles

Each user can define notification rules for themselves or receive alerts via assigned Notification Groups.

Personal Notification Profiles

  • Each user may define multiple channels: Email, SMS (via GSM), Web Push, or integrations
  • Profiles can include time filters (weekdays, time ranges)
  • Message templates can be customized per channel

Notification Groups

Use groups to assign notifications by role or function (e.g., “On-call Tier 1” or “Network Engineers”). Users inherit group notifications and can override or disable them.

Password Reset and User Maintenance

Password resets and security actions are managed in the User & Access Rights Manager.

  • Admins can reset passwords or force password change on next login
  • Locked accounts can be unlocked
  • Expired credentials can be updated manually or via AD sync

Summary

NetCrunch provides a flexible, secure user model:

  • Multiple consoles, shared or personal access
  • Role-based delegation using access profiles
  • Full support for Active Directory
  • Notification routing via profiles and groups
  • Organizational scoping for multi-team environments

Whether you're managing a single admin or dozens of operational users, NetCrunch ensures each user has the right view, the right tools, and the right alerts—nothing more, nothing less.