Onboarding
Keeper MSP Onboarding Process
The following section covers the creation of a managed company to be managed by the MSP as opposed to handing off the instance to the client for future administration and management.
It's best to start a design by looking at your overall customer base across all account and extract as much commonalty as possible. We are looking for common requirements across all MC's. The closer all the MC's are to each other, the easier they will be to administer as a whole. Our goal is to create a templated procedure which can be re-used by future MC's.
In the table below, we can use a role named "Vault Transfer Required" across all the MC's. At first look, one might be tempted to create a role named "2FA" to handle each MC's different 2FA requirement. However, this naming is ambiguous as Keeper has over a dozen 2FA options. For long term platform management, it's best to name roles for the exact setting(s) they enforce. Our goal is consistent role naming and results across all MC's.
Roles are all about platform administration, so they will have a lot of commonality across MC's. On the other hand, due to varying business requirements, Teams and Shared Folders tend to be MC specific. In the table below we would create one shared folder for each Team present in a given MC. Unlike the table, try and use a common naming convention across all MC. Resist creating an "AP" team in one MC and a "Accounts Payable" team in another.
MC | Roles | Teams | Shares |
MC1 | Vault Transfer Required
2FA Required Master Password Complexity | IT HR AP | Share per team |
MC2 | Vault Transfer Required
2FA Optional No mobile device access | Accounts Payable AP | Share per team |
MC3 | Vault Transfer Required Office access only | N/A | Sales IT AP |
From the console interface, create a new managed company, decide on a provisioning method and create any desired roles and teams.
Additionally, create any desired MC customizations including corporate logo and or customized email invitations.
Once the "MC" had been created, a provisioning method need to be chosen as this will effect the node structure. If Single Sign-On or Advance Provisioning will be utilized, a node needs to be added to host the provisioning method. For our example, we will use basic master password access and manual provisioning so no additional nodes will be required.
Note: On-Prem SSO Connect & AD Bridge require an administrator account within the managed company to bind the service. When setting up one of the fore-mentioned services, the administrators email tells the service which instance to bind to.
Create all desired Roles within the admin console. Roles are stackable, i.e., users can belong to multiple roles and will receive the lest permissive outcome of the summed roles. Keeper recommends naming your roles for the function they provide as opposed to a business unit or geo location. If a role enforces vault transfer, name it "Vault Transfer"
If configured correctly, the platform can allow members of the top-level MSP default "Keeper Administrator" role to perform vault transfers for a managed company without the need for a unique administrator account within the managed company. The administrative Vault Transfer passthrough can be enabled by:
- 1.Enable the "Transfer Account" option within the "Administrative Permissions" for the default top level "Keeper Administrator" role.
- 2.Perform the same operation for the default "Keeper Administrator" role within the managed company.
- 3.Within the managed company's user account transfer role, select "Keeper Administrator" as the "Eligible Role".
If the client managed company wishes to restrict the vault transfer ability to only certainly members of their organization and prevent the MSP from preforming the action, create and use a role other than the default "Keeper Administrator" as the "Eligible Role". The MSP passthrough will only work with the default administrator roles provided by Keeper. To set up local transfer rights only:
- 1.Create a new role within the managed company.
- 2.Enable "Transfer Account" option within the "Administrative Permissions" of the new role.
- 3.Use the new role as the "Eligible Role" for the "user" role where account transfer will be enabled.
Any roles with the "Set as Default Role for Node and Sub Nodes "Create Teams" option enabled will be automatically assigned to all new users. Users can also be indirectly added to roles via team memberships as roles can contain to both users and teams.
For small companies, often, only two roles are required. An administrative role for platform administration and a second for the general user base. Keeper recommends enabling the following minimum "role enforcement" policies:
Setting Group | Setting | Value |
Login Settings | Length | Minimum 12 characters |
Login Settings | Expier | 90 days |
Two-Factor | Require use of two factor | On |
Two-Factor | All Platforms | Require code every login |
Account Settings | Disable Stay Logged in | On |
Account Settings | Logout Timers (all) | 10 Minutes |
Account Settings | Allow IP List | See note below |
Transfer Account | Enable Account Transfer | On |
Note - Administrative access can be restricted to the MC's public facing egress IP addresses by creating an "Allow IP List" This will require an administrator to be on the MC's LAN or VPN to administer the platform.
Setting Group | Setting | Value |
Login Settings | Length | Minimum10 characters |
Login Settings | Expier | 90 days |
Two-Factor | Require use or two factor | See note below |
Two-Factor | All Platforms | See note below |
Sharing & Uploading | Prevent sharing outside Enterprise | On |
Sharing & Uploading | Prevent exporting of records | On |
Account Settings | Prevent users from changing email | On |
Account Settings | Disable Stay Logged in | On |
Account Settings | Logout Timers (all) | 15 to 90 Minutes |
Transfer Account | Enable Account Transfer | On |
Transfer Account | Eligible role | Keeper Administrator |
Generally, two-factor is configured for master password based authentication. Try and encourage your clients to adopt "Require code at every login" policy settings, especially for mobile devices. "Require code at every 30 days" is often used for desktop clients. If using SSO authentication with two-factor enabled at the idP, it can be off or un-configured . By default, users can still opt to setup and use two-factor unless all the "available" methods are explicitly disabled within the enforcement policy.
By default, user invitations are sent upon account creation. If you wish to suppress the invitations until a later date, preform the following steps:
- 1.Within the MC, create a new role. For this example, we name the role "Suppress Emails Invitations".
- 2.Open the roles "Enforcement Policies" dialog.
- 3.Select "Account Settings".
- 4.Enable the "Disable email invitations" option and click "done".
- 5.Check / enable the "Set as Default Role for Node and Sub Nodes" option. This is to ensure the role will be applied to the user upon first login.
Teams offer the ability to group users for sharing and applying additional sharing options. If using SCIM provisioning you can indirectly add users to roles via team to role assignments.
- 1.
- 2.Add any applicable role mappings as needed.
Prior to onboarding users, you may wish to distribute certain Keeper's browser extensions, desktop and mobile apps. Details on centralized software distribution methods are covered here.
Managed Companies with a "plus" license type have access to Keeper's Advanced reporting and Alerts module. SEIM log forwarding, alerts and custom reports should be created as needed. Please see: MSP Best Practice Reports and Alerts.
Keeper offers several options for onboarding users. Multiple methods can be used in parallel.
- Manual entry via the admin console
- CSV import via the admin console
Due to Keeper's zero-knowledge architecture, additional configuration may be required for account recovery. If SSO is in use, the administrator can perform an end-user password reset via the IdP's user management interface. Master Password based users do not have this option so extra steps are required to ensure recover is possible if needed. The first option for Master Password based users is a self-service solution by providing a recovery phrase. A recovery phrase is a simple, auto-generated set of 24 words that was configured when setting up their vault. If the user has forgotten their recovery phrase and vault transfer has been configured by the administrator and accepted by the end user, you can use the following procedure to recover the account: Password Recovery Via Vault Transfer
Keeper's Advanced Reporting and Alerts Module (ARAM) is available to managed companies with a "plus" license type. SIEM and Syslog forwarding configurations are covered here: Reporting & Alerts (SIEM). Best practice and example reports and alerts are covered here: Best Practices.
Last modified 1mo ago