Selecting a System 

Use

Information sources may require some form of authentication to guarantee that its content is accessible only to people who have the appropriate permission. Web-based information sources accessed by URL iViews in the portal may also require portal end users to log on before gaining access to its content.

The portal offers user mapping capabilities, which bridges between users and secure information sources. In this case, the information source is a Web site hosting the Web page targeted by the URL iView. The primary benefit to end users of user mapping is the resulting single sign-on (SSO) capability. SSO allows a user to log on to the portal once, and thereafter, start applications and network logon sessions without further authentication requests.

Depending on the type of back-end application, the system administrator can create a portal system object so that (i) end users enter their own logon information (in the User Mapping screen launched from the portal header area; see Setting Portal Preferences.); and, (ii) the administrator can predefine the user mapping for end users (for example, equating a name in one application to another name in different application). The latter option facilitates user access for users who are defined differently in each information source that they utilize. User mapping also prevents unauthorized access by those users who are not mapped.

You need to create a separate system for each information source which requires support for user mapping.

 

Procedure

Prerequisites and Preliminary Steps (performed outside URL iView Editor)

The following steps summarize the preliminary steps necessary before you create a system for the iView, although the latter phases can be performed and maintained after the iView is created.

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       1.      Create a system object in the portal. See Creating Systems.

In the system, specify if an administrator, end user, or both, is permitted to configure the user mapping information. See System Properties for User Mapping.

       2.      Define an alias for the system object. See System Aliases.

The alias is required to identify the system objects in other portal user interfaces, such as the URL iView Editor.

       3.      In the Permission Editor, open the relevant system object, and enable end user permission to portal users who intend to run an iView based on this system. See Setting Permissions.

This permission is necessary for end users to receive content from a back-end application via an iView that is based on the system object.

       4.      If required, an administrator can enter the mapping data for groups and roles to the system object. This step is only necessary if all users assigned to the group or role use the same logon data to connect to the system. See Mapping Users: Administrator Tool.

Alternatively, end users can enter their own mapping data at runtime. See Mapping Users: User Enters Own Data.

Creating the iView and Selecting the System

Once you have created the system and defined its alias, you can connect it a URL iView.

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       1.      Create the URL iView. See Using the URL iView Wizard.

       2.      Edit the iView in the URL iView Editor, and define the following (this step can be performed in parallel to steps 3 and 4 above):

                            a.      In the System drop-down list, choose the alias of the system representing the information source upon which the iView is based.

                            b.      In the Type column in the URL parameter list, choose Mapped User and Mapped Password for the user name and password parameters, respectively. See Configuring URL Parameters.