You are here: Chapter 8: Using FootPrints > Login

Login

Note

The instructions below assume that FootPrints has already been installed and licensed.

Use your web browser to go to the URL assigned to your FootPrints system.  For example, if the name of your web server machine is myserver, then the URL might be http://www.myserver.com/footprints.  This brings you to the FootPrints Login page.

To log in, enter the user ID and password assigned to you (or the user ID and password created during installation if you just installed FootPrints), and click LOGIN. If you enter your ID or password incorrectly, you receive an error message.  If, after another attempt, you are still unable to log in, please contact your Workspace or System Administrator.

If the login attempt is successful, the FootPrints Homepage is displayed and you are logged in to the Workspace created during installation.   If, for example, you named the first Workspace Help Desk, this is listed as the current Workspace in the top frame of the screen.

Important

FootPrints will not work properly if your browser's pop-up blocker is enabled.  To resolve this problem, configure your pop-up blocker to allow pop-ups for just the FootPrints application.

Password Complexity, Password Expiration, Failed Login Attempts, and Password Reuse

FootPrints allows the setting of rules governing the complexity of passwords and password expiration. Password complexity rules govern the minimum and maximum lengths of passwords and the types of characters that a password must include. Rules are not mandatory and administrators may choose not to set some or all of the rules. If your password does not comply with the rules, a pop-up window will prompt you to change your password. If you do not change your password to comply with the rules, you will be unable to log in. Your password can go out of compliance if, for example, an administrator changes the rules.

Password expiration is also optional, but your administrator can set an expiration date for your password so that, after a period of time, you will be prompted to change your password before you can log in.

Administrators can optionally set a limit on the number of failed, sequential logins you can attempt. If, for example, a limit of six attempts is set and you mistype your password six times in a row, you may find yourself locked out of FootPrints. Contact your FootPrints System Administrator if this happens. Locks also have an expiration date, so you can also wait for the lock to expire before re-attempting login.

A limit can optionally be set on password reuse. For example, if you change passwords and the reuse limit is set at three, you cannot reuse the any password until there have been three different passwords intervening.

All of the rules for passwords are optional and none of these rules, or any combination of these rules, may be in effect for your FootPrints.

Note

For each browser, only one user will be allowed to log into FootPrints at a time. If a second user attempts to log in, the first user will lose their session and will be logged out. In order to log in to multiple accounts, you can use different browsers or private browsing windows.