> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.openiam.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.openiam.com/administration-guide/start.md).

# Start administering OpenIAM

Route yourself into the guide — confirm what your account may administer, learn the object names, find out where a setting's value comes from, and adopt the change standard.

## What this is, and when you need it

This section is the half hour that makes the rest of the guide cheaper. It settles four things before you open a form: what your own account is actually allowed to administer, the names of the objects every other page will use, where a setting's value really comes from when four layers can supply one, and the change-and-rollback standard the rest of the guide assumes instead of repeating. Read it on your first session in a deployment. If you are not new but are troubleshooting one specific thing, go straight to [Where settings live](/administration-guide/start/where-settings-live.md) — it is the page that answers "I changed it and nothing happened".

{% hint style="info" %}
This guide assumes OpenIAM is already installed and you are administering it. If you do not have a deployment yet, the [Getting Started guide](/getting-started-guide/prepare-your-lab.md) walks you from two empty virtual machines to a working proof of concept, and hands back here when it is done.
{% endhint %}

## Choose your outcome

| I want to…                                                                                                       | Go to                                                                                                                                         |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Sign in for the first time and land in the right place                                                           | [Sign in and confirm your context](/administration-guide/start/first-login.md)                                                                |
| Find out which screens, buttons and populations my own account can reach                                         | [Confirm what you can administer](/administration-guide/start/first-login.md#confirm-what-you-can-administer)                                 |
| Establish which product version, schema version and container overrides are in force                             | [Confirm the version and the configuration layer](/administration-guide/start/first-login.md#confirm-the-version-and-the-configuration-layer) |
| Work out which of `/idp`, `/webconsole` and `/selfservice` I am in, and why it changes behaviour                 | [The three URL surfaces](/administration-guide/start/first-login.md#the-three-url-surfaces)                                                   |
| Learn what a user, identity, role, group, organization, resource and entitlement actually are                    | [The OpenIAM object model](/administration-guide/start/object-model.md)                                                                       |
| Work out where a setting's value comes from when a property, the database, a manifest and a cache all have a say | [Where settings live](/administration-guide/start/where-settings-live.md)                                                                     |
| Find out why a change I saved had no effect                                                                      | [Where settings live](/administration-guide/start/where-settings-live.md)                                                                     |
| Work out why a user cannot sign in                                                                               | [A user cannot sign in](/administration-guide/security/cannot-sign-in.md)                                                                     |
| Record the current state, test a change, and roll it back                                                        | [Change configuration safely](/administration-guide/start/change-safely.md)                                                                   |
| Find the section that owns the task in front of me                                                               | [Administration Guide](/administration-guide/admin.md)                                                                                        |
| Look up a property key, an enumerated value or a shipped object                                                  | [Reference](/administration-guide/reference.md)                                                                                               |

## Start here

Read the four pages in this order. Each one is assumed by the next.

1. [Sign in and confirm your context](/administration-guide/start/first-login.md)
2. [The OpenIAM object model](/administration-guide/start/object-model.md)
3. [Where settings live](/administration-guide/start/where-settings-live.md)
4. [Change configuration safely](/administration-guide/start/change-safely.md)

*Applies to OpenIAM 2026.8.1. Last reviewed 7 August 2026.*


---

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