Subscriber Discussion

PIN Only Access Control.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Sep 22, 2014
  1. Card Only
  2. Card + Pin
  3. Pin Only

Basically every manufacturer offers 1 and 2. RS2 does offer 3, but it is set at the reader level (meaning everybody has to use a pin for access at that reader and can't use the prox card).

I have a customer who's facility houses some permanent residents and offices for employees. They would like to disperse prox cards to those folks for their convenience.

Occasionally, they also rent parts of their facility to small groups for a few nights at a time. They would like to be forgoe generating and dispersing prox cards to those people and just give them a temporary pin for access. I've explained the inherent flaws in a PIN-only system, and they accept the additional risk in exchange for the convenience.

The problem is that I am not finding a system that makes that easy. I have read manuals for both RS2 and Kantech - and it is just not doable with those systems.

My last resort solution would be a separate reader and keypad at each door and just parallel the lock outputs. But then I am paying for extra controller inputs, separate keypad wiring, and a separate keypad itself. I would prefer putting a single device at the door (i.e. HID RPK40), and have the software handle this for me.

It feels like this is a simple matter of finding the right vendor that allows this option, but my goto Access Control vendors don't support it.

Avatar
Brian Rhodes
Sep 22, 2014
IPVMU Certified

If I understand, you want to know who/if anyone supports:

4. PIN, or Card

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Sep 22, 2014

Yes - You understand..

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Sep 22, 2014

Well,

Nevermind.

RS2 DOES support Card or Pin. Tech support was confused and thinking I wanted:

5) Card + PIN, or just PIN

Avatar
Brian Rhodes
Sep 22, 2014
IPVMU Certified

That's good it worked out with your preferred vendor. This feature is not uncommon, and even really basic systems (ie: HID Edge Solo) support it.

To add: The good news is usually PIN support is activated/stored in the central database, not the reader. I took the screenshot below from a stock Axis A1001 running Entry Manager:

When the user is created, the PIN number is assigned just like a card number. This is the most common implementation of PIN and/or Cards, so if a user loses or forgets their card, they can still get into a building.

One trick if your access platform does not support assigning multiple credentials to a single user is to create more than one cardholder record for a single person: one for cards, one for PINs. It's ugly, but you can force a small or basic system to accept multiple credentials for users this way.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Sep 22, 2014

It makes sense that it would. That's why I was baffled when RS2 Tech support told me no at first.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Oct 11, 2014

While I understand your goal is to have PIN-only for just the temporary people...do you want the permanent people to use CARD-only or CARD-and-PIN?

The reason I ask is that a putting a Mercury-controlled door (RS2) into Card-Or-PIN means exactly that: Card-Only works, PIN-Only works, and a valid presentation of either alone will grant access.

If you want to retain Card-AND-Pin enforcement for the permanent people, I would recommend "Cipher Mode". To the best of my knowledge, RS2 supports this Mercury feature: Cipher Mode - RS2 Technologies, LLC

Essentially, enabling Cipher Mode allows for the keys entered to be interpreted as a card number instead of a PIN code. Of course, these "cards" should be marked PIN-exempt, or you'll need to enter the card/cipher number AND a PIN code.

KL
Ken Larson
Oct 22, 2014
Z9 Security

One thing I don't believe I've seen is a system that allows you to define a true PIN-only credential... seems most systems require a card number, so if you don't have one, you just have to make one up...

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