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Creating a custom IAG portal home page

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Applies To: Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG)

The Initial Internal Application setting, configured on the Whale Communications Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) 2007 portal trunk properties, determines the portal home page that is displayed to client endpoints. When you create a portal trunk, this setting points to the default IAG portal home page and toolbar. You can configure this setting to point to any of the following custom applications:

  • Any of the applications that are supported by IAG out-of-the-box.

  • A generic application or HTML page. A sample page is provided in the \Whale-Com\e-Gap\Von\PortalHomePage\samples folder.

  • When you specify a custom home page instead of the default portal page, the following features are not available:

  • Personalization. All users are able to view all the links that you configure in your custom portal home page, regardless of their access permissions. Authorization, however, does function. That is, users are only able to access the applications for which they are authorized; access to unauthorized applications is denied.

  • Folder feature. This feature enables you to group together a number of applications.

  • The option to control the appearance of an application link on client endpoints that do not comply with the access policy for the application. The policies are still enforced.

You can customize a portal home page as follows:

  • Add application links to the page

  • Define a scheduled logoff and session timeout

  • Add links to IAG features

  • Configure the portal trunk to use the custom page

Adding application links on a custom portal home page

The following table describes the link format for each of the application types you can add to the custom page. Alternatively, or additionally, you can add links to the portal toolbar as described in Adding a custom home page to a portal trunk.

Application type Link details

Web applications

Use a simple HTML link.

For example:

https://whale.company/sales

Client/server and legacy Applications

Use a dummy URL with this format:

https://localhost/WhaleSSLVpn/< Application_ID >

Where <Application_ID> is the ID of the application. You can view and copy the ID in the Application Properties dialog box, in the General tab.

Browser-embedded applications

Use a simple HTML link.

For example: to create a link to the Terminal Services Web Client, add the following:

TSWeb https://whale.company/TSweb/Default.htm

Certified endpoint or client certificate installation *

Add the following links:

  • Page displayed prior to installation of certificate:

    https://localhost:6001/WhaleSep/certrqbi.asp?type=0&Site=<Trunk_Name>

  • Certificate status examination and installation pages:

    https://localhost:6001/WhaleSep/certckpn.asp?Site=<Trunk_Name>

Note : Make sure to add the Certified Endpoint Enrollment application to the trunk by using the Add Application Wizard.

File Access *

Use a simple HTML link, for example:

https://localhost:6001/whalefilesharing/

Tip: If you wish to restrict users' access to a specific folder, add the following parameters at the end of the link:

?Path=< path >&ShowFolders=False

Where <path> is the full path of the folder users will access.

Web Monitor

Use the following link:

https://localhost:50002

* Port 6001 is used in this example since it is the default HTTP port of the Internet Information Services (IIS) default Web site. If you changed this port on IAG, make sure you use the correct port number in the link, as well. Information about defining this port number is described in Modifying IAG network and server settings.

Tip

If the application is configured with one or more prerequisite applications, add the following parameter to the link: WhaleFirstActivation=true

For example: TSWeb https://whale.company/TSweb/Default.htm?WhaleFirstActivation=true

Defining scheduled logoff and session timeout on a custom home page

The following table describes how you enable scheduled logoff and inactive session timeout options on a custom portal home page. Note that in order to use a scheduled logoff, the setting Automatic Schedule Logoff After (in minutes) must be enabled in the Session tab of the portal properties.

To enable scheduled logoff and session timeout on a custom portal home page

  1. Using the IAG Editor, open the application customization file used with the trunk; if you have not made any changes to the default template, you need to create a custom template.

    • For a description of how you create the Application Customization file, refer to IAG_Creating a custom application customization file.

    • For a description of the Editor, refer to IAG_Editor.

  2. Using the IAG Editor again, access the following folder:

    ...\Whale-Com\e-Gap\von\samples\appwrap

    Open the file: TimeoutManipulationAppWrap.xml

  3. From the file you opened in step 2, copy the <DATA_CHANGE> element, and paste it into the Application Customization template you opened in step 1.

    Tip

    For a detailed description of this element and its sub-elements, see <DATA_CHANGE> in Manipulation Elements.

  4. In the Application Customization template, edit the <DATA_CHANGE> element you copied in step 3, as follows:

    1. In the <URL> element, enter the primary URL of the portal, usually the URL of the trunk's Initial Application.

      The Initial Application is defined in Configuration program, in the trunk's main Configuration pane.

      The application's primary URL is defined in the Portal Link tab of the Application Properties dialog box, in the Application URL field.

      Use regular expressions to define the URL.

    2. In the <SEARCH> element, enter a string where the Logoff code, which is defined in the <REPLACE> element, will be added. Note that the string you enter here will be replaced by the Logoff code; if you wish to retain the original scrip, add it to the <REPLACE> element, in addition to the Logoff code.

      Note

      The text within both the <SEARCH> and <REPLACE> elements is encoded in base64 format. In order to add text to the <SEARCH> element or edit text in the <REPLACE> element, you need to convert the text to and from base64. For details, refer to the section "Editing Tips".

    3. Save the Application Customization template as Decrypted.

  5. In order to display the Scheduled Logoff counter on the custom portal home page, take the following steps:

    1. Add an HTML object such as "label", "span", or "td" to the page, with id="timer"

    2. In the Application Customization template, in the <DATA_CHANGE> element you have copied in step 3, change the line:

      var trunkType = "USERDEFINED"

      to

      var trunkType = "PORTAL"

    3. Save the Application Customization template as Decrypted.

Adding links to IAG features on a custom home page

The following table describes the links for IAG features that you can add to the custom portal page where the IAG toolbar is not used.

Link to: Details

System information

Add the following link: https://localhost:6001/InternalSite/systeminformation.asp?=site_name<Trunk_Name>&secure=<0=no/1=yes>

Browse additional location

Add the following link:

https://localhost:6001/InternalSite/browseAdditional.asp?site_name=< Trunk_Name >&secure=<0=no/1=yes>

Credentials management

Add the following link:

https://localhost:6001/InternalSite/CredentialsSettings.asp?site_name=< Trunk_Name > &secure=<0=no/1=yes>&orig_url=< Portal_Homepage_URL >

Whale Client Components Installer

Add the following link:

https://localhost:6001/Secure< Trunk_Name >PortalHomePage/< installer_file_name >

Where:

  • Secure is only required for HTTPS trunks.

  • < installer_file_name > is the name of the file that will be downloaded onto the endpoint computer.

Note: Configure the link so that it is visible only on computers running a Windows operating system.

Note

In the above table, port 6001 is used in all the links since it is the default HTTP port of the IIS default Web site. If you changed this port on IAG, make sure you use the correct port number in the links, as well. The definition of this port number is described in Modifying IAG network and server settings.

Adding a custom home page to a portal trunk

Specify that the custom page should be used as the portal home page, as follows:

To use a custom portal home page

  1. In the IAG Configuration console, select the relevant trunk.

  2. In the Applications pane, click Add to start the Add Application Wizard.

  3. Add the home page to the trunk. If you are using a generic application or page, and not one of the applications that are supported out-of-the-box, add a generic application that will point to it. For example, to use an HTML page as the home page, add a Generic Web Application.

  4. If the application used as the portal home page is a generic application, create a rule set that will enable access to the application. For more information, see Configuring IAG URL rules.

  5. In the Initial Internal Application pane, in Initial Application, select the application you want to use as the portal home page.

  6. To enable access from the portal home page to the applications that are configured for this trunk, you can apply one or both of the following methods:

    • Enable access to the applications by using the toolbar (recommended). To do this, in the Initial Internal Application pane, select Use Toolbar. For each application you add to the portal, ensure that the setting Add Link on Portal and Toolbar is enabled in the Portal Link tab of the application properties. Users will then be able to access the application via the Launch Application toolbar button and list.

    • If you select not to use the toolbar, or if you do use the toolbar and want application links to also be available from the home page itself and not only from the toolbar, manually add application links on the custom portal home page. For more information, see Adding application links on a custom portal home page. Users will then be able to access the application via the portal home page.

  7. To use the scheduled logoff and session timeout features, configure portal settings as described in Defining scheduled logoff and session timeout on a custom home page.

  8. To enable access from the portal home page to IAG features, you can enable access using the toolbar. Alternatively, you can manually enable toolbar features as described in If you do not use the IAG toolbar, you can manually enable the toolbar features on your page, as described in the section Adding links to IAG features on a custom home page.

Note

If you do not use the IAG toolbar, make sure you enable users to return to the portal home page from the applications and other features that you add to the portal, by doing one of the following:

Add your own home button or link.

Make sure all applications and features are opened in a new browser window by using the window.open( ) or target="_blank " HTML options. You can see a sample configuration, including the size of the popup windows, in the sample file provided in the \Whale-Com\e-Gap\Von\PortalHomePage\samples folder.