Installing and configuring HCL Connections Add-in for Microsoft Outlook Standalone Install
Installing and setting up the HCL Connections Add-in for Microsoft Outlook as a standalone docker image.
About this task
- Downloading the Connections Add-in for Outlook from the HCL License & Delivery Portal.
- Registering the Connections Add-in for Outlook OAuth application provider with Connections
- Updating the Connections Add-in for Outlook docker environment variables
- Loading the Connections Add-in for Outlook docker image
- Deploying the Connections Add-in for Outlook docker instance
- Adding the Connections Add-in for Outlook add-in proxy rules to proxy server configuration
- Making the Connections Add-in for Outlook available to users.
Downloading the Connections Add-in for Outlook Download the HCL Connections Add-in for Microsoft Outlook standalone install from the HCL License & Delivery Portal.
Registering the Connections Add-in for Outlook OAuth application provider - In a Standalone deploy, you must manually register the OAuth provider. Refer to Registering the Connections Add-in for Outlook OAuth application provider for additional information.
The Connections Add-in for Outlook relies on environment variables for configuration. These will need to be modified to fit your environment before running the Connections Add-in for Outlook docker image. The environment variables and their default values are located in the override.yaml file. Depending on your deployment, you can either modify the override.yaml file and pass that on the deployment step, or you can pass the updated individual variables on the command line.
- What must be overridden:
- CONNECTIONS_URL – URL of your Connections environment without a trailing slash. For example, https://my.connections.server.com. The same URL has to be used when generating secret in the first step.
- CONNECTIONS_CLIENT_SECRET - Client secret generated by Connections when registering OAuth provider in the first step.
- CONNECTIONS_CLIENT_ID - Client ID (aka. app ID) used when registering OAuth provider in Connections in the first step (default: connections-outlook-desktop)
- What may be overridden:
- CONTEXT_ROOT - The path to where the Connections Add-in for Outlook is being served, relative to the CONNECTIONS_URL. Do NOT start or end with `/. (default: outlook-addin)
- SUPPORT_URL - URL that an end user can go to for information. Defaults to Using the HCL Connections Add-in for Microsoft Outlook
- CONNECTIONS_NAME – A custom name for the add-in..(default: 'HCL Connections')
- EWS_HOSTNAME - The hostname for Exchange Web Services. Default: 'outlook.office365.com'
- To load the Connections Add-in for Outlook docker image from your internal docker registry: docker pull <YOUR_DOCKER_REGISTRY_PATH>.
- To load the compressed Connections Add-in for Outlook docker image downloaded from HCL Delivery Portal: docker load -input <COMPRESSED_FILE_NAME>. For example, docker load -input ConnectionsOutlookAddin-21.01.tar.gz
- Tag image to push
- docker tag <DOCKER_IMAGE_ID> <SERVER_ADDRESS>:5000/ <DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG>
- For example, docker tag 1234567890 [http://lcauto21.cnx.cwp.pnp-hcl.com:5000/20211019-235421" title="http://lcauto21.cnx.cwp.pnp-hcl.com:5000/20211019-235421" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" tabindex="-1" style="font-family: "Segoe UI", system-ui, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; http://mydockerreg.mycompany.com:5000/]connections-outlook-desktop
- Push image
- docker push <SERVER_ADDRESS>:5000/<DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG>
- For example, docker push [http://lcauto21.cnx.cwp.pnp-hcl.com:5000/20211019-235421" title="http://lcauto21.cnx.cwp.pnp-hcl.com:5000/20211019-235421" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" tabindex="-1" style="font-family: "Segoe UI", system-ui, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; http://mydockerreg.mycompany.com:5000/]connections-outlook-desktop
- Get docker images
docker images
- Run docker image on your server. Pass in the overridden environment variables. See
the environment variables section above for details on the variable values:
docker run -itd -p <PORT>:<PORT> --env CONNECTIONS_URL=<SERVER_ADDRESS> --env CONTEXT_ROOT=<CONTEXT_ROOT> --env SUPPORT_URL=<SUPPORT_URL> --env CONNECTIONS_CLIENT_ID =< CONNECTIONS_CLIENT_ID> --env CONNECTIONS_CLIENT_SECRET=<CONNECTIONS_CLIENT_SECRET> --env CONNECTIONS_NAME=< CONNECTIONS_NAME> <IMAGE_ID>
example:
docker run -itd -p 8080:8080 --env CONNECTIONS_URL=https://connections.mycompany.com --env CONTEXT_ROOT=outlook-addin --env CONNECTIONS_CLIENT_ID=connections-outlook-desktop --env CONNECTIONS_CLIENT_SECRET=8as5FhqBUKyiCLlHoBhGnFFkjeMBQ7HZqXDNMegHxLLchsofahBJK8ZBWlJo connections.mycompany.com:5000/connections-outlook-desktop
You will need to update your proxy with rules to allow for the Connections Add-in for Outlook to function correctly. The example settings below are the ones used for IHS (taken from the component pack setup). If you are using another proxy, make comparable changes to the proxy configuration.
Update the rules below to your httpd.conf for your IHS servers and restart IHS. Substitute the appropriate values for the variables shown like <VARIABLE>:
#proxy rules for outlook add-in
Redirect "/<CONTEXT_ROOT>" "/<CONTEXT_ROOT>/"
ProxyPass "/<CONTEXT_ROOT>/" "https://<SERVER_NAME>:<PORT_ON_WHICH_SERVICE_IS_RUNNING>/“
ProxyPassReverse "/<CONTEXT_ROOT>/” "https://<SERVER_NAME>:<PORT_ON_WHICH_SERVICE_IS_RUNNING>/"
example:
#proxy rules for outlook-addin
Redirect "/outlook-addin" "/outlook-addin/"
ProxyPass "/outlook-addin/" "https://my.connections.server.com:32080/“
ProxyPassReverse "/outlook-addin/” "https://my.connections.server.com:32080/"
The Connections Add-in for Outlook must be added to the users’ Outlook environments. This can be done by the Exchange administrator, or by the users directly
- Tag image to push
- docker tag <DOCKER_IMAGE_ID> <SERVER_ADDRESS>:5000/<DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG>
- For example, docker tag 1234567890 http://mydockerreg.mycompany.com:5000/connections-outlook-desktop
- Push image
- docker push <SERVER_ADDRESS>:5000/<DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG>
- For example, docker push http://mydockerreg.mycompany.com:5000/connections-outlook-desktop