Welcome to the HCL Connections documentation site. 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.
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.
Administer the common areas of HCL Connections.
Perform optional tasks to customize your HCL Connections deployment.
Find out about features that are new or updated in this release of HCL Connections.
Learn how to deploy, customize, and administer the HCL Connections social networking product.
Before installing HCL Connections™, study the system requirements, deployment options, and documentation conventions.
To install HCL Connections™, you need to follow a detailed series of procedures.
The Component Pack for HCL Connections introduces several offerings that enhance collaboration and boost productivity. Read on to understand the offerings, what resources Component Pack requires, some sizing considerations for Kubernetes, information on automating installation or upgrade, and sample steps for installation or upgrade.
After installation, you need to perform further tasks to ensure an efficient deployment.
The Tiny editors are alternative rich-text editors which can be installed for HCL Connections™. They provide additional features and extensive customization options not available with the default editor.
To enable full indexing of data, copy the Search conversion tools to local nodes.
Complete the post-installation tasks that are relevant to your deployment.
Uninstall HCL Connections.
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). Refer to the What's New in HCL Connections to review the latest new features in a release, gather download links, look over the latest fix list and update strategy information. HCL Connections supports upgrading to Connections 7.0 from 6.5 CR1. If you are on a release prior to 6.5, refer to the Knowledge Article, Road map for Upgrading Connections, for guidance on first upgrading to 6.5. You will then need to apply 6.5 CR1 and then can proceed with upgrading to 7.0.
Consider tasks that you might want to complete after you install HCL Connections and before users start using it.
Use the wsadmin utility to edit configuration properties or run administrative commands.
Make sure HCL Connections works properly in your particular environment.
Use superusers, moderation, and other methods to manage HCL Connections content.
The Widget Container is the HCL Connections-specific integration of the Common Rendering Engine, also known as the CRE.
Manage roles, credentials, users, and directories, and allow third-party access to HCL Connections data.
Manage the access that people from outside your organization (external users) have to your HCL Connections implementation.
Configure HCL Connections to prevent email addresses from being displayed in the product to protect the privacy of your users.
Allow email addresses to be displayed in HCL Connections.
By default, the HCL Connections user interface (UI) is displayed in the language that is identified in the locale settings of the web browser. You can set it up to allow users to explicitly select the language in which the product is displayed.
Change the context root of URLs that point to HCL Connections applications.
If you have an Sametime® 8.5.2 client or later and the Profiles application deployed, you can enable Sametime awareness in HCL Connections.
If an Sametime® Proxy server is configured in your enterprise and the Profiles application is deployed, you can enable presence awareness and simple chats in HCL Connections.
You might decide to disable an application temporarily for maintenance or if, for example, you are deploying the product and the application is not yet ready for use.
Disable the Gallery widget and Files grid view to prevent users selecting the thumbnail view of files.
You can remove microblogging functionality from your deployment by disabling the microblogging service reference in the LotusConnections-config.xml file. Microblogging is enabled by default in HCL Connections.
The social analytics widgets help users to discover how they are connected to other users and content, and suggest network contacts and content that might interest them. The social analytics service is enabled by default.
If you installed a subset of the HCL Connections applications, remove the help files associated with the applications that you did not install from the help table of contents. If you add an application, or install HCL Connections Mail, you can add that product's help to the table of contents.
Specify a custom number of suggestions that appear when you use @mentions.
URL preview allows users decide quickly whether to follow a link by displaying a thumbnail preview for URLs.
Configure Activities to best meet the needs of your environment.
Administer site-wide settings for Blogs from either the Blogs user interface or via the wsadmin client.
You configure and administer Bookmarks using scripts accessed using the wsadmin client. Changes to Bookmarks configuration settings require a restart of the Bookmarks server before they take effect. Changes made using administrative commands take effect immediately.
Configure and administer Communities using scripts accessed using the IBM® WebSphere® Application Server wsadmin client.
You administer Files using the wsadmin client to specify properties in a configuration file, or run administrative commands.
Administer Forums by specifying properties in a configuration file or running administrative commands.
You can administer site-wide settings for the Home page from the Home page administration user interface or using the wsadmin client.
A Library provides the services of an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system to Communities. To enable the use of Libraries, you must make some configuration changes to Connections and to each ECM system that you plan to use.
Administer metrics in HCL Connections by modifying configuration settings, backing up data, and running commands to perform maintenance tasks.
You administer the News repository using scripts accessed using the wsadmin client. Changes to News configuration settings require node synchronization and a restart of the Home page server before they take effect.
Profiles provides two types of administrative capabilities: configuration settings and administrative commands. You change configuration settings and execute administrative commands by running scripts from the wsadmin command line.
The Search service provides a point for performing full text and tag searches across all the deployed HCL Connections applications. Search is a required application for all HCL Connections applications, and it must be running to prevent unexpected behaviors in the other applications.
Configure and administer Wikis by using the wsadmin client to run administrative commands or by editing the configuration file directly.
Monitor the services for Component Pack for HCL Connections™ and troubleshoot issues.
Customize HCL Connections™ to fit your environment.
HCL Connections™ provides a flexible security infrastructure that supports an open, easily shareable data model.
See the HCL Connections™ Mobile documentation for Connections Cloud and Connections on-premises.
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.
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 HCL products, including HCL Connections™.