Planning for collaboration


This topic provides information to help you plan the setup and configuration of the collaboration features that are included with WebSphere Portal.

Use the IBM Web Administration for iSeries Create WebSphere Portal wizard when configuring WebSphere Portal instances. The wizard creates the necessary servers (HTTP and WebSphere Application Server), configures the server for Portal, configures the database for Portal, configures security (LDAP) for Portal, and deploys the portlets installed with the WebSphere Portal product. You can edit the Portal instance configuration manually after you have used the WebSphere Portal wizard.

 

Introduction

Collaborative features provided by the portal include the collaborative portlets, Collaboration Center, and Lotus Collaborative Components. To use these collaborative features in the portal, set up one or more of the supported versions of the following Lotus companion products: Lotus Domino, Lotus QuickPlace, and Lotus Sametime.

Lotus Domino, Lotus QuickPlace, and Lotus Sametime are shipped with some versions of WebSphere Portal. To read about the supported versions, refer to the WebSphere Portal Supported hardware and software information.

Note: Collaboration Center is not included with all editions of WebSphere Portal. For more information on using Collaboration Center, refer to the Collaboration Center section.

 

Integrating Lotus companion products with portal

To integrate Lotus companion products with portal, do the following:

 

How WebSphere Portal uses Domino servers

From the portal perspective, there are two types of Domino servers: the Domino server as a user repository (Domino Directory server as an LDAP server) and any Lotus Domino server that acts as a Domino data source for portlets.

It is recommended that a specific Domino server be created to run the collaboration components and the Domino server remain on the same iSeries server as WebSphere Portal.

 

Enable single signon between the Domino environment and WebSphere Application Server

Single signon between the Domino environment and the portal (WebSphere) environment enables you to log in to the portal, and then use collaborative portlets without having to authenticate a second time. Although enabling single signon is not required to use the collaborative portlets, you should consider enabling it to improve the user experience. You can enable single signon between the two environments after you set up your LDAP server, Lotus companion products, and portal security.

To enable single signon, a Web SSO configuration document must exist for each Domino domain that includes Domino servers that portal uses. The Web SSO configuration document is a domain-wide configuration document stored in the Domino Directory. This document, which should be replicated to all servers participating in the single signon domain, is encrypted for participating servers and administrators, and contains a shared secret key used by servers for authenticating user credentials.

In addition to the Web SSO configuration document for Domino servers, create, save, and export an LTPA key from WebSphere Application Server, and then import that WebSphere LTPA key into the Domino domain or domains. For each Domino domain that is set up for use with the portal, the same WebSphere LTPA key must be imported to support single signon.

Notes:

 

Considerations for configuring Lotus QuickPlace and Lotus Sametime

You can install and configure Lotus QuickPlace and Lotus Sametime to take advantage of the related portlet applications.

Consider the following if you want to set up QuickPlace and Sametime to work together:

 

QuickPlace settings to support WebSphere Portal

To enable the picker feature in the QuickPlace portlets edit mode that enables browsing of QuickPlaces on a given server, enable the following settings on the QuickPlace server:

The preceding settings are required to enable the picker feature in the QuickPlace portlets. If these capabilities are not enabled, you can still use the QuickPlace portlets to access QuickPlaces by manually entering server and place names. Additionally, you can still use the QuickPlace collaborative components to create QuickPlaces.

 

Sametime settings to support WebSphere Portal

You must modify Sametime.ini in order to allow portlets that reside on the portal machine to access Sametime functions. Then you must add one of the two following variables to the Sametime.ini file, which is located in the Domino directory: VPS_BYPASS_TRUSTED_IPS=1 or VPS_TRUSTED_IPS=IPAddress,IPAddress...

The first one is used to allow all the servers to ask for the Sametime services. The second one is to restrict access to Sametime services to only the listed IP addresses.

 

Run configuration tasks to enable WebSphere Portal to use Domino, Sametime, or QuickPlace

WebSphere Portal provides configuration tasks that you run at a command line to configure portal to use Domino, Sametime, and QuickPlace. Running a configuration task will configure the minimal settings for a server such as Sametime so that WebSphere Portal can then use that server. Before you can run a task, both WebSphere Portal and the Lotus companion product for which you want to run the task must be installed and configured.

You can run the configuration tasks individually, for example to configure WebSphere Portal for use with Domino only, or you can run a configuration task to configure WebSphere Portal to use all companion products.

Refer to Configure Lotus Collaborative Components for more information.

 

Edit CSEnvironment.properties to change additional settings for Lotus companion products

Configuration settings for using collaboration with WebSphere Portal have been consolidated into a single file: CSEnvironment.properties. The tasks that you run to configure WebSphere Portal to use the Lotus companion products perform most of the configuration for you. If you want to perform additional configuration for Domino and Sametime, edit the CSEnvironment.properties file.

Note: The hostAddress.xml file is no longer required. In previous versions, the hostAddress.xml file stored configuration information (DNS name and HTTP port) of the Sametime server. Now, these settings are in the CSEnvironment.properties file. Because a default configuration is performed for you, you do not have to edit CSEnvironment.properties file, unless you want to configure advanced settings for Sametime.

 

Roadmap for setting up Lotus companion products

Use the following steps as a roadmap for the documentation that is provided about Lotus companion products. These steps suggest an order for installation and configuration of Domino, Sametime, and QuickPlace, which are shipped with some versions of WebSphere Portal. Because many configurations are possible with Domino, QuickPlace, and Sametime, the order that you perform the steps might differ. For example, existing Domino customers might not have to install and configure Domino LDAP.

The following steps assume that you will use the versions of Domino, QuickPlace, and Sametime that are supported by WebSphere Portal. To read about the supported versions, refer to the WebSphere Portal Supported hardware and software information.

 

Step 1. Install and configure Lotus Domino servers

  1. Set up Domino for use with WebSphere Portal

    Install or upgrade a server to a supported version, and then install and configure Domino Administrator (Notes client). Refer to Install Lotus Domino for information on setting up Domino.

  2. Configure Domino LDAP

    If you will use Domino LDAP as the user registry for the portal, refer to Set up LDAP for general information about configuring Domino LDAP, and then go to Set up Domino Directory for specific instructions. The Set up Domino Directory topic provides information about specifying server configuration settings, adding portal administrators and the administrator group, and updating the access control list.

  3. Configure Domino servers and WebSphere Portal to work together

    Refer to Configure Lotus Domino and WebSphere Portal to work together for information on configuring Domino settings for portal and for configuring Collaborative Components to use Domino Directory as an LDAP server.

 

Step 2. Install and configure Lotus QuickPlace

  1. Set up QuickPlace

    Install QuickPlace on a Domino server. Refer to Install Lotus QuickPlace for more information.

  2. Configure QuickPlace and WebSphere Portal to work together

    Refer to Configure Lotus QuickPlace and WebSphere Portal to work together for information on how to configure QuickPlace settings for the portal, and for instructions on how to run a configuration task to enable WebSphere Portal to use QuickPlace.

 

Step 3. Install and configure Lotus Sametime

  1. Set up Sametime

    Install Sametime on a Domino server. Refer to Install Lotus Sametime for a recommended order of installation and for additional information.

  2. Configure Sametime and WebSphere Portal to work together

    Refer to Configure Lotus Sametime and WebSphere Portal to work together for information on how to configure Sametime settings for the portal, and for instructions on how to run a configuration task to enable WebSphere Portal to use Sametime.

 

Step 4. Read about additional configuration for Lotus Collaborative Components

Refer to Reference: Additional configuration for Lotus Collaborative Components for more information.

 

Step 5. Deploy the collaborative portlets

To use the collaborative portlets that are shipped with WebSphere Portal, manually deploy them after you perform all configurations for the portal and the Lotus companion products. Refer to Deploying Lotus collaborative portlets for instructions.

 

Step 6. Configure WebSphere Portal to use Collaboration Center

Refer to the Collaboration Center topics for information on configuring WebSphere Portal to use the Collaboration Center portlets.

 

Step 7. Configure single signon between the Domino environment and WebSphere Application Server.

If single signon (SSO) is configured between WebSphere Application Server and Domino, a user can sign on to the portal and then access portlets that contain information from a Domino-based application or service without having to enter additional credentials for authentication.

 

Reference: The collaborative components that are installed with WebSphere Portal

When you deploy Lotus Collaborative Components with WebSphere Portal, the following files are installed.

 

Next steps

You have completed this step. Continue to the next step by choosing one of the following topics.


 

See also