Web Interface deployment tasks
Deploying the Web Interface component has two main procedures:
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Installing the component via the Active Roles installer.
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Using the Active Roles Configuration Center to configure the Web Interface service.
For more information on these procedures, see Deploying the Web Interface in the Active Roles Quick Start Guide.
Once both of the above steps are completed, you can create new Web Interface sites, or modify and delete the existing ones. You can create any number of Active Roles Web Interface sites, either with each site having its own configuration, or sharing the configuration with other sites.
These site configuration entities contain all customizable settings of the user interface elements, such as the website menus, commands, and web page forms that appear on the Web Interface. Each configuration is identified by name, stored as an entity, and applied on a per-site basis. In addition, each Web Interface site configuration is stored and replicated by the Administration Service, with the same configuration files reusable for additional Web Interface sites. This allows you to:
- Reuse the configuration of existing Web Interface sites.
- Share a common configuration among multiple Web Interface sites.
NOTE: If multiple Web Interface sites share a common configuration, any customization made to one site will be automatically applied to the other sites using the same configuration. For example, if you add a command or modify a form on one site, the new command or modified form appears on all the other sites using the same configuration.
To create, modify or delete a Web Interface site
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In the Active Roles Configuration Center, on the Dashboard page, click Web Interface > Manage Sites.
Alternatively, on the side bar, click Web Interface.
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On the Web Interface page, click the applicable button:
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To create a new site, click Create.
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To modify an existing site, select it from the list, then click Modify.
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To delete an existing site, select it from the list, then click Delete.
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(Optional) If you selected to Create or Modify a site, in the Web Application step, configure the following settings:
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IIS Web site: Specifies the IIS website containing the web application that implements the Web Interface site. The list is populated from the websites defined on the web server.
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Alias: Specifies the alias of the web application that implements the Web Interface site. The alias defines the virtual path used in the address of the Web Interface site on the web server.
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(Optional) If you selected to Create or Modify a site, in the Configuration step, specify how to set the configuration of the new website. The website configuration contains all customizable settings of the user interface elements, such as the website menus, commands, and web page forms that appear on the Web Interface.
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Keep the current configuration: Uses the configuration currently assigned to the site. Select this option if you do not want to assign a different configuration to the site.
NOTE: This setting is only available when modifying an existing site.
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Create from a template: Creates a new configuration for the Web Interface site based on a template. When selected, you must specify a unique Configuration name and must also select a Template used as a baseline for the new configuration. Active Roles contains a default template for Administration, Helpdesk and Self-Service sites.
TIP: Select this option if you want the Web Interface site to use a separate configuration that is initially populated with the default template data and settings.
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Use an existing configuration: Assigns an existing configuration to the Web Interface site. When selected, you must specify the desired configuration from a list of saved configurations stored by the Administration Service.
NOTE: The list includes configurations compatible with the currently installed Active Roles version only.
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Import from an existing configuration: Creates a new configuration for the Web Interface site by importing data from an existing configuration. When selected, you must specify a unique Configuration name for the new configuration and must also select the desired Configuration to import from the list of supported configurations stored by the Administration Service.
NOTE: The list includes configurations compatible with the currently installed Active Roles version only.
TIP: Select this option if you want the Web Interface site to use a separate configuration that is:
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Populated with data imported from the configuration of an earlier Active Roles version, or
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Copied from an existing configuration of the current Active Roles version.
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Import from a file: Creates a new configuration for the Web Interface site by importing data from an exported configuration file. When selected, you must specify a unique Configuration name for the new configuration and must also select the File to import.
TIP: Select this option if you want the Web Interface site to use a separate configuration that is:
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Populated with data imported from the exported configuration file of an earlier Active Roles version.
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Copied from an existing exported configuration file of the current Active Roles version. You can export existing configurations with the Web Interface > Export Configuration option of the Configuration Center after selecting a web site.
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(Optional) To commit your changes when creating or modifying a site, click Create or Modify, respectively. The Configuration Center then performs the configured changes, and will indicate the results.
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(Optional) If you selected to Delete a site, in the Ready to Delete step, review the site data, then click Delete. The Configuration Center then performs the configured changes, and will indicate the results.
Once you configured a new site or modified an existing one, you can access it from your browser by using the specified web application alias in the following format:
http://<website>/<alias>
In this alias, <website> identifies the IIS website containing the web application that implements the Web Interface site, while <alias> is the alias of the web application as specified in the Configuration Center. For example, if the web application is contained in the default website, the address will be the following:
http://<computer>/<alias>
In this example, <computer> is the network name of the computer (web server) running the Web Interface.
By default, you can connect to Web Interface sites via the HTTPS protocol, which encrypts the data transferred from the web browser to the Web Interface. If your organization does not require a secure protocol for accessing the Web Interface sites, you can disable using the HTTPS protocol in the Active Roles Configuration Center.
The HTTPS protocol uses SSL protection provided by the web server for data encryption. For more information on how to enable SSL on your web server, see Configuring Secure Sockets Layer in IIS 7 in the Microsoft Windows Server documentation.
Reusing an earlier configuration version
When you deploy the Web Interface, you use Configuration Center to create or modify Web Interface sites. Configuration Center allows you to specify how you want a given Web Interface site to be configured, by letting you create, select or import a so-called configuration which is basically a collection of settings that fully determine the menus, commands, forms and other elements of the pages provided by the Web Interface site.
For each Web Interface site, Active Roles stores the site’s configuration in a particular object held in the Active Roles database, and allows the configuration to be identified by that object. Configuration Center retrieves and enumerates configuration objects when it builds a list of existing configurations.
During upgrade of Active Roles, Web Interface site configuration objects are merely copied to the new Active Roles database. As a result, the database holds configuration objects of an earlier version. If you want your new Web Interface sites to have the same configuration as your Web Interface sites of the earlier version, you can use Configuration Center to create configuration objects of the current version by importing configuration objects of an earlier version.
To reuse a configuration of an earlier Web Interface version
- On the Configuration page of the wizard for creating or modifying a Web Interface site in Configuration Center, select the Import from an existing configuration option.
- In Configuration name, type a name for the new configuration that will be created by importing an existing configuration, or accept the default name.
- From the Configuration to import list, select the name of the configuration you want to import.
To distinguish between different configuration versions, the version number is added to the name of each configuration in the list.
One more situation that may require the use of an earlier configuration version is when you need to restore the configuration of a Web Interface site from a backup. Configuration Center allows you to export configuration to a file. The export file is a backup from which the configuration can be restored if necessary. You can import the configuration from an export file created by the current Active Roles version or by an earlier version.
To export the configuration of a Web Interface site to a file
- On the page for managing Web Interface sites in Configuration Center, select the desired Web Interface site, click Export Configuration, and then supply the path and name of the to which you want to export the configuration.
To import the configuration from an export file
- On the Configuration page of the wizard for creating or modifying a Web Interface site in Configuration Center, select the Import from a file option.
- In Configuration name, type a name for the new configuration that will be created by importing data from the export file, or accept the default name.
- From the File to import field, select the export file.
Earlier Active Roles versions exported site configuration data to an export package (a collection of export files) rather than a single export file. You can use Configuration Center to import configuration from an export package: Click the Browse button next to the File to import filed, navigate to the folder containing the export package files, and select the .txt file that identifies the export package.
Getting Started
Active Roles (formerly known as ActiveRoles®) offers a convenient, easy-to-use, customizable Web Interface that enables authorized users to perform day-to-day administrative tasks, including user management tasks such as modifying personal data or adding users to groups. Via the Web Interface, an intranet user can connect to Active Roles using a Web browser. A user sees only the commands, directory objects, and object properties to which the user’s role provides administrative access.
By default, the Web Interface includes three different sites—the site for Administrators, the site for Help Desk, and the site for self-administration. The site for Administrators supports a rich variety of administrative tasks, while the site for Help Desk supports a simplified set of tasks to expedite the resolution of trouble tickets. The site for self-administration is indented for managing personal accounts.
The Web Interface also allows setting the user interface language according to your preferences. The language setting has effect on all menus, commands, and forms that come with the Web Interface, as well as the tool tips and help. Thus, users can work with the Web Interface in their own language.
The Web Interface delivers a reliable, comprehensive solution for users who have administrative access to Active Roles to modify commands that the Web Interface provides for without writing a single line of code, and enables such users to add and remove commands on menus, and modify command pages by adding and removing fields that display property values. For information on how to customize the Web interface, refer to the Active Roles Web Interface Administration Guide.
The Active Roles Web Interface User Guide is for individuals who are responsible for performing day-to-day administrative tasks. This document provides a brief overview of the Web Interface, and includes step-by-step instructions on how to perform administrative tasks.
The following topics describe the procedures for connecting to the Web Interface. First, configure your Web browser to display the Web Interface pages properly. Then, connect to the Web Interface. Finally, you may specify personal settings for the Web Interface.
Configuring the Web browser
There are several different Web browsers that you can use to access the Active Roles Web Interface. No matter which browser you use, it must have JavaScript and cookies enabled. JavaScript is a programming language for making Web pages interactive. Cookies are small files stored on your computer that contain information about the Web Interface.
For instructions on how to enable JavaScript and cookies in your browser, see the following topics.
