Welcome to the HCL Connections 6.5 documentation. 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.
Make sure HCL Connections works properly in your particular environment.
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.
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).
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.
The directory paths to HCL Connections application data and other resources are given associated WebSphere® Application Server environment variables. If you change default paths in your environment, you must update the variables.
The session cookie ID for HCL Connections is named JSESSIONID by default. Other products hosted by the WebSphere® Application Server often use the same name for their session cookie. If IBM® HTTP Server is hosting multiple web servers, you might want to change the cookie name of one of them to prevent the cookie from being lost when the user is redirected from one product to another.
The Activities, Communities, Files, Forums, News, Search, and Wikis applications use the IBM® WebSphere® Application Server scheduling service for performing regular tasks. You can use wsadmin commands to change the schedule by which a task runs or to disable a scheduled task altogether.
Each HCL Connections application stores data in a database, and some also store data on a file system. You must back up these databases and file systems on a regular schedule using the methods documented by the vendor from whom you purchased the database and file system that you are using.
You can remove IBM® WebSphere® Administration Server nodes from a cluster using the Integrated Solutions Console or using a command.
You must back up both the application databases and content stores on a regular schedule using the methods documented by the vendor from whom you purchased the database and file system you are using.
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.
Perform optional tasks to customize your HCL Connections deployment.
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 IBM® products, including HCL Connections™.