IBM Portlet for Outlook Web Access

IBM Portlet for Outlook Web Access enables users to connect to an Exchange Server and access their accounts using Outlook Web Access. The portlet makes available all the features offered by Outlook Web Access, such as mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes. An iframe with adjustable height is used to display the user's account information.

With IBM Portlet for Outlook Web Access, users can perform routine mail-related tasks, such as reading, composing and sending, and deleting e-mails. Also, the users can schedule appointments, manage tasks, and store important contacts and information using this portlet.

Test assumptions

The portlet application is not tested for WAP support.

• July 27, 2007: Initial version

Client requirements

This application supports devices capable of rendering HTML. The following table provides detailed information.

Server requirements

This portlet runs on WebSphere Portal versions 5.1x and 6.x.

Deployment and installation

For general information on installing portlets, go to the "Integrating your business" section in the WebSphere Portal Information Center. Navigate to Installed portlets> Installing a portlet.

Users must configure the portlet through an HTML browser.

Making WebSphere Portal Server accept your Exchange server's SSL certificate

In order to use SSL features with this portlet, the JVM for WebSphere Portal Server must be informed that it should accept the Exchange Server's SSL certificate. To do this, you need to obtain the certificate from the Exchange server. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. The best way is to ask the Exchange Administrator to send it to you.

To make the Exchange Server's SSL certificate available to Portal Server, you must use the key management tool supplied by Application Server to import the certificate(s) into the necessary Java Key Store (.jks) format key storage files. Note that the Application Server-supplied key management tool, IKeyMan, is not the same as other key management tools, even though the user interface might be very similar. IKeyMan supports the Java Key Store file formats necessary for Application Server and Portal Server, whereas other key management tools might not. Consult the WebSphere Application Server documentation for details about how to use this tool.

Following is a brief overview of the steps:

1. If not already active, activate IKeyMan by double-clicking <was_root>/bin/ikeyman.bat.
2. Open the was_root/java/jre/lib/security/cacerts file. By default, the password for this file is changeit.
3. Select Signer Certificates in the top pull-down, then click Add.
4. Select Base64-encoded ASCII data as the data type, and browse to the certificate file of the Exchange 2003 Server's SSL certificate. You might have to rename the certificate file so that the file extension matches the extension that IKeyMan is looking for. That extension should be '.arm'.
5. You will be asked for a label for the new certificate.

After installing the portlet application and completing the steps above, restart WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Portal Server.

Note: For the IKeyMan settings, you can find ikeyman.bat file in was_root/bin folder. Double click on the file to activate it.

Configuration parameters

IBM Portlet for Outlook Web Access requires no configuration parameters.

Configure the portlet so it has the correct domain name.

• Note that the Windows domain name of the Exchange 2003 server is the same as the domain controller's. This is for LDAP and resolution of NT security.
• Edit the portlet. For domain, enter the Windows Exchange Server domain name.

Note: This is the same domain name you see while viewing the identification properties of the Windows server host. This should not be confused with the domain qualification of a host name.

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• This portlet is available only in English language.
• This portlet is not supported as a remote WSRP service.
• WAP service is not available for this portlet.
• There is no SSO support for this portlet.

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