What are roles and permissions?

Drupal controls access to its features through the use of roles. A role describes a type of user by defining what they can see and do. A role can be granted a set of permissions. Three roles are already created for you.

  1. The anonymous role allows any unnamed individual to view your site without logging in. They cannot access administrative features. This is the default role set up by Drupal for anyone visiting your site.                                                                                                             
  2. The role of authenticated user is assigned to anyone who logs into your site through Touchstone. The authenticated user role has some additional limited access rights assigned to it. This role is useful because it targets users with an MIT Kerberos username and password. You might, for example, want to restrict access to a particular web form by granting permission specifically to this role.
  3. Your role is the Content Manager role. You have a broad range of permissions which allow you to create, edit and manage content, change the appearance, structure and functionality of your Drupal site, and assign access and roles to others.

You can assign the Content Manager role to others thereby extending to them the exact same set of permissions which you have. You should be careful to ensure that only trusted users are given this access and level of control of your site.

You can also add additional roles.