Sitecore 8 users access rights

Question

I am trying to setup Roles in Sitecore 8. I have created a new Role which inherit from Sitecore author. I have only given that Role read access to few items in the content tree.

But when that user belonging to that role is logged in. It is unable to access the homepage on Website(FE). Because home page uses another item which that role hasn't got read permission to. And when trying to get that item in the code throws an object reference null exception.

But anonymous user can still access the whole website. I thought users should still be able to view the website at the FE even if they don't have read access to that item in the CMS.

Anyone had similar issues before ?

Thanks

Answer 1

In Sitecore as in other systems, Deny access normally takes precedent over Allow access. So the fact that the logged in user is Denied access to the home page in the CMS, means that if they view the website in the same session as the one logged into the CMS, they will not be able to view the home page.

The same permissions are in place for both the Content Editor and the Delivery of the website.

I always recommend that if a Content editor wants to just view the website (not preview, page editor or debug etc..), then its best practice to open an incognito window or different browser so that they are not sharing the session with the Editor account, as the editor account is not usually setup to be able to view the delivery website properly.

Even when there is a login side to the delivery website, this is usually setup in a different domain that the content editors who are normally in the sitecore domain.