Overview
Domino Web Access is a great way to give remote users an alternative way to access Domino applications. However, there can be different levels of functionality that those users might need. This article will show how to create policies tailored to different types of users: Mobile, Power, and Restricted. We will walk through how to create a setting document for each type of user. Then these settings can be used in policies and deployed in your environment.
Creating the Base Settings Document
Each of the three samples consist of first creating a settings document. You would create one for each sample policy. To do this you can either:
1) In the
Notes client open the
Domino Directory, go to the
People view, then
Policies section, and finally
Settings. Then press the "
Add Settings..." action button and pick "
Mail".
2) In the
Admin client while connected to a server, select the
People & Groups tab, then
Directory, then
Settings. Then press the "
Add Settings..." action button and pick "
Mail". Or use the
Actions->Add Settings->Mail top level menu sequence.
3) In the
Admin client while connected to a server, select the
Configuration tab, then
Tools, then
Policies, then press
Create. Or use the
Configuration->Policies-Create top level menu sequence. When the "
Create New Policy" dialog appears, select the
Settings radio button, pick "
Mail" from the drop down list box, and then press
OK.
After you have the setting document created, then proceed to the steps section of the sample you wish to create.
The Mobile User
The main concern in supporting a mobile user is performance. The kids of people that could a mobile user would a travelling salesmen, a field technician, or an aid worker. To create this kind of setting perform these steps:
Step 1: Set the
Name field to "
Mobile User":
Step 2: This user should use the ultra lite mode of iNotes. To do this go the
Lotus iNotes tab, then the
Basics sub-tab and select
UltraLite for
User UI Mode:
Step 3: For security reasons, you also don't want to the user to be able to change the ownership of their mail file. To do this go to the
Mail tab, then select the
Basics sub-tab, make sure the box "
Allow users to change mail file ownership" is unchecked and check the
Enforce checkbox:
Step 4: Press the form's
Save & Close action.
Watch the demonstration to see how you can create policy settings documents and a policy document for Lotus iNotes mobile users.
The Power User
The main concern in supporting a power user is providing a robust set of functionality. The kinds of people that could be power users are executives, knowledge workers, or an advanced collaboration user. To create this kind of setting perform these steps:
Step 1: Set the
Name field to "
Power User":
Step 2: This user should use the full mode of iNotes. To do this go the
Lotus iNotes tab, then the
Basics sub-tab and select
Full for
User UI Mode. (Note: all of the Functional Areas are checked and enabled)
Step 3: This kind of user uses some of the other collaborative features such as Sametime, .etc. To do this go the
Lotus iNotes tab, then the
Configuration sub-tab and select the following:
Step 4: While still on the
Configuration sub-tab and select the following to enable Quikr integration:
Step 5: While still on the
Configuration sub-tab and select the following to enable Calendar subscriptions:
Step 6: To allow the user to delegate another to manage their mail file as in the case of an executive, go the
Access and Delegationtab, then the
Access to Your Mail & Calendar sub-tab and select the following:
Step 7: Press the form's
Save & Close action.
Watch the demonstration to see how you can create policy settings documents and a policy document for Lotus iNotes power users.
The Restricted User
The main concern in supporting a restricted user is the goal of the applying some kind of limitation. Your goal could be to restrict what functionality that they can use maybe due to a company policy. Or you can be trying to restrict the impact of supporting that user (via their use of system resources.) The kinds of people that could be restricted users are students, a kiosk user, a manufacturing plant worker, an ISP user, or a retail store employee.
To create this kind of setting perform these steps:
Step 1: Set the
Name field to "
Restricted User":
Step 2: This user should use the lite mode of iNotes. To do this go the
Lotus iNotes tab, then the
Basics sub-tab and select
Lite for
User UI Mode. (Note: Of the Functional Areas, just Mail and Contacts are checked and enabled). Since we don't want the user to change these settings, select the "
Set value and prevent changes" value in the "
How to apply this setting:" pulldown.
Step 3: For security reasons, you also don't want to the user to be able to change the ownership of their mail file. To do this go to the
Mail tab, then select the
Basics sub-tab, make sure the box "
Allow users to change mail file ownership" is unchecked and check the
Enforce checkbox:
Step 4: To prevent the images from being automatically displayed which can be a security risk, go the
Lotus iNotes tab, then the
Configuration sub-tab and select the following and also select the "
Set value and prevent changes" value in the "
How to apply this setting:" pulldown.
Step 5: Browser Helper Objects (BHOs) are plugins that provide added functionality to web browsers. To manage these objects, iNotes has numerous settings to maintain the cache of these objects. To enable the management of BHOs, go the
Lotus iNotes tab, then the
Configuration sub-tab and then to the
Browser Cache Management section. Enabling the
Browser Cache Management checkbox will cause additional settings to appear. Set them as follows and be sure to also select the "
Set value and prevent changes" value in the "
How to apply this setting:" pulldown as indicated all but the last setting:
Step 6: Since the settings are for a restricted user, we don't want them to be able to change them. So all of the settings under the iNotes tab need to be locked down. The How To Apply action button applies to all of the setting on the form, but we only want to lock down the iNotes settings. Therefore, manually set the rest of "
How to apply this setting:" fields to "
Set value and prevent changes" value for each of the
iNotes subtabs of
Basics,
Configuration, and
Offline.
Step 7: Press the form's
Save & Close action.
Another issue to consider for the restricted user case would be to set a size quota on the mail file. This can be done via a registration policy for new user. For existing users this would have to be done manually through the admin client.
Creating the Policies
Since the steps for creating a policy is simple and it is the same for each of the three examples, we'll just walk through one example: The Power User.
To do that, perform these steps:
1) Navigate to the
People->Policies view in the Domino Directory and click the
Add Policy action.
2) On the
Basics tab, enter "
Power Users Policy" for the
Policy Name.
3) Next to the
Setting Type of
Mail, enter or select "
Power Users".
4) On the Policy Assignment tab, either select or enter the group "
Executives":
5) Click the
Save & Close action button.
Now all the members of the
Executives group will automatically be assigned the
Power Users settings. Clearly for the other settings, other groups would be used instead or the users could be added individually.
Watch the demonstration to see how you can create policy settings documents and a policy document for Lotus iNotes mobile users.
Conclusion
The three example polices in this article are not meant to be definitive, instead, they are meant to be reference points to be tailored to your own needs. For example, the sample restricted user could be used as a basis for creating two slightly different policies: a kiosk user that focuses more on having a very low footprint and basic functionality and a student policy that focuses on providing more functionality. What has been shown here is how a collection of settings can be used to create a policy to address an administrative functional need for Domino Web Access. This article also showed how different settings can effect the performance, functionality, and efficiency of your iNotes deployment. Leveraging the flexibility of policies with the functional capabilities of iNotes provides a great way to deploy and administer remote access to Domino applications.