Drupal: How to implement a SECOND admin with fewer rights than the normal and own theme?

Question

I'm currently trying to realize a second (lower) admin layer in drupal. I have made an extra section via the module of the same name for those users so they can have their own theme etc. I want to give these second or lower admins a menu in their section of the page where they can access certain admin functions like administer other users, and certain types of content etc. The biggest problem I encounter is security inconsistency, e.g. the second admin could make himself a full admin because I use drupals own core admin functions and where not able to figure out how to permanently block certain features but permit others. In this case I want to make the second admin able to create and change roles of users in lower hierarchy than he himself, but not able to change to or create real admins. This is only a part of the problem however, smaller issue is that I'm not able to keep my theme set for the second admin section without having to duplicate the existing admin views (like those for users and content) and set the duplicates to a path under my section. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

This would probably be best accomplished through creating a role (admin/user/roles) then defining that roles permissions (admin/user/permissions). Then just create a user(admin/user/user/create) belonging to that role, define a menu (admin/build/menu) with the links you want them to have access, then move the menu block (admin/build/block) to the region you want and then configure it for only that specific role.

There isn't exact an easy way to go about this, just a lot of permissions trial and error. I suggest you log in as user/1 in one browser and log in as the user you created with another browser and test the permissions config you've setup.