How to Manage Administrator Permissions on My Sites
A number of our clients have been confused by the concept of SharePoint 2007 My Sites because of some of the perceived and legitimate architectural difference between the My Site Web Application and traditional Web Applications created by administrators for use in portals and standard Site Collections.
This article will not dive into all differences between a My Site Web Application and other Web Applications, but will merely show you how can assure your ability to administer and manage individual My Sites, or the entire My Site Web Application by giving administration rights to those users and groups that need it.
Manage users via the entire Web Application
If you want to give user or group access to the entire My Site Web Application, you can do this the same way you would with a traditional Web Application via the following steps:
1. Go to SharePoint Central Administration -->Application Management
2. Choose "Policy for Web Application" under the "Application Security" group.
3. Make sure you select the correct Web Application for your My Site in the "Web Application" drop down list on the right.
4. Select "Add Users" on the upper left.
5. Choose "All Zones" by default on the "Add Users" screen and click "Next".
6. Add the appropriate user(s) or Active Directory group that you want to have control over your My Site Web Application. Select the level of control. Click "Finish".
These users should now have appropriate access to all My Sites in the Web Application. Administrator groups given "Full Control" can now browse to individual My Sites and should see the "Site Actions" button to make administration available.
Manage individual My Site administrators via Central Administration
A lot of people don't realize that every My Site is an individual Site Collection, not just a Site or Web. For the purpose of this article, it makes sense to architect My Sites like this from an administration perspective because Site Collections represent the top level for user permissions and management. This methodology allows individual My Site owners to manage the permissions of their own My Site without requiring assistance or requests from the SharePoint administrators.
To add a specific user or Active Directory group to an individual My Site from Central Administration, follow these steps:
1. Go to SharePoint Central Administration --> Application Management
2. Click "Site Collection Administrators" under the "SharePoint Site Management" group.
3. Make sure you select the correct Site Collection for your My Site in the "Site Collection" drop down list on the right.
4. The "Primary Site Administrator" is most likely the user that owns the My Site.
5. You can add a user or Active Directory group as the "Secondary site collection administrator" in the box below the primary admin. Click "OK".
Using this method you can use Central Administration to assign administration rights to specific My Sites.
Manage user permissions via the individual My Site
You can also manage permissions on any My Site where you already have Site Collection Administration access by navigating directly to the specific My Site. Central Administration access is not required.
2.From "Site Settings" select "Site collection administrators" from the "Users and Permissions" group on the left-hand side.
3. The "Site Collection Administrators" link allows you to create additional users or groups with Site Collection Administration permissions on this My Site. Simply add the users or Active Directory groups and click "OK".
Although beyond the scope of this article, if you select "People and Groups" instead of "Site collection administrators" in step #3, you can manage more granular permissions on the My Site as you can with any traditional Site Collection. You can also assign individual users or groups specific permissions on list or list items within your My Site.
