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Administering Connections 7.0
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.
Installing or upgrading Component Pack for Connections
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.
Integrating with other apps
With Component Pack for HCL Connections, you can deploy microservices for apps that create points of integration between Connections and other products.
Integrating with Activities Plus
Huddo (formerly Kudos) Activities Plus is the team collaboration tool (replacement of Connections Activities) from Huddo Boards that makes work easier and more intuitive.
Installing Activities Plus services
Activities Plus in Connections Component Pack (CP) uses the existing Component Pack infrastructure, assuming that you have a working Connections Component Pack environment.

Administering Connections 7.0
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.
- 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 Connections
  To install HCL Connections™, you need to follow a detailed series of procedures.
- Installing or upgrading Component Pack for Connections
  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.
  - Component Pack offerings
    The Component Pack for HCL Connections introduces new connectivity capabilities that enhance collaboration and boost productivity.
  - Overview of Component Pack architecture
    Component Pack for HCL Connections™ is both designed and deployed upon a different software stack from Connections. Therefore, it requires a separate hardware infrastructure.
  - Prerequisites for Component Pack
    On a very high level, to install and successfully run HCL Component Pack, you will need HCL Connections plus additional resources to satisfy the following requirements:
  - Installation and upgrade
    Experienced customers can download a package to do an automated installation or upgrade of Component Pack for HCL Connections. It is best for new customers to read this introduction and at least initially to do the manual steps in this section to gain a better understanding of Component Pack.
  - Uninstalling Component Pack
    Follow these steps to remove the Component Pack services from your Connections deployment.
  - Troubleshooting Component Pack installation or upgrade
    If you encounter issues when installing or deploying the Component Pack images, see the Troubleshooting Component Pack guide on the HCL Software product documentation site, or consult HCL Support Services for recent tech articles on Component Pack.
  - Configuring the Component Pack
    Configure the offerings and related components in the Component Pack for HCL Connections™.
  - Customizing email notifications using the app registry
    If Component Pack for HCL Connections™ is installed in your deployment, you can use the app registry to change the look and content email notifications and newsletters, making them particular to your organization.
  - Integrating with other apps
    With Component Pack for HCL Connections, you can deploy microservices for apps that create points of integration between Connections and other products.
    - Integrating with Connections Outlook Add-in for Microsoft Outlook
      With the HCL Connections Outlook Add-in, users can work with Connections content from within their Outlook inbox.
    - Integrating with Activities Plus
      Huddo (formerly Kudos) Activities Plus is the team collaboration tool (replacement of Connections Activities) from Huddo Boards that makes work easier and more intuitive.
      - Pre-installation tasks
        You must complete the following tasks before installing Activities Plus services for Connections Component Pack.
      - Installing Activities Plus services
        Activities Plus in Connections Component Pack (CP) uses the existing Component Pack infrastructure, assuming that you have a working Connections Component Pack environment.
      - Configuring Activities Plus services
      - Migrating Activities data
        If you want to move existing Activities data to Activities Plus, you must run the migration service.
      - Customizing Activities Plus
      - Uninstalling Activities Plus
        If necessary, you can remove the Activities Plus app from your Connections deployment.
- Post-installation tasks
  After installation, you need to perform further tasks to ensure an efficient deployment.
- Optional: Installing and configuring Tiny Editors for HCL Connections
  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.
- 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.
- Uninstalling
  Uninstall HCL Connections.
- Upgrading and updating
  Upgrade HCL Connections and its supporting software to the latest release and then update the installation with the latest interim fixes or cumulative fixes. Refer to the What's New in HCL Connections to review the features in the latest release and gather download links or links to the latest fix list and update strategy information.
- 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 HCL products, including HCL Connections™.

Installing Activities Plus services

Activities Plus in Connections Component Pack (CP) uses the existing Component Pack infrastructure, assuming that you have a working Connections Component Pack environment.

Before you begin

Make sure that you complete all pre-installation tasks.

About this task

The following is the default network configuration (SSL/Network setup):

BOARDS_URL:
connections_url/boards
For example, connections.example.com/boards
API_URL:
connections_url/boards
For example, connections.example.com/boards
API_GATEWAY:
connections_url/api-boards
For example, connections.example.com/api-boards

These values will be used throughout this documentation on integrating Activities Plus with Component Pack.

Procedure

Install the Activities Plus services using the following Helm chart:

Note: --recreate-pods ensures all images are up to date. This will cause downtime.

From the directory that contains the boards-cp.yaml file, run the following command:

helm upgrade kudos-boards-cp path_to_helm_charts/kudos-boards-cp-1.0.0-20191120-214007.tgz -i -f ./boards-cp.yaml --namespace connections --recreate-pods

where path_to_helm_charts is the file path to the helm charts:

extractedFolder/microservices_connections/hybridcloud/helmbuilds/

Example

helm upgrade kudos-boards-cp ./microservices_connections/hybridcloud/helmbuilds/kudos-boards-cp-1.0.0-20191120-214007.tgz -i -f ./boards-cp.yaml --namespace connections --recreate-pods

What to do next

Complete any applicable configuration tasks in Configuring Activities Plus services.