Many companies maintain multiple Egnyte accounts, enabling disparate business units to collaborate in controlled environments. Some examples include:
- A financial services firm that maintains two different accounts: one for their analyst unit and one for their retail brokerage unit
- A manufacturer with an account for each of its two subsidiaries, and another for the parent holding company
- A multinational engineering firm that has divided its users geographically: Europe and Africa, Asia, and the Americas
However, certain users (high-ranking executives, cross-projects team members, IT administrators, etc.) may need access to more than one account. Having to enter multiple login credentials for each account can be cumbersome.
Domain Switching
Multiple Entity Management (MEM) enables authorized users to switch between Egnyte accounts without having to re-enter account credentials on the Web UI. Once this feature has been enabled, a list of linked accounts will appear at the top of the user's screen. Switching between accounts is simple: just select an account from the drop-down menu, and go.
Domain switching is also available through the Egnyte mobile app without having to enable MEM. Log in to all Egnyte accounts with authorization; tap between accounts in the left panel under the hamburger icon.
Multi-Entity Management (MEM) is also supported in the Desktop App. When a user authenticates to a domain that is interlinked with other Egnyte domains, the Desktop App detects the associated domains and automatically authenticates the user without requiring a separate manual login per domain. This simplifies the authentication process for users that operate across multiple linked Egnyte tenants.
Requirements
- The Multiple Entity Management feature is only available to customers on Business, Enterprise Lite, Enterprise, Elite, and Ultimate plans
- Users must have an account with the same Egnyte-validated email address in all the linked domains
- Egnyte must link the accounts behind the scenes for the feature to work
Searching Across Linked Domains
When MEM is enabled, searching for files on one domain automatically checks all linked domains for matching results.
After performing a search, a dropdown labeled X results in N other domains appears in the search results filter bar. Clicking this dropdown shows each linked domain by name and URL, along with the number of matching results found in that domain.
Clicking a domain entry opens that domain's search results in a new browser tab, with the same search query and filters applied. From the new domain, the cross-domain indicator updates to reflect results available in the other linked domains, so users can navigate between all of them.
Cross-domain search works with all search types, including keyword search, filtered search, and Metadata Search. Results from other domains respect the permissions on those domains.
Limitations
- Domain configuration and settings for each domain are not shared across linked domains and each linked domain must be configured and maintained separately
- Remove Device option on a single domain may not remove the drive from the Desktop App if other MEM-linked domains remain authenticated on the same device. In this scenario, the Desktop App detects that another MEM-linked domain is still authenticated and automatically re-authenticates the affected drive using the existing authentication context. As a result, the drive may reconnect automatically, and the Remove Device action may not have the expected effect
This feature is the first in a powerful suite that will allow the users to manage multiple Egnyte accounts. To enable and benefit from Multiple Entity Management contact us.