Always use Fusion Middleware Control or WLST command-line tool to review and configure back-end servers for WebCenter Portal. Any changes that you make to post-deployment, are stored in MDS metatdata store as customizations. See Oracle WebCenter Portal Configuration Considerations.
Note:
Configuration changes for mail, through Fusion Middleware Control or using WLST, are not dynamic, so you must restart the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed for your changes to take effect. See Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Portal Application Deployments.
This chapter includes the following topics:
Permissions
To perform the tasks in this chapter, you must be granted the WebLogic Server Admin
role through the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console and the Administrator
role granted through WebCenter Portal Administration.
For more information about roles and permissions, see Understanding Administrative Operations, Roles, and Tools.
For troubleshooting issues with mail, see Troubleshooting Issues with Mail.
Oracle WebCenter Portal supports the Microsoft Exchange Server or any mail server that supports IMAP4 and SMTP. To enable users to access mail and perform basic operations such as read, reply, and forward within WebCenter Portal, you must first register the appropriate mail server. Mail is not configured out-of-the-box.
You can register multiple mail server connections.
WebCenter Portal supports multiple mail connections. The mail connection marked active is the default connection for mail in WebCenter Portal. All additional connections are offered as alternatives; users can choose which one they want to use through user preferences.
Use the roadmap in this section as an administrator's guide through the configuration process:
Figure 12-1 and Figure 12-1 provide an overview of the prerequisites and tasks required for mail to work in WebCenter Portal.
Table 12-1 Configuring Mail for WebCenter Portal
Actor | Task | Subtask |
---|---|---|
Administrator |
1. Install WebCenter Portal and the back-end components for the mail server (see Mail Server - Installation) |
1.a For Microsoft Exchange 2007, 2010, or 2013, follow additional configuration steps (see Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, 2010, or 2013 for WebCenter Portal) |
2. Configure a connection between WebCenter Portal and your mail server -- associating the mail server with an external application -- using one of the following tools:
|
||
End User |
||
4. Access mail with one of the following methods: |
This section includes the following subsections:
You can allow WebCenter Portal to create and manage portal distribution lists. This feature is supported only with Microsoft Exchange.
If enabled, a portal distribution list is created automatically whenever a portal is created. Users added or removed from the portal are implicitly added or removed from the corresponding portal distribution list, provided that the LDAP Base DN does not change (only one LDAP Base DN is supported) and that users created on Microsoft Exchange Active Directory correspond with users created in the identity store used by WebCenter Portal. To disable this feature, do not enter the LDAP (Active Directory) server details in the mail connection.
For more information, see step 7 of Registering Mail Servers Using Fusion Middleware Control.
For information about adding users on a mail server, see the mail server's product documentation. For information about adding users to WebCenter Portal's identity store, see Adding Users to the Embedded LDAP Identity Store.
Microsoft Exchange 2007, Microsoft Exchange 2010, and Microsoft Exchange 2013 are the only mail servers for which there are configuration prerequisites. If you are working with a different mail server, then you can bypass the rest of this section.
The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, 2010, or 2013 certificate must be added to the WebCenter Portal keystore. This requires the following steps.
Obtain the certificate from your mail server installation administrator. This section describes one way to get the certificate from the Microsoft Exchange Server.
Follow these steps to obtain the certificate from a Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, 2010, or 2013:
The IMAP port is 993 and secured true. SMTP port is 587 and secured true.
If you see the following error, then you must change the trust store entry in the domain startup file setDomainEnv.sh
:
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Keystore was tampered with, or password was incorrect at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore.engineLoad(JavaKeyStore.java:771) at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore$JKS.engineLoad(JavaKeyStore.java:38) at java.security.KeyStore.load(KeyStore.java:1185) at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.TrustManagerFactoryImpl.getCacertsKeyStore (TrustManagerFactoryImpl.java:202) at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.DefaultSSLContextImpl.getDefaultTrustManager (DefaultSSLContextImpl.java:70)
To change the entry:
Shutdown the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed.
Edit the domain startup script setDomainEnv
located at:
UNIX: DOMAIN_HOME
/bin/setDomainEnv.sh
Windows: DOMAIN_HOME
\bin\setDomainEnv.cmd
Add the Java property, as follows:
-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=<path to truststore> -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=<truststore password>
For example:
set JAVA_PROPERTIES=
-Dplatform.home=%WL_HOME% -Dwls.home=%WLS_HOME% -Dweblogic.home=%WLS_HOME%
-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=C:\jive\mailtool\jssecacerts
-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=changeit
Restart the managed server.
For more information, see Securing the WebCenter Portal Connection to IMAP and SMTP with SSL.
Note:
If LDAP is configured to run in secure mode, then add the LDAP Secured
property (set to true
/false
) to use LDAP while creating distribution lists. For more information, see Table 12-4 .
You can register multiple mail server connections. To start using the new mail connections you must restart the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed.
This section includes the following subsections:
To register a mail server with WebCenter Portal:
Use the WLST command createMailConnection
to create a mail server connection. For command syntax and examples, see createMailConnection
in WebCenter WLST Command Reference.
Use the WLST command setMailConnectionProperty
to add additional required properties through your external application. The external application for mail must use Authentication Method=POST, and you can customize some mail header fields (with Display to User enabled). For example:
setMailConnectionProperty(appName='webcenter', name='NotificationSharedConn', key='mail.user.emailAddress', value='john.doe@example.com') setMailConnectionProperty(appName='webcenter', name='NotificationSharedConn', key='mail.user.displayName', value='John Doe') setMailConnectionProperty(appName='webcenter', name='NotificationSharedConn', key='mail.user.replyToAddress', value='feedback@example.com')
where:
mail.user.emailAddress
= Email Address ('From' from the mail)
mail.user.displayName
= Your Name (display name from the mail)
mail.user.replyToAddress
= Reply-To Address (address when replying to the mail)
These properties ensure that a specific mail address is the same in the external application and in the mail server. These properties are added to the Mail connection and are used by mail for the From, Display Name and Reply To fields.
For Exchange 2007 only, create an universal distribution list which means that the default property value of 2
should be updated to 8
. Specify a value of 8
for the mail property mail.exchange.dl.group.type
, as follows:
setMailServiceProperty(appName='webcenter', property='mail.exchange.dl.group.type', value='8')
If your application offers a self-registration page with the facility to mail user ID information on request, then you must ensure that public credentials are configured for the external application selected here. If public credentials are not defined, then mail cannot be sent to users on their request. WebCenter Portal offers this feature on its default self-registration page.
For command syntax and examples, see setMailConnectionProperty
in WebCenter WLST Command Reference.
To configure mail to use the new mail server connection as its default connection, set default=true
. For more information, see Choosing the Active (or Default) Mail Server Connection Using WLST.
For information on how to run WLST commands, see Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands.
Note:
To start using new connections you must restart the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed. For more information, see Starting and Stopping Managed Servers Using the Command Line in Administering Oracle Fusion Middleware.
You can register multiple mail server connections with WebCenter Portal, but only one connection can be designated as the default connection. The default connection becomes the back-end mail server for:
Mail task flows
WebCenter Portal distribution lists
Anywhere there is a Send Mail icon
This section includes the following subsections:
To change the default connection:
Use the WLST command setMailConnection
with default=true
to make an existing mail server connection the default connection for mail. For command syntax and examples, see setMailConnection
in WebCenter WLST Command Reference.
A connection does not cease to be the default connection for mail if you change the default argument from true
to false
.
To disable a mail connection, either delete it, make another connection the 'active connection', or use the removeMailServiceProperty
command:
removeMailServiceProperty(appName='webcenter', property='selected.connection')
Using this command, connection details are retained but the connection is no longer named as an active connection. For more information, see removeMailServiceProperty
in WebCenter WLST Command Reference.
For information on how to run WLST commands, see Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands.
Note:
To start using the active connection you must restart the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed. For more information, see Starting and Stopping Managed Servers Using the Command Line in Administering Oracle Fusion Middleware.
You can modify mail server connection details at any time.
To start using updated mail connections you must restart the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed.
This section includes the following subsections:
To update mail server connection details:
Use the WLST command setMailConnection
to edit existing mail server connection details. For command syntax and examples, see setMailConnection
in WebCenter WLST Command Reference.
If additional parameters are required to connect to your mail server, use the setMailConnectionProperty
command. For more information, see setMailConnectionProperty
in WebCenter WLST Command Reference.
For information on how to run WLST commands, see Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands.
Note:
To start using the updated connections you must restart the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed. For more information, see Starting and Stopping Managed Servers in Administering Oracle Fusion Middleware.
You can delete mail server connections at any time, but use caution when deleting the active (or default) connection. If you delete the active connection, Mail task flows do not work, as they all require a back-end mail server.
When you delete a connection, consider deleting the external application associated with the mail server connection if the application's sole purpose was to support this connection. For more information, see Deleting External Application Connections.
This section includes the following subsections:
To delete a mail server connection:
Use the WLST command deleteConnection
to remove a mail server connection. For command syntax and examples, see deleteConnection
in WebCenter WLST Command Reference.
For information on how to run WLST commands, see Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands.
Use the WLST command setMailServiceProperty
to set defaults for mail:
address.delimiter
: Defines the delimiter that is used to separate multiple mail addresses. A comma is used by default.
Some mail servers require mail addresses in the form lastname, firstname
and, in such cases, a semicolon is required.
mail.emailgateway.polling.frequency
: Frequency, in seconds, that portal distribution lists are checked for new incoming mail messages. The default is 1800 seconds (30 minutes).
Email communication through WebCenter Portal distribution lists can be published as discussion forum posts on a discussions server. For details, see Publishing Portal Mail in a Discussion Forum in Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal.
mail.messages.fetch.size
: Maximum number of messages displayed in mail inboxes
resolve.email.address.to.name
: Determines whether user email addresses are resolved to WebCenter Portal user names when LDAP is configured. Valid values are 1
(true
) and 0
(false
). The default value is 0
.
When set to 1
, WebCenter Portal user names display instead of email addresses in Mail task flows.
Set this property to 1
if instant messaging and presence requires user names to obtain presence status because presence information cannot be obtained when mail provides email addresses. Setting this value to 1
does impact application performance so you must take this into consideration when setting this property.
mail.recipient.limit
: Restricts the number of recipients to a message. For example, setting this value to '500' limits the number of recipients to 500.
For command syntax and examples, see setMailServiceProperty
in WebCenter WLST Command Reference.
For information on how to run WLST commands, see Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands.
Confirm that the mail server is running by connecting to the server using any client, such as Thunderbird or Outlook.
For Microsoft Exchange, go to Administrative Tools - Services to confirm that the following components are running (Status: Started):
Microsoft Exchange IMAP4
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
System administrators are responsible for setting mail options through WebCenter Portal administration settings (Figure 12-5 ). For more information about using Send Mail notifications, see About the Send Mail Feature in Using Oracle WebCenter Portal.
From this page, you can assign the mail client for the Send Mail feature. This feature allows application assets to send mail directly from their task flows, using the Send Mail icon (Figure 12-6 ).
Figure 12-6 Send Mail Icon
For example, from an announcement, users can click the Send Mail icon to open a mail window prepopulated with information including the announcement text, author, date created, and location. They can edit and add to the mail, as necessary. The way the mail window is prepopulated depends on the resource sending it. For example, from an announcement, Send Mail opens a mail window prepopulated with the title of the announcement.
Within a portal, the mail can be addressed to all members of the portal, which is the default distribution list that is created when the portal is created. Portal Mangers (and anyone granted the Manage Security and Configuration
permission on the portal) set this through the Tools and Services page in the portal's administration settings. See Configuring the Mail Distribution List for a Portal in Building Portals with Oracle
WebCenter Portal.
For all Send Mail notifications throughout WebCenter Portal, you can choose to use the local mail client, such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, or WebCenter Portal's own Mail service. The local mail client is the default. The Send Mail feature does not require the Mail service, that is, if the Mail service is not yet configured, you can still use the Send Mail feature with WebCenter Portal's Mail service. Application specialists or portal managers can specify whether portal members can override the default mail client setting.
Note:
With some browsers, Send Mail notifications are garbled for many non-English languages. When multibyte characters are encoded (required for the "mailto:" protocol), the URL length exceeds the browser limit. As a workaround, configure the Send Mail feature to use WebCenter Portal's Mail service instead of the local mail client.
As the system administrator, you can also specify whether users can override the default mail client setting.
See Also:
Users do not need to specify credentials when sending mail using WebCenter Portal's Mail service when shared credentials are configured for the external application that is associated with the mail server connection.
To enable shared mail connections:
Confirm that your portal is using WebCenter Portal's Mail service to send mail.
On the Settings page (see Accessing the Settings Pages in WebCenter Portal Administration), click Tools and Services.
Select Mail.
Ensure that Default Mail Client for 'Send Mail' is set to WebCenter Portal's Mail Service.
See also Configuring Send Mail Notifications for WebCenter Portal.
Set up a mail connection that uses an external application configured with the shared credentials and record the mail connection name.
Open the portal where shared mail credentials are required and specify the name of the shared mail connection.
For details, see Configuring a Shared Mail Connection for a Portal in Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal.