Basic Configurations: Initial Setup and Standard Administrative Tasks

Configuration Server-Based Login with OpenID Connect Authentication

In HOD, users have the option for Configuration server-based model to enable login option with OpenID Connect Authentication credentials, by enabling Automatically log the user on to Host on-Demand using their OpenID Connect Authentication username. By enabling the same option, in HOD Hex Client user can log in to the configuration server-based model page withOpenID Connect Authentication credentials.

Create Configuration Server-Based Model in DW for HOD Hex Client

In the deployment wizard, Select the Configuration server-based model and enable automatically log users on to Host on-demand using their Windows username.

  • Users are from Windows domain - It is optional. If needed, fill in the dummy value.

  • Create User ID if does not exist?
    • Yes - Enter the group name where the user needs to be created.
    • No - Choose this option if the user already exists.
Follow the below steps to set up the HOD Hex Client:
  1. Register the HOD Hex Client application with any service provider like OKTA/KeyCloak , configure the Redirect URI and Scope with the service provider and fetch the OIDC domain URL, Client id and Client secret from the provider.
  2. After fetching the above details configure the client secret in HOD HEX CLIENT build (EAR/WAR - need to update client secret in web.xml file).
  3. Rest of the details i.e. OIDC domain URL, Client id,Redirect URI and scope need to be configured in web.properties file.
  4. After configuration, launch the Config server-based model in HOD HEX CLIENT.
  5. While launching, a Okta/Keycloak or any service provider Authentication pops up. Here, users need to provide credentials to log in.
  6. Once login success, the config server-based model page will be launched.
  7. If it is the first time, the user will be created with the name of MS email's first half under the group mentioned. If email ID is not available, then the Username will be considered.
  8. If the mail id name part contains something other than a dot(.) and a hyphen (-), the special characters are replaced with a hyphen (-).
  9. If the user does not configure the application with ClientID and redirect URL, MS authentication fails. The HOD HEX CLIENT page pops a warning message like Configuration not done properly/wrong credentials.
  10. Create User ID if does not exist?
    • Yes:

      • While launching HOD Hex Client, check the user in the mentioned group. If the user already exists, the page will be launched.

      • If the user does not exist in mentioned groups, it will create a new user in mentioned groups.

      • While creating a user, check in the HOD user/group window whether the 'Allow users to create accounts' checkbox is selected.

      • If Allow users to create accounts checked, users will be created in mentioned groups.

      • If Allow users create accounts checkbox is clear, the HOD Hex Client page and a warning message for authentication exception will go through.

      • If mentioned groups do not exist in the HOD user/group, the HOD Hex Client page will through a warning message for the group does not exist exception.

    • No:

      • Go with this option only when the user exists in any group.

      • If a user exists, the HOD Hex Client page will be launched, else page pops up a warning message for the user does not exist exception.

Administrator Settings

Admin control parameters
The web.properties file must be created in the HOD publish directory by an Administrator with the following parameters :
  • clientRefreshInterval=1
  • QuickConnectByAdmin=true
  • enableStatusBarForAll=true
  • isStatusBarEditableByAdmin=true

Sample path to HOD Publish directory:

C:\Program Files\IBM\HostOnDemand\HOD\web.properties

(i) ClientRefreshInterval parameter for Set Refresh Interval Globally:

This parameter needs to be defined in the web.propertiesfile

(ii) QuickConnectByAdmin parameter for Quick-Connect feature:

Users without credentials and configured page, can connect to sessions and use the product as a trial version, by using the Quick-Connect feature in HOD Hex Client.
  • For Config-based model, Users can navigate to Quick-Connect, by clicking on ‘Continue as Guest’ option in the Login Page.
  • For HTML and Combined-based models, the Quick-Connect page will be displayed if a User enters an invalid page name or attempts to launch an unconfigured page.
  • Administrators can enable/disable the quick-connect option by setting the QuickConnectByAdmin parameter in the web.propertiesfile to True or False respectively.
  • If the QuickConnectByAdmin parameter is set to True, Users will be able to see the quick-connect option to launch a session.
  • If the QuickConnectByAdmin parameter is set to False, the quick-connect option will not be shown. Instead, a message will be displayed on the page as You do not have permission to use Quick-connect to launch sessions. Contact the System Administrator to enable this feature.
Following are the parameters to be filled in the Quick-Connect page,
  • Session Type, Destination Port
  • Protocol (Telnet), Destination Address
Screen Size, Workstation ID for 5250
  • TN3270E
  • LU Name for 3270
  • Host code page to establish plain host connection.

(iii) enableStatusBarForAll and isStatusBarEditableByAdmin parameters for Control Status Bar:

Unlike previous versions of HOD Hex Client, where the Status Bar was editable for all Users by default, from version 1.10 onwards, the Administrator can control the Status Bar for clients by setting a global value for the Control Status Bar. The Admin can use isStatusBarEditableByAdminandenableStatusBarForAllparameters in the web.propertiesfile to set the global value. Valid values for these parameters are True/False.

For Example:

isStatusBarEditableByAdmin = true

enableStatusBarForAll = false

  • If the parameter isStatusBarEditableByAdmin is set to True by the Admin and if enableStatusBarForAll is also True, then the Status Bar gets enabled for all Users and this option underSettings panel->Preferenceswill be inactive. The Users will not be able to modify the parameter at the Client side.
  • If the parameterisStatusBarEditableByAdminis set to False by the Admin, then the option under Settings panel->Preferenceswill be active, andthe value assigned to enableStatusBarForAllparameter in theweb.propertiesfile is enabled.Users will be able to modify the parameter at the Client side.
    • For Config-based model, the modified values will be saved in the config file.
    • For HTML-based and Combined-based models, the changes are saved to the browser cache.
    • Modified values will remain only until the browser history gets cleared for all the users.
  • If the parameter is not set by the Admin, by default, the Status Bar will be editable for all Users.