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PROF_TYPE in map_dbrepos_from_source.properties

July 6th, 2009

In the Profiles part of Lotus Connections you can configure
multiple profile types, which will give you different lay-outs per type.

You can follow this InfoCenter link how to set it up.
Mitch Cohen also wrote a very detailed guide how to do it.

One thing I came about is how to populate the PROF_TYPE database
field in the EMPINST.EMPLOYEE table. This column is used to determine
what kind of profile type should be used for an user.

I discovered that you can use the following line in the
map_dbrepos_from_source.properties file to use a LDAP attribute
to populate the PROF_TYPE field. This option is not mentioned
in the InfoCenter of Lotus Connections.

PROF_TYPE=employeeType

(
or what LDAP attribute you want to use, but the field employeeType
looks pretty obvious to me :-p

employeeType is an attribute from the objectClass inetorgperson
)

With this config, the sync_all_dns.sh command will use the LDAP
field employeeType to fill the PROF_TYPE column in the
EMPLOYEE table of profiles. This also will keep the profile type
up-to-date if the employeeType LDAP attribute of a user should change.

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Configure rights Connections parts with wsadmin

June 12th, 2009

Below a script you can use to set the rights for every part of Connections correctly.

Handy to fix the rights after you have done an upgrade.

FILE ConfigureRightsActivities.py
appName = ‘Activities’
lcsearchadmin=’LCdev admin’
lcadmin=’LCdev admin’

AdminApp.edit(appName, ‘[ -MapRolesToUsers [ ["person" no yes "" ""] ["everyone" yes no "" ""] ["reader" no
yes "" ""] ["search-admin" no no "'+lcsearchadmin+'" ""] ["widget-admin" no no "'+lcadmin+'" "" ] ] ]’)
print “done…. Configuring rights Activities EAR”
AdminConfig.save()
!FILE

Run it as follow.

./wsadmin.sh -lang jython -port 8880 -username wasadmin -password udontneedtoknowthispunk -f ./wsadmin_scripts/configureRightsActivities.py

To do it for the other parts just change the appName var, be aware
that the roles between all the Connections parts differ. The Homepage
part for example doesn’t has the search-admin role.

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Lotus Connections 2.0.1 Fix Pack 1 ( 2.0.1.1)

June 10th, 2009

Lotus Connections 2.0.1 Fix Pack 1 ( 2.0.1.1) has been released.

Check this URL for how to apply this one, and what ifixes are included in this big one ( 230 MB ).

Be aware that there are some additional steps besides installing the Fix Pack itself.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=3265&context=SSYGQH&dc=DB560&dc=DB520&uid=swg21386185&loc=en_US&cs=UTF-8&lang=en&rss=ct3265lotus

Also note that there is a new LotusConnectionsUpdateInstaller -> link. Don’t
know if you have to use this updateinstaller for this Fix Pack already or that
this one has been released for the ifixes after FIx Pack 1 for 2.0.1.

Currently there are already four new ifixes for the 2.0.1.1 version. Can’t give
any practical tips yet, cause I didn’t saw a change to apply this one.

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SSL certificates WebSphere and their expiration dates

June 9th, 2009

When installing Lotus Connections one of the tasks is to make a secure trust
between the WebSphere server and the IHS server. To do this you have to
configure SSL in such a way that the signer of the SSL certificate of the
WebSphere server is known by the IHS server.

You have to export the signer of the SSL cert of the WebSphere server and
then import this into the plugin-key.kdb file of the IHS server (WASplugin).

The SSL signer of the WebSphere server is standard valid for one year, after
the SSL cert experies the SSL connection will break. In case when using
Connections if this happens you will see a 500 error instead or your
Connections pages.

To prevent this you can monitor the expiration date of the SSL cert of the
WebSphere server. To do this login to the WAS admin console of the
Connection server.

Goto : SSL certificate and key management -> Manage certificate expiration

Disable these two options standing below, my experience is that this isn’t workiing
that good, and maybe I just want to control everything myself

Automatically replace expiring self-signed certificates
Delete expiring certificates and signers after replacement

Then goto

SSL certificate and key management > Manage certificate expiration > Notifications > MessageLog

Check

Message-log
E-mail sent to notification list

Configure a mail address to sent the notification to and a SMTP server to use.

If this all is configured you will receive a mail every number of days that you have
configured in Expiration notification threshold attribute on the previous page.

For this to take effect you don’t have to restart the WebSphere server.

If it is time to renew you WebSphere cert you could do it this way.

Shutdown the WebSphere server

Startup the ikeyman utility on the WebSphere server
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin # ./ikeyman.sh

Open the key.p12 SSL file remove the one with the label of default under Personal
certificates, and create an new Self Signed Certificate with the same label of default.

Then choose the Extract certificate button, and save it as an ARM file. Then you can
choose to import it into the trust.p12 yourself or let WebSphere take care of this.
When you start WebSphere it will automaticaly see that the cert in
the key.p12 is not in the Signer Certificates list of the trust.p12 file and will add it self.

As a last step you have to import the exported ARM file into the Signer Certificates
list of the plugin-key.kdb SSL kdb file. Just grep your ikeyman and get it done, do
a restart of the IHS server for the changes to take affect directly and you are save again.

ps. Currently doing some work with Sametime Gateway 8.0.2 and the Hotfix 1 for OCS
integration. Sametime Gateway then requires WAS fixpack 6.1.0.23, looks like they
changed the expiration dates from one year to fifteen years.

More info

IBM WebSphere Developer Technical Journal: SSL, certificate, and key management enhancements for even stronger security in WebSphere Application Server V6.1

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Potential risk when using Web based applications on WebSphere Application Server (PK81387)

March 20th, 2009

Flash alert for WebSphere Application Server concerning a security risk.

And then why post it here , Lotus Connections runs on WAS 6.1.0.13
and thus is vulnerably.

Check out the fix here.

Problem Description:
Customers who have Web based applications, including Web services applications running on WebSphere Application Server, have the risk of an attacker having the ability to display application specific files contained within the war file. In addition, there is a potential risk for customers who are using the WebSphere administrative console with administrative security disabled. Credit to Edward Schaller for disclosing this problem to IBM.

For V6.1.0.11 through 6.1.0.21:

Apply Interim Fix APAR PK81387
–OR–
Apply Fix Pack 23 or later (6.1.0.23 targeted to be available late March 2009).

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Blogs – Uploading files, specifying MIME type in WAS not longer needed

March 17th, 2009

Think this topic is a bit outdated but just giving it a go to spread the info.

Few months back posted this one, it’s about the errors you get when
specifying alternate files to upload in a blog. For every file you would
like to upload in blogs you had to specify the MIME type in the WAS console.

Found out that this kind of configuration is not longer required in LC 2.0.1.
Also had this confirmed by the guys of IBM.

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UPDATED – Notification option in Activities

March 17th, 2009

In Activities you have the option to send notifications to members
of an Activity. At my company we were a bit confused by the behavior
of the sending of these notification mails.

We had an activity with five members, when sending notification mails
to all the members of this activity the mailing was split in two.

One mail for three members and one for the other two.

The thing that then occurred with the members of that activity was that
they didn’t saw everybody in the “To:” field and started mailing everybody
who was not in the “To:” field.

Raised an PMR at IBM for this one and got a very logical answer for it .

In the QA_MEMBERPROFILE table of the OPNACT database for Activities you will
find a column Locale, this one holds the locale you last used in your browser
to visit the Activities page.

When a notification mail is sent to you it will be in the language set by that locale.

It explained for us why the mailing is split sometimes, some of our have
a Dutch browser, NL, and some use an EN version of their browser.

Not that it’s a solution for the “problem” we got, but eh we have a explanation for this .

(more…)

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Manage memberships in Activities with WSadmin

February 14th, 2009

From my blog @ e-office

One of my colleagues Talitha came with a question to become
owner of an activity. Currently she is replacing Pauline. She allso
needed owner rights on a few activities owned by Pauline.

For now Pauline wasn’t around, so she couldn’t delegate owner access
to Talitha, so I gave the wsadmin commands to administer Activities a go.

con10:/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin # !782
./wsadmin.sh -lang jython -username wasadmin -password jibbajabbapassword -port 8880

talitha=MemberService.fetchMemberByName(”Talitha Hiemstra” )
// Fetch the new owner of the activity
pauline=MemberService.fetchMemberByName(”Pauline Huijzer” )
// Fetch the current owner of the activity

ActivityService.fetchActivitiesOwnedByMember(pauline)
// Fetch all the activities owned by Pauline

You will get them in a nice “list” of all the activities owned by Pauline.

[{createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=9DEG0A6482142BD5A1BAFB3AE4BF75000313, modifiedBy=Eline Roelfsema, isCompleted=false, modifiedDate=February 9, 2009 8:25:21 AM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=December 9, 2008 3:38:07 PM CET}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=CB2G0A6482148C6D604016D9755895000142, modifiedBy=Talitha Hiemstra, isCompleted=false, modifiedDate=February 11, 2009 8:52:36 AM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=October 6, 2008 12:11:08 PM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=C03G0A6482142378A24E533036432B000267, modifiedBy=Talitha Hiemstra, isCompleted=false, modifiedDate=February 11, 2009 9:02:53 AM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=November 13, 2008 3:52:55 PM CET}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=240G0A6482142378A24E533036432B0000B9, modifiedBy=Gerard van Reeken, isCompleted=false, modifiedDate=February 11, 2009 8:52:36 AM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=November 6, 2008 4:44:25 PM CET}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=058G0A6482148F1FEB81155CB380B20000A2, modifiedBy=Pauline Huijzer, isCompleted=false, modifiedDate=January 12, 2009 1:36:13 PM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=January 12, 2009 10:17:04 AM CET}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=D0DG0A648214CF481D90E02427DC65000900, modifiedBy=Talitha Hiemstra, isCompleted=false, modifiedDate=February 11, 2009 8:52:37 AM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=September 4, 2008 2:18:12 PM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=B18G0A648214CE3163832B3B422AEA000672, modifiedBy=Activities Administrator, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=October 2, 2008 9:52:07 AM CEST, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=September 26, 2008 2:36:37 PM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=A25G0A6482143B97A487BBAF07E352000148, modifiedBy=Pauline Huijzer, isCompleted=false, modifiedDate=January 21, 2009 5:51:40 PM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=December 12, 2008 5:23:37 PM CET}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=E8CG0A6482143B97A487BBAF07E352000101, modifiedBy=Pauline Huijzer, isCompleted=false, modifiedDate=February 11, 2009 9:02:54 AM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=December 12, 2008 12:00:44 PM CET}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=543G0A648214CF481D90E02427DC650005D0, modifiedBy=Pauline Huijzer, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=September 23, 2008 12:37:03 PM CEST, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=August 27, 2008 4:20:50 PM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=69CG0A6482142AADA75E25B841F0E0000017, modifiedBy=Pauline Huijzer, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=October 14, 2008 1:41:18 PM CEST, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=September 29, 2008 3:36:52 PM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=AA8G0A648214A61C9FE9A72CA297C90000BE, modifiedBy=Pauline Huijzer, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=October 24, 2008 1:14:53 PM CEST, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=October 20, 2008 1:31:46 PM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=C14G0A648214CF481D90E02427DC65000746, modifiedBy=Pauline Huijzer, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=September 3, 2008 3:16:33 PM CEST, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=September 1, 2008 8:48:44 AM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=ABFG0A6482A6FF86E5C11300DD88470003E0, modifiedBy=Activities Administrator, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=March 10, 2008 4:11:27 PM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=December 13, 2007 2:45:03 PM CET}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=07AG0A6482A694F8CACC7E280F49EA0001F8, modifiedBy=Activities Administrator, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=December 17, 2007 10:07:20 AM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=October 12, 2007 11:00:20 AM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=EC2G0A6482A6145F970ACC379CCF7A0001CD, modifiedBy=Activities Administrator, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=December 17, 2007 11:15:36 AM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=November 12, 2007 1:02:25 PM CET}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=5C9G0A6482A694F8CACC7E280F49EA00093F, modifiedBy=Activities Administrator, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=December 5, 2007 9:19:16 AM CET, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=October 25, 2007 8:43:46 AM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=446G0A6482A62A1E9EFC1AFB961F960004E4, modifiedBy=Pauline Huijzer, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=August 17, 2007 7:48:29 AM CEST, isTunedOut=true, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=August 7, 2007 1:50:51 PM CEST}, {createdBy=Pauline Huijzer, name=bladdiebladdieproject, activityId=85FG0A6482A62A1E9EFC1AFB961F960002DD, modifiedBy=Pauline Huijzer, isCompleted=true, modifiedDate=August 7, 2007 9:26:25 AM CEST, isTunedOut=false, isTemplate=false, isDeleted=false, createdDate=August 7, 2007 9:26:25 AM CEST}]

myactivity=ActivityService.fetchActivityById(”C03G0A6482142378A24E533036432B000267″)
// Save the activity where it is about in the var myactivity

From the LC 2.0 info center

AccessControlService.setOwnerAccess( java.util.Vector activities, java.util.Hashtable owner)

from java.util import Vector
// The command to set access of an activity excepts an Vector
newActivities=Vector()
// the var myactivity is an HashMap, so we have to create a
// vector ourselfs
newActivities.add(myactivity)

AccessControlService.setOwnerAccess(newActivities,talitha)
// Make Talitha owner of the activity

AccessControlService.fetchAccess(myactivity)
// Check if all memberships are now ok

Talitha allready had access to this activity but only as a member. Setting
the access to owner will replace her previous access rules, you don’t have
to delete any rights and then apply the new ones.

Previous output of AccessControlService.fetchAccess(myactivity)

SNAP
{memberId=7DBG0A6482142378A24E533036432B000409, displayName=Talitha Hiemstra, loginNames=[talitha hiemstra, talitha.hiemstra@e-office.com], !staticProfile=false, externalId=0DC81DBF-0623-6B29-C125-74E90044E67C, email=Talitha.Hiemstra@e-office.com, memberType=person, role=member}]
!SNAP

Current output of AccessControlService.fetchAccess(myactivity)

SNAP
{memberId=7DBG0A6482142378A24E533036432B000409, displayName=Talitha Hiemstra, loginNames=[talitha hiemstra, talitha.hiemstra@e-office.com], staticProfile=false, externalId=0DC81DBF-0623-6B29-C125-74E90044E67C, email=Talitha.Hiemstra@e-office.com, memberType=person, role=owner}]
!SNAP

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Mission successful

February 8th, 2009

A while ago I posted my subscription for the LC 2.0 Administering exam.

As can be seen on the screenshot below this mission was completed successful .

About the questions of the exam itself, it was not to hard, there were a lot
of questions about the user registry used by WAS and population of the profiles database.

My thoughts are that if you work daily with Connections you can go through
this exam in a breeze.

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Let’s do it :-)

January 7th, 2009

Today I registered a date to take the exam of 957 Administering Lotus Connections 2.0.

After some calling with the people of Prometric I could find it under

Date / time

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