Thinsy Alfresco Community 3.2 with Active Directory
| Thinsy Alfresco Community 3.2 Quick links |
Software Version 1.0.1, Document Version 1.1 Introduction Thinsy Alfresco Community 3.2 is a packaging of Alfresco Community 3.2 with Active Directory Authentication. The following features are tested to work in this Virtual Appliance
Downloading the software You can download the Thinsy Alfresco Community 3.2 for Active Directory using the following methods
Requisites Thinsy Alfresco Community 3.2 for Active Directory requires the following:
Preparing Active Directory Please add a DNS entry for this new Thinsy Alfresco Virtual Server. The following is a screen capture showing a new DNS entry for the server alfie2 being made in a Windows 2003 Server. Virtual Appliance Network Configuration It is best to use a static IP address with the Thinsy Alfresco Community 3.2 Virtual Appliance. Enter the IP Address assinged to the Virtual Appliance in the step above. The Network Configuration tab of the Virtual Appliance is shown below. SSL Certificate Configuration Initially, the Virtual Server starts up with a self signed certificate for the DNS Name configured in the step above. This is adequate for testing purposes. For deployment, it is advisable to purchase a certificate from a real CA, and install that Certificate in this Virtual Server. The SSL Configuration tab is captured below. In this screen capture, the Virtual Server is using a self signed certificate. To switch to a CA signed certificate, press the “Generate Key” button. You will be guided through the process of generating a key, and getting the key signed by sending to a CA (Verisign, Godaddy, etc.) Outgoing Email Server Configuration It is important for the Virtual Server to have the ability to send out email. If the Network is configured such that all outgoing email has to be sent out through a centralized Email forwarding server, ‘SMARTHOST’ in Sendmail parlance, then this configuration page needs to be filled out. Otherwise, you may proceed to directly to the User Management page. The Outgoing Email Server Configuration is largely self-explanatory. Please fill out the Email server configuration, and test it. User Management The Thinsy Alfresco Community 3.2 for Active Directory does not maintain its own user database. It relies fully upon Active Directory for all user management tasks. The two important functions of the Active Directory User Management are
These functions are configured using the ‘User Mgmt’ tab shown below. Step 1: User database synchronization Enter the name of the Active Directory domain (thinsytest.com in this example), the Active Directory Server (192.168.1.160 in this example), the username of an Active Directory account with permissions to search the database (’Administrator’ in this example), and the password. Then press the ‘Test and Save AD Sync Settings’ button. Step 2: Password verification (Authentication) setup Enter the name of the Active Directory domain (thinsytest.com in this example), the Active Directory Server (192.168.1.160 in this example), the username of the Active Directory Administrator (’Administrator’ in this example), and the password. Then press the ‘Configure AD based Authentication’ button. Step 3: Designate AD Users as Alfresco Administrators Upto three Active Directory users may be designated Administrators for this virtual server. Enter their names, and save using the ‘Set as Alfresco Administrators’ button. Finally: Setup Complete Once the User Management configuration is complete, please reboot the Virtual Appliance. When the Virtual Appliance comes back up (it may take many minutes to initialize and startup), browse to the Virtual Applaince hostname using a https connection, i.e. if your Alfresco Virtual Server’s name is ‘alfie2′, then browse to https://alfie2/ As indicated below, the functionality of your Alfresco server may be accessed using the following URLs.
Addendum 1: Use with Oracle VM Server Here are the steps to run the Thinsy Alfresco Virtual Appliance in the Oracle VM Server platform.
Addendum 2: GPLv2 Source Code Thinsy Alfresco Community 3.2 uses source code that is licensed under the terms of the GPLv2. In compliance with the GPLv2 License, our source code is available at the following link. Copy these source files into the standard Alfresco Community source tree. |
