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This section includes the following topics:
- About the Control panel
- About the Administration portlets
- About the Tools portlets
- Configuring the portlet
- Defining the portlet data preferences
- Removing a portlet package from the Precise Custom Dashboard
- Where to go for more information
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The Administration portlets provide administrative utilities that expand the functionality of the Precise Custom
Dashboard.
The following portlets are available:
- Adapter
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- Settings. Lets you retrieve data from a specific source.
- Portlet
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- Upgrader. Lets you upgrade all portlets that are using the same Precise installation (source) to another Precise installation (destination).
- Refresh Rate
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- Setting. Lets you configure how often the information displayed in the dashboard is refreshed.
About the Adapter Settings portlet
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.
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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:■ A
- A DBAdapter represents an adapter for a database. Each data source defines a specific connection with a database.
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- A Precise adapter represents the connection between the Precise Custom Dashboard and Precise.
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 1. Fixed Adapter Data Source fieldsField Description
Name A
| Field | Description |
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| Name | A unique user-defined name that identifies the data source. |
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| the identifier is displayed in the |
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| Data |
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| source list when you edit a portlet. |
| User |
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| group | Indicates which user group has been granted permission to view information from this data source. This parameter is case-sensitive.
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See “About the DBAdapter” on page 28.
See , “About the Retrieve from Database portlet” on page 31.
See , “Assigning permissions to adapters through user groups” on page 27.
To add an adapter1 In
- In the Adapter Settings portlet, on the Adapter Identifier field, click Add.
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- In the Adapter Address field, type the address of the adapter Web service.
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- Click OK.
To edit an adapter1 Select
- Select the adapter.
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- In the Adapter Address field, change the address of the adapter Web service.
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- Click OK.
To delete an adapter1 In
- In the Adapter Settings portlet, on the Adapter Identifier field, click Remove.
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- Click OK.
To add a data source1 In
- In the Adapter Settings portlet, from the Adapter Identifier list, select the Adapter that you want to add a data source to.
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- Click Add Data Source.
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- Enter the parameters that define the selected data source.
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- Click OK.
To edit a data source1 In
- In the Adapter Settings portlet, from the Adapter Identifier list, select the Adapter whose data source you want to edit.
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- In the Adapter Data Sources table, locate the data resource that you want to edit.
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- Click Edit.
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- Enter the parameters that define the selected data source.
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- Click OK.
To delete a data source1 In
- In the Adapter Settings portlet, from the Adapter Identifier list, select the Adapter whose data source you want to remove.
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- In the Adapter Data Sources table, locate the data resource that you want to remove.
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- Click Remove.
Assigning permissions to adapters through user groups
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 adapter1 Create
- Create a user and associate the user with a user group. You also need to create the specific user group if it does not already exist.
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- In the Adapter Settings portlet, in the Adapter Identifier field, choose the adapter that you want to edit.
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- Do one of the following:
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- Edit an existing data source. Click Edit. In the User Group field, type the group that you want the data source to be associated with.
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- Add and define a new data source for the adapter. Click Add Data Source. Enter the parameters that define the selected data source. In the User Group field, type the group that you want the data source to be associated with.
About the DBAdapter
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
<precise_root>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” on page 28.
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Only a user with Administrator privileges can configure a database as a data source. This is done in the Adapter |
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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” on page 26 .
See and “About the Retrieve from Database portlet” on page 31.
The following table describes the additional parameters that must be defined for the database adapter to connect to a database.
Table 3-2 DBAdapter 2 DBAdapter fieldsField Description
| Field | Description |
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| 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 |
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| string | Location of the database that you want to connect to and the driver used to connect to it. For example: |
| User |
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| User name that allows you to access information from the database. |
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| Password | Password that allows the user to access information from the database. |
See “About the Adapter Settings portlet” on page 26.
See “About the Retrieve from Database portlet” on page 31. See “Common JDBC drivers” on page 28.
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 String 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>
About the Portlet Upgrader portlet
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
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