IBM Microsoft Exchange Portlet Application

 

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Overview

The IBM Microsoft Exchange Application connects to an Exchange server via WEBDAV, which is an extension of HTTP. The user can choose to use the WEBDAV connection or to use Outlook Web Access to connect to Exchange. The user's browser must support iframes to use Outlook Web Access. This application displays a user's mail Inbox view, Calendar, To Do lists, and Contacts lists of Microsoft Exchange. The user must edit each portlet to specify the destination of Microsoft Exchange server.

 

Using Microsoft Exchange Application

Users can work with routine mail tasks, such as composing, reading, and deleting e-mail and managing e-mail folders. Single sign-on is supported through the Portal Server Credential Vault. A user's credentials are stored once and can be used for all Exchange portlets.

This application allows users to view, edit, and delete items in their mail, calendar, and other personal information management applications. The following portlets are provided in this portlet application:

  • MS Exchange Mail Portlet
  • MS Exchange Calendar Portlet
  • MS Exchange Tasks Portlet
  • MS Exchange Contacts Portlet
  • MS Exchange Notes Portlet

 

Set up Microsoft Exchange Application

 

Client requirements

This application supports devices capable of rendering HTML and WML markup. The following table provides detailed information.

Minimum requirements for HTML
Markup level HTML 4.01 Transitional
Java applet None
Javascript 1.1
<iframe> Depending on the server used, a portlet might have iframe support.
Style sheets Portal styles only
Software This application has been tested on the following browsers:

  • Internet Explorer V6.0
  • Netscape V7.0
Accessibility Yes
Minimum requirements for WML
Markup level WML 1.1

 

Server requirements

Network access to the Exchange server is required.

 

Test assumptions

There are no known test or usage assumptions.

 

Deployment/Installation

For general information on installing portlets, go to the section --Administering-- in Websphere Portal Information Center. In the section, browse to Administering your portal-->Portal administration portlets-->Install portlets.

Users must configure the portlet through an HTML browser.

Administrators must set up a vault slot for the portlets to use. In order to set up a vault slot for the portlets to use, the administrator should first go to the Credential Vault administration portlet and create a slot for use by the Exchange portlets (this slot might not be a shared system credential). Then, the administrator needs to configure each portlet in the Web module. This can be achieved by placing the portlets on a page and clicking on the configure icon (this icon is only available to users who have MANAGE permissions for the portlet). Here a list of potential vault slots is displayed. Select the one you have created and click 'OK'.This must be done for each portlet. If the same slot is selected for each portlet, the users will have the same credentials for each portlet.

Downloading and installing HTTPClient

If you require single sign-on support, install HTTPClient to allow the exchange to operate in the SSL environment. Use the following steps to download and install HTTPClient.

  1. Download and install the HTTPClient package from HTTPClient V0.3-3.
  2. Download the Sun patch for JSSE patches from HTTPS Support.
  3. Use the readme file included in the downloaded JSSE zip package to install the patch. Note: You do not have to install the JSSE or configure a security provider in the java.security file. The portlet configures this setting for you.
  4. Once the HTTPClient code with SSL enabled classes are updated, create a JAR file starting at the top level of the HTTPClient package that includes all files in the HTTPClient package. For example:

    C:\was_root\installedApps\Exchange3_WPS_PA_328.ear\Exchange3.war\WEB-INF\lib> c:\jdk1.3\bin\jar -tvf httpclient.jar

    0 Mon Jan 06 17:54:30 EST 2003 META-INF/

    71 Mon Jan 06 17:54:30 EST 2003 META-INF/MANIFEST.MF

    0 Mon Jan 06 17:54:02 EST 2003 HTTPClient/

    1033 Fri Mar 23 02:51:40 EST 2001 HTTPClient/0COPYRIGHT

    26428 Sun Jun 20 16:27:20 EDT 1999 HTTPClient/0LICENSE

    2402 Sun May 06 22:39:54 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/0README

    1814 Fri Mar 23 02:42:28 EST 2001 HTTPClient/alt/HotJava/sunw/hotjava/protocol/https/Handler.java

    1000 Wed May 09 02:15:18 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthorizationHandler.class

    6883 Mon May 07 05:06:10 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthorizationHandler.java

    15313 Wed May 09 02:15:18 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthorizationInfo.class

    35100 Mon May 07 05:06:10 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthorizationInfo.java

    10517 Wed May 09 02:15:18 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthorizationModule.class

    16569 Mon May 07 05:07:52 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthorizationModule.java

    415 Wed May 09 02:15:18 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthorizationPrompter.class

    2803 Mon May 07 05:06:10 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthorizationPrompter.java

    522 Wed May 09 02:15:18 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthSchemeNotImplException.class

    1937 Mon May 07 05:06:10 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/AuthSchemeNotImplException.java

    1210 Wed May 09 02:15:18 EDT 2001 HTTPClient/BasicCookieBox$Accept.class

  5. After creating this JAR, place it into the was_root/lib/app directory and restart WebSphere Application Server.

 

Update portlet configuration and IIS

The Exchange 5.5 portlet no longer requires you to install IIS on every Exchange server. To configure, follow these steps.

Get the Exchange 5.5 ASP zip files from the portlet catalog. You will find them using NAV code 1WP10003U. This will take you to a portlet called "IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange V4.1.2 ".

  • Configure IIS for Exchange 5.5

  1. Unzip the Exchange55ASP.zip file into a new folder, for example, 'exch.'
  2. Create a new folder named `temp' inside the exch folder (containing the extracted asp files)
  3. There are now two options either copy the exch folder into the default root folder of IIS (ie wwwroot folder) or else create a virtual directory that points to the folder containing asp files.
  4. Using IIS Service Manager, enable basic authentication and disable anonymous access to exch webdirectory.
  5. Grant write access to the temp folder located inside the exch webdirectory.
  6. Restart the IIS webserver.

Alternatively, you could simply put the ASP files into the same OWA directory that maps to <OWA Server>/Exchange, and leave the original configuration as <host>/Exchange. Either solution is acceptable.

b. Configure the portlet so it has the correct domain name. 

  1. Note the Windows Domain name of the Exchange server that is the domain controller. This is for LDAP and resolution of NT security.
  2. Edit the portlet, and for Domain, enter the Windows Exchange Server domain name (NOTE: This is the same domain name you see when looking at the identification properties of the Windows server host. This should not be confused with the domain qualification of a host.name.)

Making WPS accept your Exchange server's SSL certificate.

In order to use SSL features with the Exchange Portlet, the JVM for WebSphere Portal Server must be informed that it should accept the Exchange Server's SSL certificate. In order to do this have the certificate from the Exchange server available. This can be obtained in a number of ways. The best way to obtain this is to ask the Exchange Administrator to send it to you.

To make the Exchange Server's SSL certificate available to Portal Server, use the key management tool supplied by Application Server to import the certificate(s) into the necessary Java Key Store (.jks) format key storage files. Note that the Application Server-supplied key management tool, IKeyMan, is not the same as other key management tools, even though the user interface might be very similar. IKeyMan supports the Java Key Store file formats necessary for Application Server and Portal Server, whereas other key management tools might not. Consult the WebSphere Application Server documentation for details about how to use this tool.

Here is a brief overview of the steps:

  1. If not already active, activate IKeyMan by double-clicking <was_home>/bin/ikeyman.bat.
  2. Open the was_root/java/jre/lib/security/cacerts file. By default, the password for this file is changeit.
  3. Select Signer Certificates in the top pull-down, then click Add.
  4. Select Base64-encoded ASCII data as the data type, and browse to the certificate file of the Exchange Server's SSL Certificate. You might have to rename the certificate file so that the file extension matches the extension that IKeyMan is looking for. That extension should be '.arm'.
  5. You will be asked for a label for the new certificate.

After installing the portlet and completing the steps above, restart WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Portal Server.

Note: This portlet is not supported as a remote WSRP service.

 

Configuration parameters

The following configuration parameters are available in this application.

Parameter Value
folderForDrafts This parameter is the folder on the Exchange server where a user's drafts will be saved. This parameter is for the mail portlet only.
folderForExchange This parameter is the folder where the Exchange Web application is installed on the Exchange server. By default, it should be 'exchange'.
folderForPim This parameter is the folder on the Exchange server that will be used by this portlet. No special configuration parameters have to be entered in Exchange 2000 application, for this folder.

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