Notices and limitations

This topic provides a list of known issues and limitations in the IBM® Telephone Directory V5.2 application.

While using IBM Telephone Directory V5.2, you should be aware of the following notices and limitations.

Setup

  • The IBM Telephone Directory V5.2 application can be configured to use an existing base DN from your iSeries Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server. If you publish your system directory to your LDAP server using the inetOrgPerson object class, you can use that directory for the application. This is done by specifying the base DN you want to use for the IBM Telephone Directory application during IBM Welcome Page V1.1 installation. However, the password field is optional in the inetOrgPerson object class. An authorized user needs to set the password value in the entries if they want the users to update their own entries.
  • If system directory publishing is left on/enabled on your system, periodic updates to the directory will cause changes made to be discarded through the IBM Telephone Directory application. This is a limitation of directory publishing. It is recommended to use directory publishing only to do the initial set up of a directory, then turn it off if directory updates are to be made.

General usage

  • When searching on a telephone number, there are no implied wildcards. The IBM Telephone Directory V5.2 application searches for the exact value you enter. This means you must specify the wildcard character (*) if you want to search for part of a telephone number.

    For example, you want to find all users that have the 507 area code. The following search value will do this:

    *507*
    Note: You might receive search results other than those containing a 507 area code (those users with 507 in the actual telephone number).
  • When you are prompted for a user ID and password, the characters entered must map to the default job CCSID of the IBM HTTP server for IBM i. The HTTP server assumes the user ID and password you enter is encoded in the net CCSID (ASCII) configured for the server and converts them to the server's job CCSID (EBCDIC). If the characters don't map, sign on fails. For example, if your user ID or password contains Japanese characters, the HTTP server must be running with a Japanese net CCSID (such as 943) and a Japanese job CCSID (such as 5035). If it is not, you will not be able to sign on to the IBM Telephone Directory application, because the HTTP server is not able to authenticate your credentials. This limitation does not apply to form input or display, because all data is encoded in UTF-8. It only applies to sign on.

    The following areas are affected:

    • Registering users during closed enrollment
    • Updating directory entries
    • Changing entry passwords
    • Deleting directory entries

    The following areas are not affected:

    • Registering users during open enrollment
    • Basic search
    • Advanced search
    • Detailed entry display
    • Online help and other forms

Registering

  • Passwords are not required by default.
  • If you want to insert a photo into a user entry, it has to be in .jpg format. The IBM Telephone Directory application does not support .gif format. The photo size must be less than the configured value size.
  • A valid user entry must be created in order for other entries to specify Manager Name, Assistant Name, or Backup Name fields. This means you must create a directory using a top-down process if you want to fill all values in during the initial user entry creation. Alternatively, you can use the Update entry function to enter manager, assistant, or backup values after all user entries have been created. For example, a manager entry has to be created before his or her employees can enter Manager Name in their individual entries. If the manager entry does not exist during the employee entry creation, you must update the employee entry after the manager has been created.
  • If you delete an entry (such as a manager) that is used in another entry (such as an employee having his or her manager listed), the IBM Telephone Directory application does not remove the manager name from the employee entry. The same scenario is applicable for the Backup Name and Assistant Name fields.
  • If a manager, assistant, or backup entry is deleted, links to that entry are no longer displayed in an associated user entry. If the deleted entry is recreated (and uses the same CN and user ID values), the links to that entry automatically reappear. In addition, when a manager entry is deleted, the Reports-To Chain page (for entries linked to the deleted entry) no longer work until the manager entry is recreated. However, the Same-Department page still works, even though the manager's entry is has been deleted.

Data integrity

  • You are responsible for data integrity in the IBM Telephone Directory application. The application comes with a limited set of validation rules; however, it is the administrator or the user who is responsible for the input of correct data.
Parent topic: IBM Telephone Directory V5.2