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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
HCL Connections 7.0 now supports the latest Component Pack based in Harbor, an open-source container and Helm registry hosted by HCL for the Component Pack build. Deployments that are new or carrying Component Pack 7 will use this approach for a simplified installation/upgrade process, while releases prior to 7.0 will first need to upgrade to Component Pack 7 using a zip file and a local Docker registry.

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
  HCL Connections 7.0 now supports the latest Component Pack based in Harbor, an open-source container and Helm registry hosted by HCL for the Component Pack build. Deployments that are new or carrying Component Pack 7 will use this approach for a simplified installation/upgrade process, while releases prior to 7.0 will first need to upgrade to Component Pack 7 using a zip file and a local Docker registry.
  - 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
    Use Harbor to do an automated installation or upgrade to the latest Component Pack for HCL Connections. It's best for new and existing customers to read this introduction to better understand how to integrate the Harbor-based Component Pack with the Connections version currently deployed.
  - 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.
  - 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.
  - Uninstalling Component Pack
    Follow these steps to remove the Component Pack services 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.
- 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.
- 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 HCL products, including HCL Connections™.

Installing or upgrading Component Pack for Connections

HCL Connections 7.0 now supports the latest Component Pack based in Harbor, an open-source container and Helm registry hosted by HCL for the Component Pack build. Deployments that are new or carrying Component Pack 7 will use this approach for a simplified installation/upgrade process, while releases prior to 7.0 will first need to upgrade to Component Pack 7 using a zip file and a local Docker registry.

When you install or upgrade from Component Pack 7 to the latest, you will need to add the HCL Harbor repository to your Helm CLI so that you can pull container images and Helm charts for your deployment directly from Harbor. For more information on the steps you need to perform for installation or upgrade, see Installation and upgrade.

Customers with credentials to access Connections in the HCL Software License & Download portal may apply those credentials to access Harbor.

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, and information on automating installation or upgrade.