Oracle9iAS Portal Developer Kit (PDK)
Installing the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Portlets

Contents

Introduction
Requirements
Deploying the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Provider

• Installing the ASP files on Internet Information Server
• Updating provider.xml

Publishing the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Portlets

Creating the External Application
Registering the MIcrosoft Exchange 2000 Provider
Adding the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Portlets to a Page

• Customizing the Portlet to View Your Mailbox

Introduction

• Exchange 2000 Inbox Portlet
• Exchange 2000 Calendar Portlet
• Exchange 2000 Contacts Portlet

Requirements

• Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
• Microsoft Outlook Web Access 2000 (installs with Microsoft Exchange 2000)
• Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0 (IIS)
• PDK-Java runtime and samples v9.0.2 or above
• Oracle9iAS Portal 3.0.9.8.0 or above

Deploying the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Portlets Provider

Installing the ASP Files on Internet Information Server (IIS)

1. Create a new virtual directory on the IIS default web site.

 
1. Go to the machine that has Microsoft IIS 5.0. You should have a Default Web Site Content Directory on this computer, e.g.,C:\Inetpub. Create a new directory here, e.g. C:\Inetpub\exchange(The remainder of the instructions contained in this document will refer to this directory as $exchange_dir).
2. Now, go to the machine where Oracle9iAS is installed. Copy the htdocs folder located at:

$IAS_HOME(MID_TIER)/j2ee/OC4J_PORTAL/applications/exchange/exchange
with all its contents into the $exchange_dir directory created in the step a. above on the IIS server machine.
3. Click Start, point to Programs, then Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Services Manager.
4. In the left pane of the Internet Information Services screen, you will see the name of your computer. Click on it and expand it.
5. Right-click the Default Web Site, point to New, and then click Virtual Directory. You will be shown a Wizard for creating a Virtual Directory.
• Click on the Next for the first Welcome .... screen.
• Virtual Directory Alias: Enter the alias for this new virtual directory, say exchange(The remainder of the instructions contained in this document will refer to this directory to as your_virtual_directory). Click on Next.
• Web Site Content Directory: Click on Browse to select the $exchange_dir\htdocs directory in the Directory field. Click on Next.
• Access Permissions: Accept the default values in this screen and click on Next.
• Click Finish.
6. Now, you need to create a sub-directory called resources in the new Virtual Directory, your_virtual_directory created in the step e. For creating this, please follow these steps:
• In the left pane of the Internet Information Services screen, right-click on your your_virtual_directory. Point to New, and then click Virtual Directory. You will be shown a Wizard for creating a Virtual Directory.
• Click on the Next button for the first Welcome .... screen.
• Virtual Directory Alias: Enter the alias for this new virtual directory, say resources(NOTE: The name of this Virtual directory MUST necessarily be resources ). Click on Next.
• Web Site Content Directory: Click on Browse to select the $exchange_dir\htdocs\resources directory in the Directory field. Click on Next.
• Access Permissions: Accept the default values in this screen and click on Next.
• Click Finish.

 
2. Configure your new virtual directory to use basic authentication.

 
1.  The Internet Services Manager window should still be open. In the left pane, expand the Default Web Site.
2. Right-click the virtual directory created  in the step 1a. (your_virtual_directory), and select Properties.
3. Select the Directory Security tab.
4. Click Edit in the Anonymous access and authentication control section.
5. Select the checkbox for Basic authentication and unselect all other checkboxes. When you select basic authentication, a dialog will pop up warning you that passwords will be transmitted unencrypted. Click Yes to continue.
6. Click Edit next to Select a default domain. The domain you should select here is the domain for which your Exchange server is the primary domain controller. If this is the domain that Microsoft IIS 5.0 is on, you can click Use Default.

 
3. Give users the right to log on locally to the IIS server.

In order for users to access your new virtual directory using basic authentication, they must be given the Log On Locally right for the machine that has IIS.The easiest way to do this is as follows:
1. Go to the machine that has Microsoft IIS 5.0. Click Start, point to Programs, then Administrative Tools, and then click Local Security Policy.
2. In the left pane, expand Local Policies. Under the expanded node, click User Rights Assignment.
3. In the right pane, double click Log on locally. Look to see if the group Users is in the list of assigned users/groups. Make sure the Local Policy Setting is checked for Users. Also make sure the group corresponds to the domain for your Exchange server (you do not need to worry about this if you only have one domain). If the “Users” group is not in the list, click Add… and add the “Users” group from your Exchange server’s domain.
4. If IIS and Exchange are on one machine, you will need to assign this right at the domain controller level. Click Start, point to Programs, then Administrative Tools, and then click Domain Controller Security Policy. Expand Security Settings, then expand Local Policies, and then click User Rights Assignment. In the right pane, double click Log on locally and make sure the Users group has been added to the list. If not, then add it at this point.
5. You must restart the machine for user rights assignment changes to take effect.

 
4. Test basic authentication for your new virtual directory.

 
1. Open a browser and go to:

http://your_IIS_hostname:port/your_virtual_directory/hello.html

A basic authentication dialog should prompt you to authenticate. Enter the credentials for a valid user account.
2. Do not proceed with the installation if you cannot successfully view the Hello World page. If this happens, review the previous steps and double check that everything has been configured correctly.

 
5. Configure the location of files with the .mmp extension.

The ASP pages you added to the IIS virtual directory in Step 2 use a set of Microsoft APIs called Collaboration Data Objects (CDO). When CDO is used in an ASP page to logon to an Exchange mailbox, a temporary .mmp file is created and stored in the directory where Windows is installed.Since most users would not have permissions to that directory, they would not be able to log on to Microsoft Exchange via the ASP pages.This previously caused a [Collaboration Data Objects - [MAPI_E_NOT_FOUND(8004010F)]]error to appear when invoking the portlet ASP pages (see OTN forum).To avoid this error, configure the Windows Messaging Subsystem to store the temporary .mmp file in a different directory:

1. Start Registry Editor (regedt32.exe) on the machine that has IIS.
2. Go to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows Messaging Subsystem.
3. On the Edit Menu, click Add Value.
4. Enter the following:
1. Value Name: ProfileDirectory
2. Data Type: REG_SZ
3. String: The path to the directory you want the .mmp files to be created in. For example, C:\temp. Make sure everyone has full control permissions for this directory.

 

1. Open a browser and go to:

http://your_IIS_hostname:port/your_virtual_directory/test.asp?Mailbox=mailbox_alias_for_sample_account&Server=your_exchange_server

For example, suppose IIS is on a machine called “server-iis”, Exchange 2000 is on “server-ex”, and you created a user called “john.doe” (mailbox alias “john.doe”). Then you would go to:

http://server-iis/your_virtual_directory/test.asp?Mailbox=john.doe&Server=server-ex

When prompted by the authentication dialog, enter the credentials for the "john.doe" user account. You should see the word VALID appear.
2. You can run this same test by invoking inbox.asp instead of test.asp. You should then see the sample user's inbox appear.
3. Do not proceed with the installation if you cannot successfully view test.asp and inbox.asp. If this happens, review the previous steps and double check that everything has been configured correctly.

Updating provider.xml

At this point, you should have successfully installed and tested your Microsoft Exchange 2000 ASP pages.  These ASP pages will be integrated with the PDK-URL Services framework to render the Microsoft Exchange 2000 portlets.  The rest of this installation involves installing and registering the provider for the Exchange 2000 portlets.

Open the given provider.xml file for the Exchange 2000 portlets.  Modify the URLs in each of the <pageUrl> tags to point to the URLs of the corresponding Inbox/Contacts/Calendar asp page on your IIS server (if there is a proxy server between your Oracle9iAS HTTP Server and your Microsoft IIS Server, you will need to add the appropriate tags to specify your proxy server and port). For the Inbox portlet, the <pageUrl> tag should look like this:

<pageUrl>http://your_IIS_hostname:port/your_virtual_directory/inbox.asp</pageUrl>

Note: If you installed the ASP files on a separate machine from Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA), you must specify the URL used to access OWA. OWA is the web client for Microsoft Exchange. All of the portlet links for creating a new message, reading a message, etc. open OWA to display the inbox, contacts and calendar in detail. To specify a URL for OWA, add the URL as a parameter called "owapath" to the pageUrl (do this only if you installed the ASP files on a separate machine from OWA).  For example:
<pageUrl>http://your_IIS_hostname:port/your_virtual_directory/inbox.asp?owapath=http://your_OWA_hostname:port/exchange</pageUrl>
Save and close the provider.xml file.
You should now be able to test your Exchange 2000 portlet provider by going to the URL:

http://your_oc4j_hostname:port/exchange/providers/exchange

Publishing the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Portlets

Creating the External Application

• Log on to Oracle9iAS Portal as a Oracle9iAS Portal Administrator.  Go to the Administer tab of the Oracle9iAS Portal Builder.  In the SSO Server Administration portlet, click Administer External Applications.
• Click on Add External Application.  In the External Application Login and Authentication Method sections, enter the following:
• Application Name: Exchange 2000 Basic Authentication
• Login URL: http://your_IIS_hostname:port/your_virtual_directory/hello.html
• User Name/ID Field Name: <leave blank>
• Password Field Name: <leave blank>
• Type of Authentication Used: Select BASIC AUTHENTICATION

• Click OK.  Then click on the link for your new Exchange 2000 Basic Authentication application and enter valid user account credentials.  The Remember My Login Information... checkbox must be checked.

Registering the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Provider

1. Login to Oracle9iAS Portal using an account that has build privileges. If your home page is not the Build/Administer page, click on the Builder link in the top right corner of the screen. Click on the Build tab if that is not the active tab.
2. Under the Build tab (on Oracle9iAS Portal Home Page), click on Register Portlet Provider within the portlet called Providers.
3. Fill out provider information for the MIcrosoft Exchange 2000 Provider.
• Name: Exchange2000
• Display Name: Exchange 2000 Provider
• Timeout: 100
• Timeout Message: Exchange 2000 Provider Timed Out
• Implementation Style: Web
4. Click on the Next button to enter the Web Provider specific information
5. Enter the Web Provider location

URL: http://your_oc4j_hostname:port/exchange/providers/exchange
6. Scroll down to the User/Session Information section and specify the login frequency
7. Select the radio button labeled The user's identity needs to be mapped to a different name....  In the External Application ID field, select the ID corresponding to the Exchange 2000 Basic Authentication application you created in the previous step.
8. Login Frequency: Once Per User Session.
9. Click on the Finish button to complete the registration

Adding the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Portlets to a Page

Customizing the Portlet to View Your Mailbox

Click the portlet's Customize link.  Enter the mailbox alias for the user account you supplied in Step 3 above.  Enter the Exchange server on which that mailbox resides.  Check the Use Qualified Parameters check box.  You may customize other portlet settings at this screen as well (number of rows per page, filters, etc.).  Click OK to see the portlet.

To switch to another Exchange mailbox, you will have to change the values entered in the portlet Customize screen and the credentials entered for the Exchange 2000 Basic Auth external application.  You can change credentials for an external application via the External Applications portlet.
 

Revision History:

Revision No Last Update 1.0 December 26, 2002 1.1 June 02, 2003