Let's assume for a moment that the type of lock system you installed in your house is a very sophisticated one. With that lock system, you have the capability to issue different kinds of keys. The master key, which very likely you will take charge of, would be enabled to open all of the locks installed throughout your house. There would be other keys that may not have the same capability. All of the keys will open the front door. In addition, some may open the kitchen pantry and the door to the garage; other keys may open the office but not the locks in the kitchen to the pantry or the garage. OK, I admit: this is stretching the front door analogy a little bit too far. Nevertheless, I hope the point is made.

WebSphere provides several user roles; the most common ones will be briefly described next.

For most organizations, using Monitor and Administrator will suffice. If there is an Operations group in your company, you probably have written (or will write) simple scripts to stop and start enterprise applications, thus there is no need for Operations folks to need access to the WebSphere Console.