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
- 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.
- In the Configuration Center main window, under Web Interface, click Manage Sites.
- On the Web Interface page, do one of the following:
- 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.