6 The first login

6.2 Steps to the first login

Jack is ready for his first login and should see the screen as shown in Figure 6.1 on page 6.1.

If this screen is not shown then Jack navigates to https://example.com/ledgersmb/login.pl to access the login screen.

6.2.1 Login screen

Refer to caption
Figure 6.1: login.pl opening screen

The login screen shows three fields which Jack proceeds to fill in as follows:

Field Value

Description

Name admin

The login user name

Password asdfg

The password to use for your first login

Company example_inc

The name of the company database

After entering all of the information and tapping the Login button Jack will see an alert letting him know that his password will expire today. Jack clicks OK to dismiss the alert.

6.2.2 Selecting a password

After successful login, the system shows the Welcome to LedgerSMB screen as depicted in Figure 6.2 on page 6.2.

Refer to caption
Figure 6.2: login.pl welcome screen

The initial password has a 24-hour validity limit to prevent unused user accounts from posing a security risk.

To set a new password Jack navigates to Preferences Password and sees the screen as depicted in Figure 6.3 on page 6.3.

The new password that Jack chooses will be different than any password used before and different than the temporary password set by the administrator. Not clicking the Save button means the password remains unchanged and the 24-hour limit remains in effect.

Refer to caption
Figure 6.3: Password change screen

Jack enters the information in the Change Password screen as follows:

Table 6.2: First Login - Change initial password data
Field Value

Description

Old Password asdfg

The old password set by the administrator using setup.pl

New Password lkjhg

The new password that Jack wants to use for admin

Verify lkjhg

Repeats the new password that Jack wants to use for admin

Jack then clicks the Change Password button.

The new password has a validity of determined by the Password Duration setting from the System Defaults screen. User management is discussed is detail in Chapter 24 starting at page 24.

Login will be denied to users with expired passwords; they can request password resets through user admins.

6.2.3 Setting user preferences

Jack clicks on the tab Preferences and the system shows the Preferences screen as depicted in Figure 24.3 on page 24.3

Refer to caption
Figure 6.4: User preferences

Jack selects his language, in this case American English and clicks Save.

6.2.4 Setting system defaults

Out of the box, LedgerSMB contains reasonable system defaults, but Jack needs to add some specific company information. In order to do so, Jack navigates to System Defaults and sees the screen depicted in Figure 6.5 on page 6.5.

Refer to caption
Figure 6.5: System defaults

Jack sets the following defaults:

Table 6.3: First Login - Change user defaults data
Field Value

Description

Company Name Example Inc.
Company Address
215 Example St
Any City, CA

Note the use of the new line

Company Phone 555 836 2255
Business Number 12345

e.g. Chamber of commerce number

Default Email From info@example.com
Default Country United States
Default Language English (US)
Password Duration 180

Days

Then clicks the Save button at the bottom of the screen.

A more elaborate description of the parameters in this screen is provided in subsection 18.4.3.