This section includes the following topics:
The Control panel lets you control which content a user can view by setting up roles for different users and assigning users to different groups. Assigning users to specific groups helps you administer the dashboard more efficiently. You can then assign roles or permissions to a group of users, instead of assigning them to individual users.
The following types of administration pages provide different scopes of administration:
The administrator can change the time zone for the entire company by editing the company profile. Users can change their time zone setting on the My Account page in the Display settings entry.
To adjust the time zone settings for the entire company
To adjust the time zone settings for an individual's account
A user can belong to more than one user group. Users inherit the roles and permissions of the group they are assigned to. The permissions and roles assigned to a user determine the tasks the user can perform.
Before a user signs into the dashboard, he is considered a guest. Guest users have their own set of default permissions which can be customized by administrators. After a user signs into the dashboard, he is considered a registered user. Permissions are assigned to registered users as follows:
See Configuring roles in the dashboard and Where to go for more information.
To set up a new user profile
You can now add this user to an organization, community, and user group. You can also determine what the user will be allowed to do, such as, add permissions, or update and view information detailed information on the user's profile settings.
To edit an existing user's profile
To delete a user profile
Select the required user and click Delete.
You can also restore a deactivated user at this stage. |
Organizing users in a group lets you assign roles to more than one user at a time, and helps you administer your organization more efficiently. Both roles and individual permissions can be assigned to user groups. Every user belonging to a user group will receive the roles or permissions of the user group.
To set up a new user group
To edit a user group
To delete a user group
To add an organization
Click Save.
If the Organization is part of a larger organization, first create the parent organization (select Regular Organization) and then create the sibling by adding its name, selecting Country, Region (if any), click Select, and selecting the parent organization. |
To edit an organization
To delete an organization
To add an community
To edit an community
To delete an community
To add a user to a user group
To delete a user from a user group
To assign users to an organization
To remove users from an organization
To assign users, user groups, or organizations to a community
To delete users, user groups, or organizations from a community
Roles are a collection of permissions. The Roles mechanism lets you control which portlets a user can view. Roles can be assigned to a user, community, or organization. If a role is assigned to a community or organization, all users that are members of that entity receive the collection of permissions assigned to that role.
Begin by settings up roles, associating permissions with them, and assigning them to individual users or communities. Then you can assign a role or roles to a portlet to determine which users can access the information displayed in that portlet.
See Determining which portlets a user can view and Where to go for more information.
To set up a new role
To remove a role from the dashboard
To change a role's name
To assign permissions to a role for a user
To assign permissions to a role for an organization
To assign permissions to a role for a user group
To assign permissions to a role for a guest user
Per definition, a guest user does not have permissions, but it is possible to change this as described in the following procedure. |
To assign a role to an end user
To assign a role to a community
To assign a role to an organization
To assign a role to a user group
To delete a role from an entity
The administrator can change a user's password by editing the user's profile. Users can change their own individual password on the My Account page.
If you want to receive email notification when you create a password for a new user or if you forget your password, verify that you install a SMTP server on the same machine the Precise Custom Dashboard is installed on. |
To change another user's password
To change your own password
The enterprise profile contains the settings that will be used as default settings, each time a new user is added. For example, you can specify the enterprise name, which logo to display in the dashboard, set up the link the user will navigate to when clicking on Home or the logo, and the domain names that the server will recognize.
You can also change the time zone and language settings for the entire enterprise.
The Portlets tab displays a list of all available portlets, indicates whether they are currently active or inactive, and shows which groups have permission to use each portlet. You can edit a portlet's properties, as follows:
The files that configure and define portlet packs are packaged as WAR files. Use these WAR files to hot-deploy portlet packs in the Precise Custom Dashboard.
To hot-deploy a portlet or adapter
Precise Custom Portal version 9.6 can integrate with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
Once integrated with LDAP, Precise Custom Portal version 9.6 gets all users and groups from the LDAP and synchronizes them into its own database. Login passwords are authorized by LDAP, thus preventing the need to keep (and verify) the users’ passwords within Precise Custom Portal. The following procedure describes how to configure LDAP.
To configure LDAP
Under Connection, provide the parameters described in the following table:
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
Base Provider URL | <url_of_the_base_provider> |
Base DN | <base_dn> |
Principal | <domain_name>\<user_name> |
Credentials | <password> |
Under Users, provide the parameters as described in the following table:
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
Authentication Search Filter | (&(objectCategory=person)(sAMAccountName=@screen-name@)) |
Import Search Filter | ((objectclass=person) |
User name | <user_name> |
Password | <password> |
Email address | <email_address> |
First name | <given_name> |
Last name | <last_name> |
Job title | <title> |
Under Import/Export, mark or clear the parameters as described in the following table:
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
Import enabled | Mark |
Import on startup enabled | Mark |
Import interval | Any selection as long as it is not grayed-out. |
Export enabled | Do not check this box. |
The Administration portlets provide administrative utilities that expand the functionality of the Precise Custom Dashboard.
The following portlets are available:
An adapter retrieves data from a specific data source. An adapter is defined by a unique identifier, called the Adapter Identifier, and the parameters that define where it should retrieve information from.
The Adapter Settings portlet lets you add adapters to and remove adapters from the dashboard framework, and define data sources for each adapter.
Each data source represents an installation from which information is retrieved and displayed. An adapter can be associated with more than one data source. |
Each data source has several fixed fields as well as fields that vary according to the adapter. For example:
The Precise adapter enables the user to communicate with different Precise installations from different versions (OOTB supporting v8, v8.x, v9, and v9.6).
Starting from v8.5, the AES encryption method was introduced in Precise. It is used as the default communication encryption method. For the adapter to communicate with the data source in the configuration process, the user will be prompted to copy the encryption key files from the Precise installation to the Precise Custom Portal installation.
The files reside in Precise under the <precise_root>
/infra/listener/etc/crypt
folder. The entire crypt folder should be copied to the Precise Custom Portal under the <precise_root>
/products/gui/website/asd_conf/data-sources-crypt/
<data source server>-<data source port>
folder.
The following table describes the parameters you need to define for all types of adapters. Any additional fields that must be defined for a particular adapter are described in the help topics that are deployed with each adapter.
Table 3-1. Fixed Adapter Data Source fields
Field | Description | |
---|---|---|
Name | A unique user-defined name that identifies the data source. the identifier is displayed in the Data source list when you edit a portlet. | |
User group | Indicates which user group has been granted permission to view information from this data source. This parameter is case-sensitive.
|
See About the DBAdapter, About the Retrieve from Database portlet, and Assigning permissions to adapters through user groups.
To add an adapter
To edit an adapter
To delete an adapter
To add a data source
To edit a data source
To delete a data source
Using the built-in security mechanism shipped with the Precise Custom Dashboard, you can control which data sources a user can retrieve information from. When you assign permissions to adapters the user can only see information from the data sources that he has been assigned to through his user group.
To assign permissions to an adapter
The DBAdapter is the default adapter that is shipped with the Precise Custom Dashboard. This adapter lets you retrieve data from the database of your choice.
The SQL Server JDBC driver is installed automatically during the installation of the Precise Custom Dashboard. If you want to add additional drivers, copy the driver's jar file to the following folder:
<precise_root>\products\gui\website\webapps\DBAdapter\WEB-INF\lib\
To load the JDBC driver, you are required to restart of the Precise Web GUI service. See Common JDBC drivers.
Only a user with Administrator privileges can configure a database as a data source. This is done in the Adapter Settings portlet. |
The Name and Group fields are fixed fields which must be defined for every type of adapter. See About the Adapter Settings portlet and About the Retrieve from Database portlet.
The following table describes the additional parameters that must be defined for the database adapter to connect to a database.
Table 3-2 DBAdapter fields
Field | Description |
---|---|
Driver name | Driver Name Name of the database driver. This driver lets you access the database that you want to retrieve information from. For example, to connect to a SQL Server driver, type the following:
The driver must be installed on the same server that the DB adapter is installed on. In many cases this will be the same server that the Precise Custom Dashboard is installed on. |
Connection string | Location of the database that you want to connect to and the driver used to connect to it. For example: |
User | User name that allows you to access information from the database. |
Password | Password that allows the user to access information from the database. |
See About the Adapter Settings portlet, About the Retrieve from Database portlet, and Common JDBC drivers.
JDBC drivers allow you to connect to databases that support Structured Query Language (SQL).
JDBC technology drivers are available from a number of vendors. The following lists provide information on what values must be entered in the DBAdapter portlet settings for popular databases.
The JDBC drivers need to be saved in:
<precise_root>\products\gui\website\webapps\DBAdapter\WEB-INF\lib\
The following table shows the information you must enter in the DBAdapter portlet settings to connect to a Microsoft SQL Server (2005) database.
Table 3-3 Microsoft SQL Server JDBC driver
JDBC driver | Value |
---|---|
Driver name | com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver |
Connection strong format | jdbc:sqlserver://<host>:<port1433>;DatabaseName=<database> |
The following table shows the information you must enter in the DBAdapter portlet settings to connect to a MySQL database.
Table 3-4 MySQL JDBC driver
JDBC driver | Value |
---|---|
Driver name | com.mysql.jdbc.Driver |
Connection string format | jdbc:mysql://<host>:<port>/<databaseName> |
The following table shows the information you must enter in the DBAdapter portlet settings to connect to a Sybase database.
Table 3-5 Sybase JDBC driver
JDBC driver | Value |
---|---|
Driver name | com.sybase.jdbc2.jdbc.SybDriver |
Connection string format | jdbc:sybase:Tds:<host>:<port>/<databaseName> |
The following table shows the information you must enter in the DBAdapter portlet settings to connect to a Oracle database.
Table 3-6 Oracle JDBC driver
JDBC driver | Value |
---|---|
Driver name | oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver |
Connection string format | jdbc:oracle:thin:@<host>:<port>:<sid> |
This portlet is located in the portlets tree under admin.
The portlet gives you the functionality to upgrade all portlets that are using the same Precise installation (source) to another Precise installation (destination).
The portlet upgrader in the Precise Custom Portal v9.6 supports the portlet upgrade from Precise v8.0 to v8.5, v8.5/v8.7 to v9.0,and v9.0 to v9.6 adapter type data sources. The upgrade process will convert the portlet’s request and parameters to match the new data source.
If the conversion logic fails for a portlet, it will be aborted, logged, and the process will continue with the next portlet. The logging output for the portlet upgrade process can be found in the <precise_root>\products\gui\website\logs\upgrade.log
and upgrade-report.log
files.
The following table describes the fields that are available in the portlet:
Table 3-7 Portlet Upgrader portlet
Fields | Description |
---|---|
Source adapter | List of defined adapters |
Source data source | List of defined data sources for the selected source adapter |
Destination adapter | List of defined adapters |
Destination data source | List of defined data sources for the selected destination adapter |
The administrator can configure how often the information displayed in the dashboard is refreshed in the Refresh Rate Settings portlet. These settings apply to all pages on the dashboard.
To configure the refresh rate settings
The Tools Portlets provide additional utilities that expand the functionality of the Precise Custom Dashboard. The following portlets are available:
The IFrame portlet lets you display information from a specific URL address. You must have administrator privileges to set up this portlet. See Configuring the portlet, Changing user passwords, and About the Main menu .
The Log In portlet lets you access the My Account dialog box and modify your account settings. See Configuring the portlet, Changing user passwords, About the Main menu.
The Import from Precise portlet gives you the functionality to create portlets based on the view that has been exported from within Precise v9.6 using the Export to the Custom Portal Portlet feature.
Prerequisites for the use of this portlet is that you need to have the rights to add portlets. |
To create a portlet with Import from Precise
Select the name that was used to create the Export to the Custom Portal Portlet view.
The date and time stamp will help you choose the most recent view. The last 50 saves are available. |
The Quick Note portlet lets you add your own note or comments to a portlet page.
The RSS portlet lets you display frequently updated Really Simple Syndication (RSS) content in a portlet. You subscribe to a feed by entering the feed's URL (one per line) and the number of entries per feed.
It can take a while before content is displayed in this portlet. |
The Retrieve from Database portlet lets you query a database and display information from it. The Administrator must configure the database as a data source (in the Adapter Settings portlet) before you can send it a query.
In the Filter Data By field, enter the name of the data source that you want to retrieve data from and enter an SQL statement that is used to query the database and retrieve the information. An SQL statement must begin with one of the following commands:
You can also define the time frame for your retrieved information by entering an SQL statement. The time frame has four parameters:
select* from A where time > '!~timeFrameToString~!'
select * from A where time > '!~timeFrameToLong~!'
In certain JDBC drivers, such as in Oracle JDBC, a query containing a count(*) function, must be typed as follows:
|
Adding a semi-colon (;) at the end of a query causes a query parse error in some JDBC drivers. |
When you choose a display view for the information retrieved from the database, verify that you choose a view that is appropriate to the query you selected.
The following table describes how the information retrieved from a database is displayed.
Table 3-8 Available display views
Format | Description |
---|---|
Table | Displays the data in table format. |
Bar chart | Only numeric data is displayed. Non-numeric data is ignored. The first column of data is displayed along the X-axis. Remaining numeric columns are displayed as values in the chart. |
Multiple line chart | Only numeric data is displayed. Non-numeric data is ignored. The first column of data is displayed along the X-axis. Remaining numeric columns are displayed as values in the chart. |
Combined multiple line chart | Only numeric data is displayed. Non-numeric data is ignored. The first column of data is displayed along the X-axis. Remaining numeric columns are displayed as values in the chart. This chart has multiple Y-axes, each axis corresponding to a specific line. |
Horizontal bar chart | Only numeric data is displayed. Non-numeric data is ignored. The first column of data is always displayed. Remaining numeric columns are displayed as values in the chart. |
Line chart | Only numeric data is displayed. Non-numeric data is ignored. The first column of data is displayed along the X-axis. Remaining numeric columns are displayed as values in the chart. |
Multiple pie chart | Only numeric data is displayed. Non-numeric data is ignored. The first column of data is displayed as the name of the chart. Remaining numeric columns are displayed as values in the chart. Each row is displayed in a different pie. |
Pie chart | Only numeric data is displayed. Non-numeric data is ignored. The first column of data is displayed as the name of the chart. Remaining numeric columns are displayed as values in the chart. Only the values in the first row are displayed in the pie chart. |
Ring chart | Only numeric data is displayed. Non-numeric data is ignored. The first column of data is always displayed. Remaining numeric columns are displayed as values in the chart. Only the values in the first row are displayed in the ring chart. |
See Configuring the portlet, Defining the portlet data preferences, and About the DBAdapter.
The Time Frame portlet lets you decide the period of time that you want to analyze. The time frame you select, affects the time frame used by all portlets displayed on the same page.
If you set up a different page to view additional portlets, it is recommended that you add the Time Frame portlet to the new page, and verify that you set it to the period of time that you want to display information on. If you don't add a Time Frame portlet to the page, the portlets on the page that are associated with the Time Frame portlet will automatically display information according to the data collected within the last 24 hours. This is also the default setting for all new time frames. |
If you delete a Time Frame portlet from a page, the portlets on the page will continue to display information according to the last settings you configured in the Time Frame portlet. |
You can either choose to define the time interval that you want to analyze, or to focus your analysis on the last <n> minutes, hours, days, weeks or months, relative to your own local time. The following table describes the time frame settings you can select.
Table 3-9 Time Frame options
Field | Description |
---|---|
From | Determines when the sampling period begins (date and time). |
To | Determines when the sampling period ends (date and time). |
Last | Lets you focus on the last <n> minutes, hours, days, weeks or months from the current time. |
You can determine the design of the portlet and the user permissions. To configure the portlet configuration
To define the portlet’s user permissions
You can determine which information to display in a portlet and in what format you want it to be displayed (such as a table, chart or gauge).
You can determine what information is displayed in a portlet and the portlet's width and height.
To define the portlet’s preferences
Under Properties, determine how you want the information displayed, as follows:
Field | Description |
---|---|
View data as | Determines whether data is displayed as a table or chart. If the data is of the same unit and type, it is displayed in the same chart. |
Chart height | If you choose to display the data in a chart, determines the height of the chart, in pixels. |
Position legend | If you choose to display the data in a chart, determines where to position the legend (options include top, bottom, left, or right of the chart). |
Portlet height | Determines the height of the portlet, in pixels. |
Portlet width | Determines the width of the portlet, in pixels. The width of the portlet is also influenced by the layout of the page the portlet is displayed on. |
Free text | Allows you to enter text that is displayed at the top of the portlet. You can use this text to explain what the purpose of the portlet is, or give an overview of what is displayed in the portlet. |
The portlet package is saved as a compressed WAR file.
To remove a portlet package from the Precise Custom Portal
For more information on the administration portlets, check the Liferay Portal 5 - Portal Administration Guide in the Documentation section, in the Developer Zone, on the Liferay Website (www.liferay.com).
For the latest information on the Precise Custom Dashboard, see the Precise Customer Support Portal.
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