IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange 2003

 

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The IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange 2003 connects to an Exchange 2003 server via WEBDAV. To connect to Exchange, the user can choose to use the normal connection or to use Outlook Web Access (OWA). In the OWA mode, single sign-on is not supported, and the user will be prompted to re-enter the user id and password.

The user's browser must support iframes in order to use OWA.

 

Use IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange 2003

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

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

  • IBM Microsoft Exchange 2003 Mail Portlet
  • IBM Microsoft Exchange 2003 Calendar Portlet
  • IBM Microsoft Exchange 2003 Tasks Portlet
  • IBM Microsoft Exchange 2003 Contacts Portlet
  • IBM Microsoft Exchange 2003 Notes Portlet

 

Set up IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange 2003

This application supports devices capable of rendering HTML. 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 connection mode used, a portlet might need iframe support.
Style sheets Portal styles only
Software This portlet has been tested on the following browsers:

  • Internet Explorer V6.0
  • Netscape V7.0

Accessibility Yes

 

Server requirements

WebSphere Portal v6.0 is supported. There are no special server requirements.

 

Test assumptions

The portlet application is not tested for WAP support.

 

Deployment/Installation

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 this portlet application (this slot might not be a shared system credential). The administrator then 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 step must be repeated for each portlet. If the same slot is selected for each portlet, the users will have the same credentials for each portlet.

 

Download and install HTTPClient for SSL for 4.x versions

Users must install HTTPClient, if the Exchange 2003 server is configured to operate in an SSL environment that supports single sign-on feature. Use the following steps to download and install HTTPClient.

  • Download the HTTPClient 0.3-3 package

  • Create a folder named httpClientUnzip and unzip the HTTPClient package into the folder.

  • Download the Sun JSSE patch for HTTPClient (JSSE.zip)

    Unzip the JSSE patch into the httpClientUnzip/HTTPClient folder. When prompted to overwrite existing files, click Yes.

  • Use the contents of httpClientUnzip to create a jar file named httpclient.jar, and then add httpclient.jar to...

    was_root/lib/app directory

  • Restart WebSphere Application Server.

Making WPS accept the Exchange 2003 server's SSL certificate

To use SSL features with this portlet application, the JVM for WebSphere Portal Server must be informed that it should accept the Exchange 2003 Server's SSL certificate. In order to do this, we need to obtain the certificate from the Exchange 2003 server. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. The best way is to ask the Exchange 2003 Administrator to send it to you. To make the Exchange 2003 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.

The following is a brief overview of the steps:

  1. If not already active, activate ikeyman by double-clicking...

    was_root/bin/ikeyman.bat

  2. Open...

    was_root/java/jre/lib/security/cacerts

    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 2003 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 application and completing the steps above, restart WAS and WebSphere Portal Server.

 

Download and install HTTPClient for SSL for 5.x versions

For the ikeyman settings, we can find ikeyman.bat file in was_root/bin folder. Double click on the file to activate it.

Follow the rest of the steps as given for v4.x, for ikeyman to import the SSL certificate to the Java Key Store for Application Server and Portal Server, and to accept it.

 

Configuration parameters

The following configuration parameters are available in this portlet.

Parameter Value
folderForDrafts Folder on the Exchange 2003 server where a user's draft messages will be saved. This parameter applies to the mail portlet only.
folderForExchange Folder where the Exchange 2003 Web application is installed on the Exchange server. By default, it should be "exchange".
folderForPim Folder on the Exchange server, and it will be used by portlets for constructing the request. The value should be 'Inbox' for Mail portlet, 'Calendar' for Calendar portlet, 'Contacts' for Contacts portlet, 'Notes' for Notes portlet and 'Tasks' for Tasks portlet.

Configure the portlet so it has the correct domain name

  1. Note that the Windows domain name of the Exchange 2003 server is the same as the domain controller's. This is for LDAP and resolution of NT security.

  2. Edit the portlet. For domain, enter the Windows Exchange 2003 Server domain name.

This is the same domain name you see while viewing the identification properties of the Windows server host. This should not be confused with the domain qualification of a host.name.

 

Known Limitations

  • The portlet application is available only in English language.

  • In the portlet application, portlets that use the same credential slot, share user name and password stored in that slot. If user name or password is changed in one portlet, it affects other portlets too.

  • This portlet application is not supported as a remote WSRP service.

  • WAP service is not available in the mail portlet application.

  • The mail portlet application uses plain text editor.

  • Sub-folders are not supported in the mail portlet application.

  • In this portlet application, mails cannot be marked read/unread.

  • In the mail portlet application, DBCS attachments are not supported.

  • Hidden groups are not supported in the mail portlet application.

  • In the mail portlet application, URLs appear as plain text and not as hyperlinks. However, if an email without attachment is opened in the portlet for reading, then the URLs appear as hyperlinks.

  • In mail portlet, the delivery failure notice does not contain any customised error message. The delivery failure notice contains an attachment added by the Exchange server. This attachment contains details of failure.

  • Recurring appointments cannot be created in the calendar portlet application.

  • Attachments are not supported in the mail invitation of the calendar portlet application.

  • In calendar portlet, events spanning multiple days cannot be created.

  • In OWA mode of this portlet SSO is not supported.

  • Form Based Authentication is not supported for this Portlet.

  • Connecting Exchange Server through Proxy means is not supported.

 

Recent Fixes

Includes Security fixes for the Exchange portlets.

 

Parent topic:

Business portlets