Policies and preferences for IBM Connections for Mac

Set preferences and policies to control how users interact with IBM® Connections for Mac.

Preference and policy settings

The following table shows preference and policy settings that control the behavior of IBM Connections for Mac. You can specify these custom setting by adding or editing keys in property list (plist) for the application. Setting values to anything other than the values listed in the table produces unpredictable results.

There are three ways to set a property in a plist.
  • A user can edit the plist in /Users/{USER_NAME}/Library/Preferences/com.ibm.AutoSyncMonitor.plist" using an editor such as xcode or plistBuddy. Create a dictionary with the name of "Policies" and add policies to the dictionary XML file to enable them.
    Note: the debugMode and LogEnabled keys must be added to /Root not /Policies.
  • If you are a local administrator, you can create a new plist named com.ibm.AutoSyncMonitor.plist and add it to /Library/Preferences. Add policies to this plist that will apply for users of this computer.
    Note: Once the plist is in this directory the only way to edit it is with plist Buddy and you must authenticate using your administrator password.
  • If you are a server administrator, you can use a program such as OS X Server to distribute custom plists with policies that you set. Add a plist to /Library/Managed Preferences/{USER_NAME}/. The policies apply for each user that you specify. These settings can not be changed locally.
Note: If there is a conflict between the plists, the Managed Preference list on the server override the library and user preferences, and library preferences override user preferences.
Table 1. Property list keys for IBM Connections for Mac

Key/SubKey

 Name (Type = String) Values Description

Root/Policies

Default Auth Type

0 – Basic Authentication (Default)

1 – Custom

Controls the default authentication type in the Add Account dialog.

Root/Policies

Default Auth Type Policy

0 – Enable Authentication dropdown (default)

1 – Disable Authentication dropdown

Setting the policy to disable will prevent users from selecting and changing the authentication type in the Add Account dialog.

Root/Policies

Default Auth Ext

Bundle ID

 When Default Auth Type is set to Custom this setting controls which custom authentication module will display by default. Supported bundle IDs include:
  • Basic - basic.authexct
  • Smart Cloud - smartcloud.authext
  • TAM - tam.authext
  • SiteMinder - siteminder.authext
  • IBM Connect Cloud - ibmsc.authext
  • Federated - federatedcloud.authext
  • Web Forms Authentication - html.authtext
.

Root/Policies

Sharing Intent

String

0 = sharing intent setting is not checked

1 = sharing intent setting is checked (Default)

This setting sets the default value for the sharing intent setting on new file and new folder dialogs and Add New Account Panel for Cloud Account dialog.

Root/Policies

Sharing Intent Policy

String

0 = user can change the sharing intent setting (Default)

1 = user cannot change the sharing intent setting

This setting controls whether the user can change the default value for the sharing intent setting on new file and new folder dialogs and Add New Account Panel for Cloud Account dialog. If the policy is set, the user cannot change the setting.

Root/Policies

Encryption

String

0 = Encrypt option is not checked (Default)

1 = Encrypt option is checked

This setting sets the default value for the Encryption setting on new file dialogs and Add New Account Panel for Cloud Account dialog

Root/Policies

Encryption Policy

String

0 = user can change the Encryption setting (Default)

1 = user cannot change the Encryption setting

This setting controls whether the user can change the default value for the Encryption setting on new file dialogs and Add New Account Panel for Cloud Account dialog. If the policy is set, the user cannot change the setting.

Root/Policies

Help URL
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSYGQH_5.0.0/connectors/admin/msdesktop_mac_over.dita (Default)
Note: "http://" or "https://" is required as part of the url

The URL for help for the product.

Root/Policies

DefaultConnectURL

String

Default - null (not in registry)

The URL that shows by default in the dd New Account dialog for a new server.

Root/Policies

DefaultConnectName

String

Default - null

The name that will show by default in the dd New Account dialog for a new server

Root/Policies

Disable Public Sharing

String

0 = public sharing enabled, will allow sharing with Everyone (public) or Everyone in Organization (for smartcloud) where appropriate in sharing dialogs

1 = groups disabled, will disable sharing with Everyone (public) or Everyone in Organization (for smartcloud) where appropriate in sharing dialogs (default)

This setting disables the ability for users to share with Everyone (the Public) for Connections, or with Everyone in Organization for Connections Cloud. There is no 'Disable Public Sharing Policy.'

Root/Policies

ScanIgnoreExtensions

 <Dictionary of extensions>

List of extensions to ignore changes on; for example: gif, jpeg, mpg. This list will be merged with any user preferences unless the policy is set to Disable.

Note: Setting this option requires a reboot.

Root/Policies

ScanIgnoreExtensions Policy

0 – Enable Preference (default)

1 - Disable Preference

Setting the policy to disable will prevent users from adding file extensions to the ignore list.

Root/Policies

DarkDeployment

0 – Disable Features (default)

1 - Enable Features

Dark Deployment are features that are beta ready.

Root/Policies

DarkDeployment Policy

String

Default - null (not in registry)

0 = user can change the DarkDeployment setting (default)

1= user cannot change the DarkDeployment setting

Controls whether users can change the DarkDeployment setting in the General Preferences panel.

Root/Policies

DisableConnectCloud

0 – Show (Default)

1 – Hide

Controls whether users see the Connect to Cloud option in the Connections menu.

Root

DebugMode

1 - Report any Error Message (default)

2 - Report any Warning or Error message

3 - Report any Debug, Warning, or Error message

Setting this policy will enable the application to log different levels of messages

Root

LogEnabled

0- Logs are not saved (default)

1 - Write logs to log file

Setting this policy will enable the application to create a physical log that is located in: /Users/{USERNAME}/Library/Application Support/com.ibm.AutoSyncMonitor/Logs

Note: Log files are kept for one week, then the oldest is automatically removed each day as a new log file is created.

Root/Policies

FailInvalidCerts

String

0 – allow untrusted certificates (default)

1 – block untrusted certificates

When FailInvalidCert is set to 0, the user is warned that the certificate is invalid or incorrect but user can choose to accept the certificate. When FailInvalidCert is set to 1, it will block untrusted certificates. An error message informs users that the certificate is invalid or incorrect.