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Active Roles 8.0 LTS - Web Interface Administration Guide

Introduction Deploying the Web Interface Getting Started Web Interface Basics Performing Management Tasks Using Approval Workflow Customizing the Web Interface Default Commands

Deployment tasks

Active Roles makes it possible to deploy any number of Web Interface sites, with each site having its own configuration or sharing the configuration with other sites. The configuration of each Web Interface site is stored in the Active Roles database, and replicated by the Active Roles Administration Services. This provides the following advantages:

  • The configuration of an existing Web Interface site can be re-used
  • Multiple Web Interface sites may share common configuration

A site’s configuration specifies customizable settings of user interface elements, such as menus, commands, and pages (forms), displayed by the Web Interface. Each configuration is identified by name, stored as an entity, and applied on a per-site basis.

When adding a new Web Interface site, you can apply a default configuration template or select the configuration of an existing Web Interface site. A configuration template creates a site with new configuration that can be customized as needed. Re-using the configuration of an existing site causes sites to share common configuration.

When multiple Web Interface sites share common configuration, any customization of one site is automatically applied to the others. 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.

The procedure for deploying the Web Interface includes two stages:

  • Installing and initially configuring the Web Interface  At this stage, the files are copied to the computer, and three Web Interface sites are created based on the default configuration templates. For instructions on how to install the Web Interface and perform initial configuration, see “Installing and configuring the Web Interface” in the Active Roles Quick Start Guide.
  • Creating, modifying or deleting a Web Interface site  At this stage, you can create additional Web Interface sites, and modify or delete existing Web Interface sites.

When creating a new Web Interface site, you have the option to apply the configuration of an existing Web Interface site to the newly created one. If you have the Web Interface site tailored to suit your needs, and need to deploy its instance on another Web server, this option ensures that the new Web Interface site has the same set of menus, commands and pages as the existing one.

When initially configured, the Web Interface has three Web Interface sites each of which is based on a default configuration templates. you can modify the Web server-related parameters, such as the Web application alias, for these Web Interface sites, or delete Web Interface sites. You can also create additional Web Interface sites.

To create, modify, or delete a Web Interface site

  1. Open Active Roles Configuration Center.

    You can open Configuration Center by selecting Active Roles 8.0 LTS Configuration Center on the Apps page or Start menu, depending upon the version of your Windows operating system.

  1. In the Configuration Center main window, under Web Interface, click Manage Sites.
  2. On the Web Interface page, do one of the following:
    • To create a new site, click Create.
    • To modify an existing site, select the site from the list and click Modify.
    • To delete a site, select the site from the list and click Delete.
    • To export the configuration of a site to a file, select the site and click Export Configuration.
  3. View or change the following settings in the wizard that appears if click Create or Modify:
    • IIS Web site Specifies the IIS Web site containing the Web application that implements the Web Interface site. You can select the desired Web site from a list of all Web sites defined on the Web server.
    • 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.
    • Configuration  Create a new configuration based on a template and assign it to the Web Interface site, or use the configuration of an existing Web Interface site. It is also possible to import data from an existing configuration or from a configuration export file.

      Configuration specifies customizable settings of user interface elements, such as menus, commands, and Web pages (forms), displayed by the Web Interface. The configuration of a Web Interface site is stored as part of the Active Roles configuration data, and is hosted by the Administration Service to which the Web Interface is connected. Multiple sites may use the same configuration. When you customize a Web Interface site, your changes are saved in the site’s configuration.

      On the Configuration page , you can choose from the following options:

    • Keep the current configuration  Choose this option when modifying an existing Web Interface site if you do not want to assign a different configuration to that site.
    • Create from a template  Create a new configuration for the Web Interface site based on a template. With this option, you need to supply a unique name for the new configuration and select the desired template.

      Choose this option if you want the Web Interface site to use a separate configuration that is initially populated with the template data.

    • Use an existing configuration  Assign an existing configuration to the Web Interface site. With this option, you need to select the desired configuration from a list of configurations found on the Administration Service. The list includes the configurations of the current Active Roles version only.

      Choose this option if you want the Web Interface site to share its configuration with other Web Interface sites. For example, when creating a new instance of a given site for load balancing, you should assign the configuration of that site to the new Web Interface site.

Each Web Interface site can be accessed from a Web browser using the address based the Web application alias:

http://<WebSite>/<Alias>

Here, <WebSite> identifies the IIS Web site containing the Web application that implements the Web Interface site and <Alias> stands for the alias of that Web application, as specified in Configuration Center. For example, if the Web application is contained in the default Web site, the address is http://<Computer>/<Alias>, where <Computer> stands for the network name of the computer (Web server) running the Web Interface.

By default, Web Interface users connect to the Web Interface using a HTTPs transport, which encrypts the data transferred from a Web browser to the Web Interface. In case you do not a secure transport for transferring data to the Web interface, you can disable the HTTPs option using the Configuration Center.

The secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) provided by the Web server for data encryption. For instructions on how to enable SSL on your Web server, see https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/324069/how-to-set-up-an-https-service-in-iis.

If SSL is enabled, users specify an HTTPS prefix rather than an HTTP prefix when connecting to the Web Interface.

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

  1. 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.
  2. In Configuration name, type a name for the new configuration that will be created by importing an existing configuration, or accept the default name.
  3. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

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