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Administering Connections 6.5
Welcome to the HCL Connections 6.5 documentation. HCL Connections is social networking software designed for the workplace. Its features help you to establish dynamic networks that connect you to the people and information you need to achieve your business goals.
Installing
To install HCL Connections™, you need to follow a detailed series of procedures.
Optional post-installation tasks
Complete the post-installation tasks that are relevant to your deployment.
Configuring notifications
Enable support for email notifications in HCL Connections applications.

Administering Connections 6.5
Welcome to the HCL Connections 6.5 documentation. HCL Connections is social networking software designed for the workplace. Its features help you to establish dynamic networks that connect you to the people and information you need to achieve your business goals.
- What's new in HCL Connections
  Find out about features that are new or updated in this release of HCL Connections.
- Product overview
  Learn how to deploy, customize, and administer the HCL Connections social networking product.
- Planning
  Before installing HCL Connections™, study the system requirements, deployment options, and documentation conventions.
- Installing
  To install HCL Connections™, you need to follow a detailed series of procedures.
  - The installation process
    Review the steps that are required to install HCL Connections.
  - Pre-installation tasks
    Complete the following tasks before installing HCL Connections. If you are migrating from a prior release of HCL Connections, do not complete the tasks for creating databases or populating the Profiles database. The migration process handles those tasks automatically.
  - Installing HCL Connections
    Select the HCL Connections applications that you plan to use and install them in a clustered deployment.
  - Post-installation tasks
    After installation, you need to perform further tasks to ensure an efficient deployment.
  - Optional: Installing and configuring the Tiny Editors for HCL Connections
    HCL Connections 6.5 can use the optional Tiny Editors: TinyMCE or Textbox.io, to replace the HCL Connections™ default rich text editor.
  - Copying Search conversion tools to local nodes for AIX and Linux
    To enable full indexing of data, copy the Search conversion tools to local nodes.
  - Copying Search conversion tools to local nodes for Windows
    To enable full indexing of data, copy the Search conversion tools to local nodes.
  - Optional post-installation tasks
    Complete the post-installation tasks that are relevant to your deployment.
    - Adding a node to a cluster
      Add a node to an existing cluster.
    - Configuring a reverse caching proxy
      Configure a reverse proxy that directs all traffic to your HCL Connections deployment to a single server.
    - JavaScript configuration
    - Enabling locked domains
      Assuming that you have completed the server setup previously described, to enable locked domains in HCL Connections, specify an additional attribute in the LotusConnections-config.xml to ensure that only ConnectionsOpensocial application is mapped to the locked domain host.
    - Configuring the custom ID attribute for users or groups
      Configure HCL Connections to use custom ID attributes to identify users and groups in the LDAP directory.
    - Post-installation tasks for Connections Touchpoint
      The following topics cover tasks that apply to any environment in which Touchpoint is installed.
    - Configuring external collaboration
      External collaboration allows internal and external users to work together in your HCL Connections deployment. You can either configure this feature to allow self-registration by external users who received an invitation, or you can manage registration with a custom setup tailored to your particular environment.
    - Integrating Connections Sidebar with a website
      Configure a web application on a company-managed server to be able to display the Connections Sidebar, so that your users can see their important updates without leaving the website.
    - Configuring Files to use an object store
      Configure HCL Connections™ Files to seamlessly work with an external object store, providing scalability and data recovery for your deployment, while enabling faster access to files for users.
    - Installing and deploying HCL Connections Docs 2.0
      To extend HCL Connections to offer users a way to view documents, spreadsheets, and presentations within the Files application, install and set up Viewer from HCL Connections Docs 2.0 CR2.
    - Deploying URL preview in an environment where anonymous access is disabled
      To deploy URL preview optionally in an environment where anonymous access is disabled within HCL Connections, you must define a system user as a proxy for the oEmbed/image proxy services so that it can perform HTTP requests.
    - Enabling anonymous access for the Rich Content Widget component
      Define a system user to impersonate HTTP read-only requests to the File AppData API for the Rich Content Widget component.
    - Customizing browser cookie cleanup on user logout
      You can manage and add to the list of browser cookies to be cleaned up on user logout.
    - Configuring an NGINX server for long polling
      If you deploy an NGINX proxy server to manage push notifications for HCL Connections™, you can configure it to use load balancing and thus provide a greater long poll interval.
    - Setting up and configuring a WAS proxy server for long poll testing
      HTTP long polling can be used to push updates to a web client. A connection is held open between the web client and the web server so that when the server has new information it can push it to the client. That connection is then closed. For Connections Social Cloud, a WebSphere® Application Server (WAS) proxy server must be used to test this function.
    - Configuring notifications
      Enable support for email notifications in HCL Connections applications.
      - Notification types and events
        Several notification types and events are supported.
      - Enabling email notifications
        Notification templates enhanced with visual updates, first provided in HCL Connections 6.0 CR4, are updated for CR5. If your organization plans to start or continue use these visually enhanced templates, you must enable or re-enable them during CR5 configuration.
      - Accessing the notification configuration file
        To make configuration changes to notifications in HCL Connections, you must access and work with the notification-config.xml file.
      - Sending mail from any available mail server
        Configure HCL Connections to perform a lookup of domain namespace (DNS) MX records to retrieve a list of available SMTP servers. If the DNS lookup does not find any available SMTP servers, then email notifications fail to be delivered. If one or more SMTP servers are returned by the lookup, then HCL Connections attempts to send the email through one, and then the next until the email is sent successfully.
      - Sending mail from a dedicated mail server
        Configure HCL Connections notifications to be sent from a specific SMTP server that is managed by WebSphere® Application Server. If the designated mail server is unavailable, then notification emails fail to be delivered.
      - Enabling email notifications (default templates)
        Edit configuration settings to enable email notifications in the HCL Connections applications if you did not do so during the installation.
      - Enabling link stripping in email notifications
        With link stripping in email notifications, you can help users identify unknown or misleading live links before they click them. Enabling this feature is optional.
      - Setting the default frequency of email digests
        You can control the frequency with which email digests from HCL Connections are sent by configuring settings in the notification-config.xml file. You can also lock the default frequency for a specific application or category using settings in the configuration file.
      - Configuring Forums for email notification replies
        Configure Forums so that users can reply to forum topics by email.
      - Defining valid administrator email addresses
        Edit configuration property settings to change the default email addresses from which system notifications, such as a request to join a community, are sent. Notifications are sent from generic administrator email addresses if you do not take action. Default email addresses are initially set during installation, so use this procedure only if you want to change them.
      - Enabling users to specify email notification preferences
        Edit configuration settings to enable users to specify the email address to which they would like notifications sent, the frequency with which they receive notifications, and the language the notification is written in.
      - Disabling embedded applications in notifications
        Standard notifications sent from HCL Connections can include an OpenSocial embedded application that is displayed in supported email clients. You can remove embedded applications from all supporting notifications by disabling a configuration property in the notification-config.xml file.
      - Including mobile links in notifications
        You can enable links to the HCL Connections Mobile service from notifications by updating the value of a property in the notifications configuration file.
    - Uninstalling HCL Connections
      Uninstall HCL Connections.
- Uninstalling HCL Connections
  Uninstall HCL Connections.
- Migrating and updating
  Migrate HCL Connections™ and its supporting software to the latest release and then update the installation with the latest deployment, interim fixes, or Cumulative Refresh (CR).
- Administering
  Run administration and maintenance tasks to keep your environment up-to-date. For example, learn how to customize your deployment or how to use the wsadmin utility to edit configuration files. You can also schedule tasks, maintain application databases, moderate content, or manage users and their roles.
- Customizing
  Customize HCL Connections™ to fit your environment.
- Security
  HCL Connections™ provides a flexible security infrastructure that supports an open, easily shareable data model.
- Mobile
  See the HCL Connections™ Mobile documentation for Connections Cloud and Connections on-premises.
- Developing
  Get information about how to use the APIs provided with HCL Connections™ and how to use Connections Customizer to modify the Connections pages that are returned to users.
- Troubleshooting and support
  To isolate and resolve problems with your HCL products, you can use the troubleshooting and support information. This information contains instructions for using the problem-determination resources that are provided with your IBM® products, including HCL Connections™.

Configuring notifications

Enable support for email notifications in HCL Connections applications.

Before you begin

If you did not create a mail session in WebSphere® Application Server during the installation of the product, you can configure it afterward to enable support for email notifications. Complete this task only if you did not configure notifications during the installation.

When you enable notifications, users are kept informed about new information and events that take place in HCL Connections applications. For more information about notification types and events, see the Notification types and events topic.

About this task

You can configure notifications to be sent in one the following ways:

Send mail from a server found by doing a lookup: This configuration performs a lookup of domain namespace (DNS) MX records to retrieve a list of available SMTP servers. If the DNS lookup does not find any available SMTP servers, then notification fails. If one or more SMTP servers are returned by the lookup, then HCL Connections attempts to send the notification email through one server and then the next until the email is sent successfully. This option avoids the risk of a single point of failure. If you choose this option, make sure that your DNS is configured with valid MX records to ensure that available SMTP servers can be found.
Send mail from a specific SMTP server: This configuration uses a single SMTP server. You must define the SMTP server and its associated settings as a mail session that is managed by WebSphere® Application Server. This single SMTP server is used to send email notifications. If the server is unavailable, then notification fails.

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