Chapter 1 Introduction

Provides a brief introduction about the Java^TM Desktop System Configuration Manager, Release 1.1.

Introduction

The Java^TM Desktop System Configuration Manager, Release 1.1 is aimed at providing a central configuration for desktop hosts running the Java^TM Desktop System. Settings can be assigned to various elements of an organization structure, enabling the administrator to manage groups of users or hosts in a simple way. Its main components are:

• An LDAP server containing the organizational structure of users and hosts to be managed, which will hold the configuration data,

• A web-based management tool allowing administrators to define and assign configuration data to elements of that organizational structure,

• Desktop components installed on the client host, which retrieve the configuration data on behalf of the currently logged in user and expose it to the various applications making up the Java Desktop System.

The management tool is a web-based application run within the Java Web Console. It allows the administrator to browse the organization structure of the LDAP server and assign policies to its elements. The policies are displayed and edited according to policy templates, which define the settings that the management tool will be manipulating.

The desktop components are organized around the Java^TM Desktop System Configuration Agent, which retrieves configuration data from the LDAP server on behalf of users and makes it available to a number of configuration system adapters, which complement the local configuration (default settings provided by applications and user settings) with the policy settings. Currently supported configuration systems are GConf (which handles the configuration of Gnome applications such as the Gnome desktop or Evolution), Mozilla^TM Preferences and StarRegistry (StarOffice's configuration system).