This chapter provides an overview of Oracle Communications Contacts Server, and describes the basic administration tasks and tools used to perform those tasks.
Contacts Server enables end users to store and retrieve contact information such as name, email address, photo, birthdays, and any other information that relates to the contact. Contacts Server supports all properties defined in the vCard specification, RFC 6350, available on the IETF website at:
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6350
Contacts Server provides a Network Address Book that facilitates centralized storage and access of contacts for a large number of users. Being full-featured, it not only provides contact creation, management and searching capabilities along with multiple group and multiple address book support, but includes features that enterprises demand, such as Global Address List integration and address book sharing.
The following sections describe Contacts Server in more detail:
Contacts Server enables end users to own multiple address books. Each address book requires a display name when created. You can list, modify, and delete address book entries and their properties. Contacts Server creates the user's default address book with a special contact called the personal contact card (PCC). The PCC is the single personal contact entry for the user. Each user's PCC is populated by Contacts Server with the user's first and last name. Only the user can view or modify the PCC.
Users can share their address books for other users to subscribe to. Contacts Server uses Access Control Lists (ACLs) to control subscription. ACLs consist of one or more Access Control Entries (ACEs), which are strings that grant a particular level of access to a particular entity. Access rights can be specified for an individual or an LDAP group. A share notification email is sent to the address book subscriber when access rights are granted. For more information about address book subscription and access rights, see "About Controlling Access to Address Books".
Contacts Server enables users to manage their contacts according to their individual needs. Contacts Server users can create contact groups, classify contacts, and perform actions on those groups. Groups consist of contacts from that address book, another local address book, a shared address book, or a corporate address book. Groups can also consist of external members. Contacts Server represents contacts by using URIs. Contacts Server uses a UID for contacts defined on the same server, and email addresses for external members, including those in a corporate directory.
Note:
Contacts Server allows only one photo per contact, as opposed to multiple photos per contact.In addition, Contacts Server provides the capability to import and export contact information.
Contacts Server supports the following formats for importing contacts:
Outlook CSV
Thunderbird CSV
Thunderbird LDIF
vCard 3.0
Contacts Server supports the vCard 3.0 and CSV formats for exporting contacts.
Note:
The recommended export format is vCard 3.0. Only use CSV if vCard 3.0 is unavailable.For more information on importing and exporting contacts, see "Importing Contact Groups" and "Exporting Contact Groups".
Contacts Server supports read-only access to corporate directory listings stored in Oracle Directory Server Enterprise Edition (Directory Server). You can configure Contacts Server for a default corporate directory. In addition, you can define additional per-domain corporate directories. LDAP data is translated to vCard format for output. For more information on configuring the corporate directory, see "Managing the Corporate Directory".
Contacts Server is based on standards. Table 1-1 lists the standards that Contacts Server uses.
These are internet standards, published in RFCs approved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Table 1-1 Contacts Server Supported Standards
| Standard Name | Standard Details |
|---|---|
|
vCard |
|
|
CardDAV |
|
|
Other |
|
A Contacts Server administrator is responsible for the day-to-day tasks of maintaining and managing Contacts Server and its users. The tasks also include managing Contacts Server components, application server, and potentially other Unified Communications Suite components.
You perform the following tasks as a Contacts Server administrator:
Stopping and starting Contacts Server
Managing user accounts, address books, and contacts
Monitoring Contacts Server
Tuning Contacts Server performance
Migrating data to Contacts Server
Managing the Contacts Server back-end database
Backing up and restoring files
Troubleshooting Contacts Server
Contacts Server is deployed on an application server domain.
When GlassFish Server is used as the container, you can use the GlassFish Server Administration Console and asadmin command to manage the Contacts Server web container. See the GlassFish Server documentation for more information.
When WebLogic Server is used as a container, you can use WebLogic Server Administration Console to manage the Contacts Server web container. See the WebLogic Server documentation for more information.
Contacts Server provides a number of command-line utilities for administering the server. These utilities run under the parent command, davadmin. For more information, see "Contacts Server Command-Line Utilities".
Table 1-2 lists the placeholders that are used in this guide:
Table 1-2 Contacts Server Directory Placeholders
| Placeholder | Directory |
|---|---|
|
ContactsServer_home |
Specifies the installation location for the Contacts Server software. The default is /opt/sun/comms/nabserver. |
|
GlassFish_home |
Specifies the installation location for the Oracle GlassFish Server software. The default is /opt/glassfish3/glassfish. |
|
WebLogic_home |
The base directory in which Oracle WebLogic Server software is installed. |
|
GlassFish_Domain |
Oracle GlassFish Server domain in which Contacts Server is deployed. For example, GlassFish_home/domains/domain1 |
|
WebLogic_Domain |
Oracle WebLogic Server domain in which Contacts Server is deployed. For example, WebLogic_home/user_projects/domains/base_domain. Note: In case of WebLogic Server, it must have at least one Managed Server instance configured and the Managed Server instance must be hosting the Contacts Server. |
|
AppServer_Domain |
Domain of the application server in which Contacts Server will be deployed. Domain refers to either Glassfish_Domain or Weblogic_Domain. |