Unit installation

18-1
RLC-3 V1.80 Copyright © 1998 Link Communications Inc. 9/17/98
Chapter 18: 1000 User Structure
The Password System
The RLC-3 provides several features that allow you to protect it from unwanted access. They
range from very simple to extemely secure. Of course the more secure methods are also more
complicated. If you don't need a lot of security, don't worry about the advanced password features.
This section discusses just the password structure. Other ways of adding security are changing
command names (see commands 010, 011, 012 and 062) and blocking access to commands from
certain ports (see commands 130, 131 and 132). The password system is disabled when the
controller is shipped and after you re-initialize it (which sets everything back to factory defaults), so
you don't have to worry about entering passwords until you are ready for it.
The password system allows you to require that users "log in" to the controller before they will be
able to execute some or all of the commands. You can even allow some users, such as control
operators, more access than others. This is accomplished by assigning each user a "user level"
which determines how much they are allowed to do. User levels can range from 0 to 7. Typically,
the owner of the system would be level 7, control operators level 6..3 (more on that later), and
other club members level 2..1. Level 7 users always have access to every command in the
controller. A good rule is to assign lower levels to commands that are less important. For
example, lower level users can not access higher level commands, but higher level users can access
lower level commands.
When the password system is enabled, the RLC-3 requires a certain user level to execute each
command. The commands default to suggested levels, but you can change them if you wish. When
someone logs into the controller and tries to execute a command, their user level must be equal to
or greater than the level required by that command, or the RLC-3 will not let them execute the
requested command. The command for setting up passwords is a level 4 command, so only users
that are level 4,5,6 or 7 can set passwords. The command to change which ports are connected
together is level 4, so user levels 4, 5, 6 and 7 can bring up links, set up crossband repeaters, etc.
Commands that are assigned level 0 can always be executed by anyone, even if they do not log into
the controller first. Recalling the time is an example of a level 0 command.
You will need to tell the controller what each user's level is, and assign them a password, callsign,
autodial number and other information for each user. To keep track of this information, you will
need to assign each user a number between 001 and 999. We will call this their "user number". It
will also be their autodial slot number, their paging slot number, etc. They will have to tell the
controller what their user number is, along with their password, to log in. For the purpose of
examples in the manual, we will consider the owner to be user 001, the control operators to be 002
through 009, and the rest of the club members 010 through 999, although it doesn't really matter
whether you are user 003 or 300.
When someone tries to execute a command without logging onto the controller, the controller
doesn't know who they are, so it considers them to be user 000. If they try to execute a command
without logging onto the controller, the controller will compare the user level required to execute
that command with the user level for user 000. If user 000 is set to be level 7, they will be able to