Configuring Customizer Lite

Configuring HCL Connections™ for Customizer Lite.

Configuring Connections:

Log into the Connections machine and configure the following aspects.

Modifying HTTPServer

  1. Make a back up of the httpd.conf file before opening it. On a Linux machine it is usually located in /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/conf
  2. In the file, verify that the following modules are listed and that the lines are not commented out (If the lines are commented out, remove the comment markers): 
    LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so 
LoadModule proxy_connect_module modules/mod_proxy_connect.so 
LoadModule proxy_ftp_module modules/mod_proxy_ftp.so 
LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so
  3. Insert the following statements in two places:
    • Before the LoadModule ibm_ssl_module modules/mod_ibm_ssl.so statement
    • Between the <VirtualHost *:443> and </VirtualHost> statements

    Statements to insert:

    LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so 
LoadModule proxy_connect_module modules/mod_proxy_connect.so 
LoadModule proxy_ftp_module modules/mod_proxy_ftp.so 
LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so

    After the change, the code block should look like the following snippets depending on a single vs HA deployment configuration.

    For Customizer Lite single Docker node deployment: 
    ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass /appreg http://customizer_machine_name:7000
ProxyPassReverse /appreg http://customizer_machine_name:7000   
ProxyPass /appregistry http://customizer_machine_name:3002/appregistry
LoadModule ibm_ssl_module modules/mod_ibm_ssl.so
<IfModule mod_ibm_ssl.c>
     Listen 0.0.0.0:443
<VirtualHost *:443>
     ServerName HTTPServerHostname.com
     ProxyPreserveHost On
     ProxyPass /appreg http://customizer_machine_name:7000
     ProxyPassReverse /appreg http://customizer_machine_name:7000
     ProxyPass /appregistry http://customizer_machine_name:3002/appregistry
     ProxyPassReverse /appregistry http://customizer_machine_name:3002/appregistry 

     #DocumentRoot /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/htdocs
     SSLEnable
     SSLProtocolDisable SSLv3 SSLv2 TLSv11
</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>
  4. Save the httpd.conf file
  5. Apply the changes by restarting the HTTP server gracefully; for example:
     /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin/apachectl graceful

Modifying Lotus-Connections config

  1. Open the LotusConnections-config.xml file.
  2. Search for the Dynamic Host entry. Set the value to true and specify the path to the machine hosting Nginx.
    <dynamicHosts enabled="true">
<host href="http://my_installation_of_nginx" ssl_href="https://my_installation_of_nginx"/>
</dynamicHosts>
  3. Sync the nodes and restart Connections

Using Customizer

Refer to Injecting customizations into Connections pages for additional information.

Useful Commands

The following commands are helpful when using Customizer Lite.

  • To view any container restarts run:
    docker inspect --format "ID: {{.ID}} RESTARTS: {{.RestartCount}} NAME: {{.Name}}" $(docker ps -aq)
  • To view a specific log, run the appropriate command: 
    docker-compose logs -f mw-proxy
docker-compose logs -f appregistry-service
docker-compose logs -f appregistry-client
  • To shutdown Customizer:
    docker-compose down

Changing log levels

Log levels for each of the services can be set in the .env file in /customizerLite/scripts.
  • APPREGISTRY_SERVICE_LOG_LEVEL=info
  • APPREGISTRY_CLIENT_LOG_LEVEL=info
  • Mw-Proxy can only be enabled or disabled
  • MW_PROXY_LOGGING_ENABLED=true

Troubleshooting

Customizations not loading
  • Check that the application is enabled
  • Check that the path specified in the application matches the page expecting the injection
  • Ensure that any match criteria in the application are correct
  • Make sure that the customization file has read permissions
  • Ensure that the path being customized is allowed in the Nginx config in the case where a redirect block is being used. See setting up and optimizing Nginx.
Links in Connections are not resolving to the proxy
  • Re-check the steps for Lotus-Configuration change for Connections
  • Make sure that Connections was restarted
Customizer apps are not saving
  • Check that the settings directory in the Customization installation exists
  • Check that the settings directory has write access
Links in Connections are not resolving to the proxy
  • Check that the urls in the .env file of customizerLite/scripts were set correctly
  • Check that the urls were correctly set in the nginx conf

Port conflicts

By default, Customizer light uses ports 7000, 3001, 3002. These can be updated to suit your preference. The changes need to be made in the following locations:

  • In the customizerLite/script/.env ports can be set for each of the services.

    Modify the first line under each of the default settings as required. For example, APPREGISTRY_SERVICE_PORT=30012 Then restart Customizer. "docker-compose down" followed by "docker-compose up"

  • The HttpServer settings will need to be updated to match these ports. See Modifying HTTPServer.