SSO vs Anonymous access

[Sutha]

Hello Community,

Today, our current Confluence server edition allows the internal users to consult anonymously   some space contents at no cost of extra license.

That’s because as long as the user is not authenticated, they can access any contents accessible anonymously. If they need to access protected contents, then the user needs a license.

Tomorrow, with the move to Cloud plan, the SSO will be activated so this would mean every internal user will be authenticated to access the Confluence site in Cloud.

With that setup in place, my question, is there still possible to access the anonymous contents without consuming a license?

I didn’t succeed to find any article that describes how to tackle such need in Atlassin KB. I found similar questions without native solution.

However I came across with this question published in 2021 Confluence Cloud with SSO (Access) required but re... - https://community.atlassian.com/ and a feature request was submitted [CONFCLOUD-30161] Allow unlicensed, authenticated users to have anonymous read only access - Create and track feature requests for Atlassian products. - https://jira.atlassian.com/ which seemed to be resolved!

So does anyone can help finding the official way to handle such challenge in Cloud please?

Thanks in advance
Sutha

[Stephen Wright _Elabor8_]

Hi @Sutha 

Anonymous access in Cloud essentially means the pages are available on the public internet. But there are some alternatives you can explore...

• Guest Access: This allows you to invite users from outside your organisation to view Confluence, but still manage their security with things like two-step verification. See more on guests on this page, and this page for external user security.
• Public Links: If a page should be visible to the public, but not a whole space, you could try using public links - check those out on this help page
• Jira Service Management: You can connect Confluence as a Knowledge Base to JSM. You could set up an instance, and give users access as customers (i.e non-billable users), who could then view Knowledge Base articles in Confluence / through the portal. See more on this help page, and this article. This only works with internal customers

I'd check out all three options, but the JSM option might be a good candidate given these are internal users :)

Ste

[Sutha]

Hello @Stephen Wright _Elabor8_

Thanks for your time and reply.

Our needs is that only our organization users access contents in read-only and that is the case today with the Confluence server edition hosted internally and which is not exposed to externally at all.

When we move to cloud, the access will be protected by SSO and we have no plan to expose the contents for public access.

We have no plan to purchase JSM given the fact we are not using it and no needs at this time.

Given all these facts, any suggestion to consult contents without consuming license after authenticating.

Thanks

[Stephen Wright _Elabor8_]

Hi @Sutha 

For the JSM option, you could use a Free instance potentially (up to 3 agents), and then try the above?

This help page suggests how to set this up, using JSM or the Guest model mentioned in my original answer

---

A further option you could test would be to...

• Set IP allowlisting, for example to just your office, or your VPN(s)
• Allow anonymous access to the site, and test it's only available within your specified IP range

...this should allow for the functionality to be similar to what you had in Server. But I would definitely test this solution within a sandbox instance before doing it on your production site.

Ste

[Ashwini_More _miniOrange]

Hello @Sutha 

I noticed your use case, and I believe it can be effectively addressed using the Confluence Secure Share for Cloud app. This solution allows you to securely share pages without incurring additional license costs.

Additionally, the app offers a variety of features including:

• Creating and sharing access links for any Confluence page without requiring login
• Setting permissions for end-users to View and add Comments, Inline Comments, and Attachments in the shared pages
• Password-protecting shared links with your own password or generating a random one for enhanced security
• Set an expiry date for password-protected links
• Invoke SSO on anonymous pages
• Restrict access to anonymous pages based on user groups and public IPs

I'm Ashwini from the miniOrange Team, an Atlassian Top Vendor, and I'd be delighted to arrange a FREE Demo and Setup for you. Alternatively, feel free to reach out to us at atlassiansupport@xecurify.com for any further questions.

I'm also adding a few articles in case you'd like to read more about this solution - 

• Security maximized while sharing confluence pages with external users
• Save Your Budget By Sharing Confluence Space & Pages With Unlicensed Users! 

Thanks,
Ashwini

[Sutha]

@Stephen Wright _Elabor8_

We already looked into IP Allowlisting which is only available in the Premium plan that doubles the price and does not justify based on our needs and size.

Anyway, thank you for your suggestions and worth considering for future needs. Appreciate your time and responses.

Hello @Ashwini_More _miniOrange,

I have seen in my search, some users metionning miniOrange product.

In our current research, we are looking our need can be achieved natively. Anyway thanks for sharing details on the product and good to know.

[Ashwini_More _miniOrange]

@Sutha

I understand your preference for native solutions and appreciate the opportunity to be part of your research process. Should you have any further questions or require additional information about our product, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to assist you in any way we can.

If there are specific features or functionalities you're seeking that you believe could be integrated into our product, we're here to help!