Portal Express, Version 6.0
Operating systems: i5/OS, Linux, Windows
IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange 2000
Using IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange 2000, users can perform routine mail-related tasks, such as composing, reading, and deleting e-mails. This application enables users to view, edit, and delete items in their mail and other personal information management applications.
The IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange 2000 connects to an Exchange 2000 server via WEBDAV. To connect to Exchange, the user can choose to use the normal connection or 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.
The following portlets are provided in this portlet application:
- IBM Microsoft Exchange 2000 Mail Portlet
- IBM Microsoft Exchange 2000 Calendar Portlet
- IBM Microsoft Exchange 2000 Tasks Portlet
- IBM Microsoft Exchange 2000 Contacts Portlet
- IBM Microsoft Exchange 2000 Notes Portlet
Use IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange 2000
Single sign on is supported through the Portal Server Credential Vault. A user's credentials are stored once, and can be used for all the portlets in the application.
The portlet application is not tested for WAP support.
Set up IBM Portlet Application for Microsoft Exchange 2000
This application supports devices capable of rendering HTML 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 connection mode used, a portlet might need iframe support. |
| Style sheets | Portal styles only |
| Software | This portlet has been tested on the following browsers:
|
| Accessibility | Yes |
Server requirements
There are no special server requirements.
Deployment/Installation
For general information on installing portlets, go to the "Administration" section in the WebSphere Portal Information Center. Browse to Administering the portal > Portal administration portlets > Installing 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 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.
Downloading and installing HTTPClient for SSL
Users must install HTTPClient, if the Exchange 2000 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 from http://www.innovation.ch/java/HTTPClient (or the current download location).
- Create a folder named httpClientUnzip and unzip the HTTPClient package into the folder.
- Download the Sun JSSE patch for HTTPClient (JSSE.zip) from http://www.innovation.ch/java/HTTPClient (or the current download location). 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 and restart WebSphere Application Server.
Making WebSphere Portal Server accept your Exchange 2000 server's SSL certificate
In order to use SSL features with the portlet application, the JVM for WebSphere Portal Server must be informed that it should accept the Exchange 2000 Server's SSL certificate. In order to do this, you need to obtain the certificate from the Exchange 2000 server.This can be accomplished in a number of ways. The best way is to ask the Exchange 2000 Administrator to send it to you.
To make the Exchange 2000 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.
Following is a brief overview of the steps:
- If not already active, activate IKeyMan by double-clicking was_root/bin/ikeyman.bat
- Open the was_root/java/jre/lib/security/cacerts file. By default, the password for this file is changeit.
- Select Signer Certificates in the top pull-down, then click Add.
- Select Base64-encoded ASCII data as the data type, and browse to the certificate file of the Exchange 2000 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.
- You will be asked for a label for the new certificate.
After installing the portlet application and completing the steps above, restart WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Portal Server.
Configuration parameters
The following configuration parameters are available in this portlet.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| folderForDrafts | This parameter is the folder on the Exchange 2000 server where a user's draft messages will be saved. This parameter applies to the mail portlet only. |
| folderForExchange | This parameter is the folder where the Exchange 2000 Web application is installed on the Exchange server. By default, it should be "exchange". |
| folderForPim | This parameter is a 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. |
Configuring the portlet with the correct domain name
- Note that the Windows domain name of the Exchange 2000 server is the same as the domain controller's. This is for LDAP and resolution of NT security.
- Edit the portlet. For domain, enter the Windows Exchange 2000 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 customized 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.
- Connecting Exchange Server through Proxy means is not supported.
- Using a different separator other than commas to separate multiple email addresses in the To:, CC:,and BCC: fields causes the email to be sent only to the first recipient in the list.
- When using Tasks portlet with Internet Explorer, clicking a task with a very long subject does not display the corresponding task information. This is because when a task is clicked, the task subject is appended to the portal URL to display the task information. Internet Explorer supports a maximum of 2048 characters in the URL path. Hence, longer subjects for tasks don’t work. As a workaround, use Firefox browser for viewing tasks with long subjects as the maximum limit for URL length is much higher in Firefox.