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Do you currently use Lotus iNotes or are you considering doing so? If so, the topic of a redirect application has probably come up. Domino provides a redirect application to allow users to be routed to their mail by simply entering their user id and password. This article describes the steps required to create an iNotes redirect database and make it the default home page for the web site.
To help you understand the process of creating and implementing this application, you will see a simple case study and Fictional Software Company A. The management team at Company A has decided to roll out iNotes for all of their users. They have decided that they would like users to be able to enter a URL of mail.companya.com and then the user should be able to enter their user id and password and get directly into their mail. Here are the steps the Domino administrator has taken to implement this request.
Create the iNotes Redirect Application
The first step is to create the iNotes redirect application. You can do this from the Lotus Notes or Domino Administrator client (
File →
Application →
New). When creating the redirect application, you will first enter your desired Title and File name. You then will then select to create the application based on the
IBM Lotus iNotes Redirect template as shown in figure 1.
Configure the iNotes Redirect Application
Once the redirect application has been created, you will be prompted with a
Setup button which you can click to get started with the configuration. From there you will be presented with four options as shown in figure 2.
Server Settings
To get started with the configuration, click on
Server Settings. The first choice to be made is the Redirection Type. The value to choose here is dependent on your environment. Use the table below to help you choose appropriate values for the Redirection type and associated settings. In the example for Company A, they will be using a Redirection type of Mail Server with TCP/IP domain of companya.com. Since Company A does not use a proxy server or a specific folder for their mail files, those settings will remain blank.
| Scenario |
|
| Multiple Servers running iNotes and users should be redirected to mail file located on their home mail server. |
- Redirection Type of Mail Server
- Proper TCP/IP domain for the mail server should be specified, for example companya.com
|
| Multiple Servers running iNotes, but all mail files have been replicated on one server located in a DMZ. All users should be redirected to the copy of the mail file on the DMZ server located in a folder called iNotes. |
- Redirection Type of Fixed
- Server Name to use should be set to the hostname of the DMZ server, for example dmz.companya.com
- Force path should be set to iNotes
|
| Multiple mail servers and replica copies of the mail files. Users should be redirected to the replica copy of the mail file located on the server that they are currently connected to. |
- Redirection Type of Dynamic
|
| Single mail server environment. Users should be redirected to their mail file on this server. |
- Any redirection type can be used in this environment.
|
| Redirect database exists on an application server, but users should be redirected to the appropriate mail server |
- Redirection Type of Mail Server
- Proper domain for the mail server should be specified, for example companya.com
|
The next decision to be made is SSL. At company A, the decision has been made to force SSL during sign-in, but not use an SSL connection when accessing mail. Thus they have set "Do you wish to force SSL for the entire session?" to
No, but set "Do you wish to force SSL only on authentication" to
Yes. In the example provided here, the default SSL port of
443 is being used so that setting has not been changed. Figure 3 shows all of the server settings chosen by Company A. If you need to be sure SSL is used for authentication and for iNotes access you can change the "Do you wish to force SSL for the entire session" parameter to yes.
UI Settings
The next group of settings to be configured are the
UI Settings. For the most part the UI settings are self-explanatory. In the example shown in figure 4, Company A decided to display their company logo on the standard redirect page. The redirect screen will be shown for 4 seconds to allow the user to change the log in options. You will see an example of the Enable Personal Options and Enable Login Options below.
When the user access the redirect database using their browser, they will see the screen like the one seen in figure 5 for 4 seconds. Since Company A has chosen to display their logo rather than the Lotus iNotes logo you can see that in the example.
If you choose
Yes for the Enable Personal Options setting the
Personal Optionslink will be displayed as shown above in figure 5. Once the user selects this option, they will see the screen shown in figure 6. Note that in order to allow the user change their log in options, you need to set
Yes to Enable Login Options, you must also have
Yes for the Enable Personal Options. In the
Personal Options screen, there are two parameters Alternative Mail File Display Name and Default View. The alternative mail file display name can be used to enter another user name. In figure 6 you can see that User One has logged in and selected to change the personal options. If User One has access to User Two's mail, then User One could enter
User Two in the Alternative Mail File Display Name field and then User Two's mail file would be displayed rather than User One's mail file after the redirection is complete. The Default View parameter can be used to switch between the different iNotes formats or home pages. In this case User One is choosing to use the
Full mode. Options selected here are remembered and used the next time the user logs in.
Ultra-light/Mobile Settings
The Ultra-light/Mobile Settings configuration within the iNotes redirect database is very simple. You can determine whether or not your users can select the ultra-light mode and determine which mobile devices should be automatically redirected to the ultra-light interface. Within Company A they have rolled out iNotes ultra-light and thus it has been enabled as shown in figure 7.
Application Setup
After you have successfully chosen your settings the last step is to access the Application Setup option in the iNotes redirect application. Click on
Click to Auto Set ACL Settings to properly configure the ACL for your redirect application (reference figure 8).
Once the ACL has been properly configured you will get a message confirming the changes as shown in figure 9.
You are now ready to begin using the iNotes redirect application.
Configuring the iNotes Redirect Application as the Default Home Page
Once you have configured, you may wish to have the iNotes redirect application be the default home page for your mail server. To do this, you will need to modify the default home page setting in the server document for the server or in the internet site document (if you use internet sites in your environment).
Setting the Default Home Page in a Server Document
If you are not using internet sites, you will need to set the default home page in the server document. To access the server document in the Document Administrator client, go to the
Configuration tab. From this tab select
Server →
All Server Documents. You can then open the document for the appropriate server. To do this, you will access the
Internet Protocols... →
HTTP tab. Set the Home URL: to /<
name of your redirect application
?Open. For company A, the correct value would be
/iNotesredirect.nsf?Open as shown in figure 10.
Setting the Default Home Page in an Internet Sites Document
When using internet site documents, each site has its own home URL. Thus, the home URL must be defined within the internet site document. To access the internet site document in the Document Administrator client go to the
Configuration tab. From this tab select
Web →
Internet Sites. Within the site document, access the
Configuration tab and define the Home URL. For example, set the home URL to /iNotesRedirect.nsf?Open
You have now seen how easy it is to implement the iNotes redirect application and set it as the default home page for your server.