Speakers: Otto Foerg Felix Binsack Connections administration is not easy. The administrator has to work from the WebSphere "wsadmin" command-line interface where he has to enter a lot of commands to accomplish one simple task. Everything is case-sensitive, temporary variables must be used to transfer values between commands. It can take some time to find out which combination of commands solves a certain problem. People responsible for Connections administration often are not familiar to do their job this way. This session gives an overview of how Connections administration works and the challenges an administrator is facing. We will show some typical examples and how they are solved using the out-of-the-box Connections administration techniques. Additionally we will introduce the "Connections Administration Toolkit (CAT)", a web-based application offering a graphical interface instead of a command-line. CAT reduces dramatically the complexity of Connections administration and the time needed to perform administrative tasks .

1. Connections Administration:
Understand the Challenge
... And Find Your Way How To Do It
Felix Binsack Otto Foerg
General Manager Collaboration Solutions Architect
TIMETOACT GmbH edcom GmbH
felix.binsack@timetoact.de otto.foerg@edcom.de
TIMETOACT GROUP Im Mediapark 2
INFO@TIMETOACT.DE D-50670 Cologne
Phone +49 221 97343 0 WWW.TIMETOACT.DE/CAT

2. Social Connections III, 06.22.2012, Dublin: Connections Administration Session
Overview IBM Connections Administration
! General Configuration ! General Administration
! Services ! User Management
! Notifications ! Customizing
! Language Selector ! Extending & Integration
! Connectivity & SSL ! Troubleshooting
! Feature Configuration ! Feature Administration
! Scheduled Jobs ! Members
! Size limits ! Cache & Trash
! Feature Parameters ! Application & Widgets
! Moderation ! Libraries & Policies
! Profile Types ! Search Index
! Object- and Filetypes ! Scheduled Jobs
! … ! …
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3. Social Connections III, 06.22.2012, Dublin: Connections Administration Session
How Connections Administration Works
! Configuration: ! wsadmin:
! XML file repository ! Case-sensitive command line
! 30+ files administering
! 6,000+ lines of XML ! Manually enter commands
! 425+ parameters ! Complex command syntax
! 300+ commands
! Changing configurations:
! wsadmin ! Several commands for 1 task
! Variables to transfer values
! Check-out / check-in
between commands
procedure
! Type conversion for variables
! Manually edit XML files
! Copy & paste values from
Connections databases
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4. Social Connections III, 06.22.2012, Dublin: Connections Administration Session
wsadmin Example:
Add a New Member to an Activity
! 1. Start wsadmin command line environment:
wsadmin –lang jython –user <wasadmin> -password <password>
! 2. Load Activities Python Script:
execfile("activitiesAdmin.py")
! 3. Store the new member into a temporary variable:
newMember=ActivitiesMemberService.fetchMemberByName(“John Doe”)
! 4. Store the activity into a tempory variable:
act=ActivityService.fetchActivityById
("FFFGc66a55370a2c423eafa5bd0a4b443a70”) *)
*) Additional operations required to get the UUID of the activity
! 5. Convert the variables from “hash” to “vector”:
from java.util import Vector
newMemberVec = Vector()
newMemberVec.add(newMember)
actVec = Vector()
ActVec.add(act)
! 6. Add the new member to the activity:
AccessControlService.setMembersAccess(actVec,newMemberVec)
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5. Social Connections III, 06.22.2012, Dublin: Connections Administration Session
Connections Administration Summary
! ... Connections has to be administered
! ... Connections administration is not easy
! ... The administrator has to deal with several server systems,
each of them can cause problems
! ... Successful administering & troubleshooting requires
knowledge, experience, good skills – and the right tools
! ... The standard WAS administration tool is ... wsadmin
! ... It often takes a lot of time to find out which
(combination of) command(s) can solve a certain problem
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6. Social Connections III, 06.22.2012, Dublin: Connections Administration Session
How To Administer Your Connections ?
! Using wsadmin – Your administrator has to be familiar with
! Connections commands
! XML configuration files
! Connections administration procedures
! WebSphere administration techniques
! Using Connections Administration Toolkit (CAT)
! Graphical UI for administration and configuration of Connections
! No wsadmin and XML files handling
! No indepth WebSphere knowledge required
! Eliminates the complexity of Connections administration
! Speeds up handling of administrative tasks
! Unveils the hidden treasures of Connections administration
! Reduces costs of operating Connections and TCO
! Administer Connections from everywhere – even with your iPad ...
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7. Connections
Administration
Toolkit
Demo ...
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8. Questions ?
KURZER RÜCKBLICK
AUF CONNECTIONS 3.0.1
Seite 8 Page 8

9. Social Connections III, 06.22.2012, Dublin: Connections Administration Session
More Informations
! Please visit the CAT web site:
! http://www.timetoact.de/cat
! Contact us via mail:
! info@timetoact.de
! A demoversion of CAT is available on request
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10. Thank You !!
felix.binsack@timetoact.de
KURZER RÜCKBLICK
otto.foerg@edcom.de
AUF CONNECTIONS 3.0.1
www.timetoact.de
Seite 10 Page 10

11. Additional Slides
KURZER RÜCKBLICK
AUF CONNECTIONS 3.0.1
Seite 11 Page 11

12. Social Connections III, 06.22.2012, Dublin: Connections Administration Session
Overview Additional Slides
! Activities ! Notification Configuration
! User Management ! Policies Administration
! Communities ! Libraries Administration
! Schedulers ! Profile Types
! Search Management ! CAT Technical Background
! Service Configuration ! CAT Team
! Language Selector
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13. The CAT User Interface
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14. Add a New Member to an Activity with CAT
Step 1: Select Activities ...
! By name Several
Typeahead
selection
list
! By type criteria
! By user & role
! Author
! Creator
! Owner
! Reader
! Typeahead
implemented for all
selection lists in
CAT
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15. Add a New Member to an Activity with CAT
Step 2: See the Result List
Result list
according to
selection criteria
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16. Add a New Member to an Activity with CAT
Step 3: See Metadata of an highlighted Activity
Metadata of
highlighted
activity
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17. Add a New Member to an Activity with CAT
Step 4: Retrieve Current Members & Roles of the Activity
Members &
roles of
highlighted
activity
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18. Add a New Member to an Activity with CAT
Step 5: Add New Member(s)
Typeahead
makes it easy to
identify the right
member(s)
Activities
Specify role(s) Specify role(s)
for new for new
member(s) member(s)
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19. Remove a Member from an Activity with CAT
Click
“Remove
Member”
Select
member(s)
to be
removed
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20. Manage Deleted Activities with CAT
Delete an
Activity, restore
or purge a
deleted Activity
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21. Benefits Activities Management with CAT
! Retrieve all activities without being a member
! Several criteria to select activities
! See all activities created / owned by an particular user
! Typeahead lists make it easy to select activities
! See all metadata of an activity at a glance
! Add or remove members to/from an activity
! Delete an activity
! Restore or purge deleted activities
! Manage all Activities scheduled tasks
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22. Connections User
Management with CAT
KURZER RÜCKBLICK
AUF CONNECTIONS 3.0.1
Seite 22 Page 22

23. Overview User Management with CAT
! Inactivate or activate an user in PROFILES or any of the
Connections features
! Edit user data including UID in PROFILES if synchronization
problems happen
! Associate a returning user with his former content
! Publish user data from PROFILES to feature databases
! Synchronize user data in feature databases
directly with LDAP
! Drop a user from PROFILES to reinstate synchronization for
this user again
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24. User Management with CAT
How To Select a User
Several criteria
! Select user by for selection of
users
! E-Mail
! UID
! Display Name
! GUID
! Login ID
Typeahead
! Typeahead list
implemented for all
selection lists in
CAT
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25. User Management with CAT
Perform Several Administrative Tasks in PROFILES
Propagate user
data from
PROFILES to
feature dbs Delete user
Inactivate or from PROFILES
activate user Change UID in
PROFILES to
the same value
as in LDAP
See PROFILES
data for the
selected user
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26. User Management with CAT
Perform Several Administrative Tasks with Features
See the user’s
GUID in
features and
compare to
PROFILES
Synchronize an See all login
See current
user’s data in values used by
state of the user
features directly the user in the
in features
with LDAP features
Activate or
Inactivate an user
in selected
feature(s)
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27. User Management with CAT
Synchronize Complete Feature Databases with LDAP
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28. Benefits User Management with CAT
! See all user related data in all db‘s at a glance
! Solve synchronization problems by simply inactivating and
reactivating a user in PROFILES – this helps in many cases!
! Find out if a user has different GUID‘s in the Connections
dbs and solve any problems by directly synchronizing the
user between LDAP and feature db‘s
! After a UID change in LDAP: Give the user the same UID in
PROFILES – and he will be synced again
! Delete a user‘s data from PROFILES so that TDI can reimport
them from scratch
! Detect whether a user‘s login items are associated with a
different user / GUID, preventing the user from accessing the
feature - and delete the respective values
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29. Management of
Communities with CAT
KURZER RÜCKBLICK
AUF CONNECTIONS 3.0.1
Seite 29 Page 29

30. Overview Communities Management
! Retrieve a Community by several criteria
! Create or delete a Community
! See all metadata of a Community
! Remove an user from all Communities
! Add an alternate owner to Communities owned by an
particular user
! Add or remove members to/from a Community
! Change policy controling a Community‘s file quota
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31. Community Management with CAT
How To Select a Community
Several
selection
! Select by type, criteria
Community name,
tag and UUID
! Select by user &
role
! All
! Creator
! Member Typeahead
list
! Owner
! Typeahead
implemented for all
selection lists in
CAT
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32. Communities Administration
Remove a user
Create a new from all
Community Communities he
is member of
Delete a
Community
Select all
Communities
owned by an
user and add
an alternate
owner
Associate
Community with
a different files
quota policy
Add or remove
Community
members
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33. Benefits Communities Management With CAT
! Retrieve all communities without being a member
! See all restricted communities
! Several criteria to select communities
! See all communities a user is creator / member / owner of
! Typeahead lists make it easy to select communities
! See all metadata of an community at a glance
! Add or remove members / owners to / from a community
! Delete a community
! Remove a user from all communities he is a member of
! Add an alternate owner to communities
! Manage all scheduled tasks in Communities
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34. Management of
Connections Schedulers
with CAT
KURZER RÜCKBLICK
AUF CONNECTIONS 3.0.1
Seite 34 Page 34

35. Scheduler Tasks – Managed by wsadmin
Getting information about a job
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36. Scheduler Tasks – Managed by CAT
Getting Information about a Job
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37. Scheduler Tasks
Getting Details about a Job
! Getting details about a task e.g. DatabaseRuntimeStats …
! … using wsadmin
! … using CAT
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38. Scheduler Tasks
Changing a Cron scheduler expression - wsadmin
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39. Scheduler Tasks
Changing a Cron scheduler expression - CAT
! CAT Cron user
interface
! Available in all
areas of CAT
offering
configurable
Cron expressions
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40. Benefits Scheduler Management with CAT
! Use the CAT cron job editor to change scheduler settings
! Coming soon:
! Clear schedulers in order to fix scheduler related problems
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41. Search Management
with CAT
KURZER RÜCKBLICK
AUF CONNECTIONS 3.0.1
Seite 41 Page 41

42. Overview Search Management with CAT
! Create, edit or delete Search tasks
! Enable / disable Search tasks
! Delete an application‘s index
! Run Search tasks manually
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43. See all Search Tasks and Metadata
Filter Task Type
List of all
Search Tasks
Search Task
metadata
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44. Edit Search Task Properties
Edit a
Search Task
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45. Purge index of
selected
Purge Search Indexes features
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46. Delete Search Tasks
Delete a
Search Task
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47. Create Search Tasks
Create a new
Search Task
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48. Run Search Tasks
Manually run a
Search Task
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49. Benefits Search Management with CAT
! See all search tasks and their current status
! Delete search indexes from CAT
! No deleting of search directories on search nodes
! No restarting of search cluster
! Immediately refresh or rebuild search index for all or
selected features
! Delete „misbehaving“ search tasks and rebuild them
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50. Some Additional
CAT Features
KURZER RÜCKBLICK
AUF CONNECTIONS 3.0.1
Page 50

51. Configure Connections Services
Use “Defaults” line to
preconfigure values and
copy them to selected
services
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52. Configure Language Selector
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53. Notification Configuration
Enable channels, specify sender address
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54. Policies Administration
Create a new
policy
Delete selected
policies
List of all
existing policies
Click to edit
quota
Details of
selected policy
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55. Administration of File Libraries
Specify user or
Communities
! Several selection libraries
criteria
! Type of Library
! User
! Community
Delete a library
! Library Name Change library
policy
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56. Administration of Profile Types
! Set configuration
properties for
Profile Types
! Activate / deactivate
features for different
Profile Types
! Set different scopes
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57. CAT Technical
Background
KURZER RÜCKBLICK
AUF CONNECTIONS 3.0.1
Page 57

58. CAT – Technical Background (1)
! CAT is a Java™ Enterprise Edition (JEE) Application and
uses its own database
! CAT is running on any WebSphere Application Server of the
Websphere domain used by Connections
! The CAT database can be configured as
! Derby database on the WebSphere Application Server
! DB2, Oracle or SQL Server database
! The CAT operations rely on:
! Standard IBM Connections configuration files
! Mbeans delivered as part of IBM Connections
! Standard IBM Connections REST API
! IBM Connections databases
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59. CAT – Technical Background (2)
! Access to CAT is protected by standard WebSphere
application roles
! CAT works with “RunAs” users to access
Mbeans and the REST API
! RunAs credentials configured in preferences and stored encrypted
! No administrative privileges for the Connections administrator on
WebSphere level required if he is using CAT !!
! CAT is developed using IBM Rational Application Developer,
Plugins for GWT, Maven and Teamconcert, and the
Google™ Web Toolkit
! CAT installation needs less than 1 hour
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60. CAT Preferences
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61. Connections Administration Toolkit Team
! General Manager
! Felix Binsack
! Leader IBM Connections Services
! Otto Förg
! Developers, Quality Assurance
! Olga Belousova
! Florian Mehl
! Georg Kaiser
! Jürgen Weisel-Schmidt
! Susanne Brunner
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62. More Informations
! Please visit the CAT web site:
! http://www.timetoact.de/cat
! Contact us via mail:
! info@timetoact.de
! A demoversion of CAT is available on request
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