Basic Functional Requirements

This section describes the basic features that the reference configuration provides. These features will meet the portal service needs of most medium-sized organizations. The basic feature requirements are the following:

• The portal service must serve content to users over HTTP, if accessed from a trusted network, or over HTTPS, if accessed from an unsecured network, such as the public Internet.

• The portal service must support the ability to add content to the portal and to customize the appearance of the content.

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  Note –

  The reference configuration described in this guide provides a portal service that displays the default desktop sample. You can use the default desktop to test your basic platform configuration. After verifying that the basic portal platform is working, you can customize content and develop a customized portal desktop.

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• The portal service must be able to authenticate users who are authorized to access the portal and prevent unauthorized access.

• The portal service must be able to provide different kinds of content to different users, depending on each user's privileges.

• The portal service must be able to integrate content from existing applications that the organization is running, such as messaging, calendar, and content management systems.

• The portal service must support single sign-on that works with the applications that the portal owner integrates into the portal service.

• The portal service must let users customize the appearance and content of their portal desktops within the limits that are imposed by each user's privileges.