Admin Panel

The MFTPlus admin panel provides centralized management for customers, subscriptions, agents, and system health.

Accessing the Admin Panel

Navigate to /admin on your MFTPlus dashboard domain:

https://dashboard.yourcompany.com/admin

Production Access

Admin panel access requires authentication. See Admin Login below.

Admin Login

The admin panel uses separate authentication from the main dashboard:

Authentication Methods

1. Admin API Key: Use your organization's admin API key
2. SSO Integration: Single sign-on through your identity provider (if configured)

Session Management

• Sessions expire after 8 hours of inactivity
• Manual logout available via the user menu
• Concurrent sessions limited to 3 per admin account

First-Time Setup

On initial deployment, the system prompts you to:

1. Create the primary admin account
2. Configure authentication method (API key or SSO)
3. Set up additional admin users

Secure Your Admin Keys

Admin API keys provide full access to customer data and system settings. Store them securely and rotate regularly.

Customer Management

Manage customer accounts, configurations, and access from the Customers section.

Viewing Customers

The customers list displays:

• Customer name and ID
• Associated agents
• Active subscription tier
• Account status (active, suspended, pending)
• Last activity timestamp

Customer Actions

Action	Description
View Details	Open customer profile with full configuration
Suspend	Temporarily disable customer access
Delete	Remove customer and associated data (requires confirmation)
Impersonate	View dashboard as the customer (audit logged)

Adding Customers

1. Navigate to Customers → Add Customer
2. Enter customer details:
   • Company name
   • Contact email
   • Initial subscription tier
3. Customer receives onboarding email with setup instructions

Customer Configuration

Per-customer settings include:

• Agent registration limits
• Storage quotas
• Transfer throughput limits
• Allowed protocols
• IP whitelist (optional)

Subscription Oversight

Monitor and manage customer subscriptions from the Subscriptions section.

Subscription tiers (Community, Starter, Pro, Enterprise) determine agent limits, storage quotas, and support level. See mftplus.co.za/pricing for current details.

Subscription Actions

• Upgrade: Increase tier limits immediately
• Downgrade: Takes effect at next billing cycle
• Cancel: Disable access at period end
• Renew: Extend active subscription

Billing Events

Track subscription events including:

• New subscriptions
• Plan changes
• Payment failures
• Auto-renewals
• Cancellations

Agent Monitoring

Real-time visibility into all registered agents across your deployment.

Agent Overview

The agents dashboard shows:

Metric	Description
Total Agents	All registered agents
Online	Agents with active connections
Offline	Agents not connected (with last seen time)
Transfers	Active transfer count per agent

Agent Details

Click any agent to view:

• Hostname and system information
• OS version and architecture
• Agent version
• Connected since timestamp
• Active and historical transfers
• Certificate status

Agent Actions

Action	Description
View Transfers	Filter transfers by this agent
Update Config	Push configuration changes
Revoke Certificate	Remove agent access (requires re-registration)
Force Disconnect	Terminate agent connection

Certificate Revocation

Revoking an agent's certificate immediately terminates all active transfers and prevents reconnection until the agent re-registers.

Agent Health Monitoring

Configure alerts for:

• Agent offline duration
• Transfer failure rates
• Certificate expiration
• Version drift (outdated agents)

System Health Dashboard

Monitor overall system performance and resource utilization.

Health Metrics

The system dashboard displays:

• Transfer Queue: Pending, active, and completed transfers
• Error Rates: Transfer and system errors by type
• Resource Usage: CPU, memory, and storage across components
• Response Times: API endpoint latencies (p50, p95, p99)
• Throughput: Data transfer rates by protocol

Component Status

Component	Status Indicators
API Server	Uptime, request rate, error rate
Database	Connections, query performance
Message Queue	Queue depth, processing rate
Storage	Capacity, I/O performance

Alerting

Configure alerts for:

• Component downtime
• Performance degradation
• Resource exhaustion
• Anomalous error rates

Alerts delivered via:

• Email (default)
• Webhook (custom integrations)
• Slack/Teams (configured integration)

Audit Log Access

Comprehensive audit logging for compliance and security review.

Log Categories

Category	Events Logged
Authentication	Logins, logouts, failed attempts, password changes
Customer	Account creation, modifications, deletions
Subscription	Tier changes, billing events, cancellations
Agent	Registration, configuration changes, revocations
Transfer	Job creation, transfers, failures
Admin	All admin panel actions with user attribution

Querying Audit Logs

Filter logs by:

• Date/time range
• Category
• User/admin
• Resource ID (customer, agent, transfer)
• Action type

Export logs in:

• CSV (spreadsheet compatible)
• JSON (programmatic analysis)
• Syslog format (SIEM integration)

Log Retention

• Standard: 90 days
• Enterprise: Configurable retention up to 7 years

Compliance

Audit logs support compliance requirements for:

• SOC 2
• ISO 27001
• HIPAA
• PCI DSS

All log entries are immutable and tamper-evident.

Admin API

The admin panel exposes a REST API for automation.

Authentication

Include your admin API key in requests:

curl -H "X-Admin-API-Key: your-key" \
  https://dashboard.mftplus.co.za/api/admin/agents

Common Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
GET /api/admin/agents	List all agents
GET /api/admin/customers	List customers
POST /api/admin/customers	Create customer
GET /api/admin/subscriptions	List subscriptions
GET /api/admin/audit	Query audit logs

See API Reference for complete endpoint documentation.

Best Practices

Security

• Use separate admin accounts for each administrator
• Enable SSO for centralized access control
• Rotate admin API keys monthly
• Review audit logs weekly for suspicious activity
• Limit admin impersonation to troubleshooting only

Customer Management

• Document customer configurations before changes
• Test configuration changes on non-production customers first
• Notify customers before planned maintenance
• Keep customer contact information updated

Monitoring

• Set up alerts for critical thresholds
• Review system health dashboard daily
• Track agent certificate expiration dates
• Monitor transfer failure rates by protocol

Troubleshooting

Admin Panel Not Loading

1. Verify you're using the correct URL (/admin path)
2. Check browser console for JavaScript errors
3. Clear browser cache and cookies
4. Try incognito/private browsing mode
5. Verify admin API key validity

Unable to Impersonate Customer

1. Verify customer account is active
2. Check your admin permissions
3. Ensure audit logging service is running
4. Contact system administrator if issue persists

Missing Audit Logs

1. Verify date range filter includes expected events
2. Check log retention policy (90-day default)
3. Ensure audit logging service is healthy
4. Check system health dashboard for errors

Agent Status Stale

1. Agent may be offline (check last seen timestamp)
2. Network connectivity issue between agent and dashboard
3. Agent process may have crashed (check agent logs)
4. Certificate may have expired (revoke and re-register)