Restrict by IP address, shared passwords, reader logins, or a combination

Use the options in Security and access > Security settings > Authentication settings > Content authentication to control whether a reader must authenticate in some way to view the content in your knowledge base.

Here's more information on each type of authentication.

Public

Use this option if some or all of your knowledge base content should be viewable by anyone.

Reader logins

Use this option if you want to create and administer individual reader accounts within KnowledgeOwl.

Reader login means that each reader has their own login (username and password), and they must log in to view any content in the knowledge base. Once they log in, they'll remain authenticated for the Reader authentication expiration time set in the Reader security options section. If you select this option, you'll need to Create a reader or Create readers in bulk.

You can also choose remote authentication, Salesforce SSO, or a SAML SSO integration to create readers using existing credentials.

IP address

Use this option if:

• All of your readers connect from the same IP address or range of IP addresses, such as if they're all in the same office or connecting over the same VPN AND
• You're comfortable having all readers know and enter the same password AND
• You don't plan to show different content to different readers.

Select IP address or shared password and enter the Allowed IP addresses.

Your readers won't have to enter an explicit username or password. As long as they're viewing the knowledge base from one of the Allowed IP addresses, they'll be able to open all knowledge base content with no issues.

Shared password

Use this option if:

• You don't want to have individual reader accounts AND
• You're comfortable having all readers know and enter the same password AND
• You don't plan to show different content to different readers.

Select IP address or shared password and enter the Shared password.

Ideal use cases for this might include:

• Sharing a knowledge base with a team of reviewers while it's being evaluated or tested.
• Creating one knowledge base for each of your customers and giving them a single shared password to access that knowledge base.

IP-based Restriction OR Shared Password

If you enter both Allowed IP addresses and a Shared password and make no other selections, you can combine the IP address and Shared password options.

While someone is on an allowed IP address, they won't have to worry about logging in. If they try to view the knowledge base from a different IP address, they'll be prompted for the shared password to log in.

IP-based Restriction AND Shared Password

If you enter both Allowed IP addresses and a Shared password and check the Simple multi-authentication box to Require both IP address validation and the shared password, you require that someone must be on an Allowed IP address AND must enter the shared password to access the knowledge base.

Remote authentication

Use this option to log people in through your own authentication provider using a remote authentication script. Refer to Remote authentication instructions for more information.