Configuring and Administering Lotus eSuite WorkPlace

by Richard Sinn

NEWS/400, September 1998 , pg. 131 Article ID: 2804 Related Topics: Networking, Systems Management

Lotus eSuite WorkPlace, a set of business productivity tools for network computing, gives IBM Network Station users a single point of access to business tools, legacy applications, and the Internet. Built entirely in Java, the eSuite WorkPlace desktop (Figure 1) provides a task-oriented work environment, a Web browser, a file manager, a file viewer, and a set of Java applets for performing basic business tasks (e.g., word processor, presentation graphics, spreadsheet, calendar). IT managers can customize the eSuite environment to the needs of individual users or groups of users and can deploy eSuite applets quickly across the enterprise and maintain and upgrade them centrally.

"Lotus eSuite WorkPlace: Business Tools for Network Computing" (July 1998) introduces the basic components of the eSuite WorkPlace desktop. In this article, I describe how to install, configure, and administer the product, and I provide some troubleshooting tips. A future article will cover the Lotus eSuite DevPack, a set of ready-to-use Java applets, utilities, and software samples that help enterprise developers build interactive Java applications for eSuite users.

Network Computing with Lotus eSuite

The eSuite WorkPlace is a Java application that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) on the Network Station. To start the application, a user simply clicks a button on the Network Station menu bar.

You can think of eSuite as a Java client/server implementation of business applications, in which Network Stations running eSuite desktops are the clients and the AS/400 (or an AIX or Windows NT machine) is the server. In keeping with the network- centric software model, eSuite applets are stored on the server and sent to the client only when needed. At runtime, the eSuite registry server (a job running on the AS/400) provides customized information to the client based on how you've configured eSuite WorkPlace for that user. Because the applets don't reside locally on the client, you save PC storage resources. And because they are executed on the client, performance doesn't depend on network traffic.

The current eSuite WorkPlace product runs only on Network Station Series 1000 machines. If you already own the Network Station product for the AS/400, eSuite WorkPlace is free of charge. "Prerequisites and Ordering Information" describes the AS/400 platform requirements and gives information about how to order eSuite.

Installation

You install eSuite WorkPlace just like any other AS/400 licensed program product. After putting the Lotus eSuite for IBM Network Station CD into the AS/400's CD-ROM drive, you execute the RSTLICPGM (Restore Licensed Program) command. The current eSuite product offers three installation options: *BASE, option 1, and option 2. You should install all three options.

To restore the *BASE option, execute the following RSTLICPGM command, substituting your CD-ROM device name (e.g., opt01) for device-name:

RSTLICPGM  LICPGM(5648KN1)   +

           DEV(device-name)  +

           OPTION(*BASE)

To restore option 1, use

RSTLICPGM  LICPGM(5648KN1)   +

           DEV(device-name)  +

           OPTION(1)

To restore option 2, use

RSTLICPGM  LICPGM(5648KN1)   +

           DEV(device-name)  +

           OPTION(2)

The installation process creates a subtree with multiple directories of Java executable files (class files) under the AS/400 Integrated File System (IFS) in folder /QIBM/ProdData/eSuite/. It also creates two eSuite registry server commands in library QESUITE: STRESRSVR (Start eSuite Registry Server) and ENDESRSVR (End eSuite Registry Server).

Before starting the eSuite desktop on the Network Station, you need to start the Standard Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) registry server and the eSuite registry server on the AS/400. The Java RMI registry server creates and starts a remote object registry on the AS/400. A remote object registry is a bootstrap naming service that the eSuite registry server uses to bind remote objects to Java object names. To start these servers, you execute the STRESRSVR command:

QESUITE/STRESRSVR

This command first checks to see whether the standard Java RMI registry server is running. If it's not, the command starts it. Then it starts the eSuite registry server.

Depending whether the standard Java RMI registry server is started when you issue the STRESRSVR command, either one or two jobs now will be running in subsystem QSYSWRK:

・QESRRMI is the standard Java RMI registry server job.

・QESRSVR is the eSuite registry server job.

You can use the WRKACTJOB (Work with Active Jobs) command to monitor these jobs.

To stop the eSuite registry server, you issue the ENDESRSVR command:

QESUITE/ENDESRSVR

This command stops only the eSuite registry server; the standard Java RMI server will continue to be available.

One last step is required on the AS/400 to enable eSuite WorkPlace: use the CRTUSRPRF (Create User Profile) command to create a user ID called "admin" with QSECOFR authority. The WorkPlace Administrator, which you'll use later to set up and maintain eSuite user information, is initially configured to run from this user ID.

Network Station Configuration

Your next task is to configure the eSuite WorkPlace button to appear on the Network Station menu bar. As with all other Network Station configuration options, you can perform this step for one or all users. To configure the button, follow these steps:

1. On the Network Station, bring up Network Station Manager in your browser.
2. Click Startup, then Menus, to bring up the Menu Content Defaults page.
3. Select either System Defaults to create the button for all the Network Stations booting from the AS/400 or User Defaults to create the button for an individual user. (When you select User Defaults, you can click Browse to see a list of users from which to choose.)
4. Click Next to bring up the Menu Contents page.
5. Scroll down the page to the Remote Program Menu Items heading, and specify the values shown in Figure 2. In the Remote host field, specify your own host name. The optional parameters in the figure specify the Java programming values - program stack size, home server, application display location, Java class path, and so on - that the eSuite WorkPlace will use. For readability, the optional parameter values are shown on separate lines, but you actually must enter them all on one line. Be sure to substitute the TCP/IP host name and domain of your AS/400 for HOSTNAME.DOMAIN.
6. After you've entered all the values, click Add a Remote Program. A menu item called "eSuite WorkPlace" will be added to the Network Station menu bar.
7. Click Finish.

Your last configuration task is to enable remote shell program execution on the Network Stations. To do so, first use your favorite editor to create a file called defaults.dft containing the lines of code shown in Figure 3; this code maps the local host to TCP/IP address 127.0.0.1. (Be sure to substitute your actual host name where the figure uses 'locahost'.) Then, using Client Access or File Transfer Protocol (FTP), put the file in IFS folder /QIBM/UserData/NetworkStation/StationConfig/ on the AS/400.

Once you've completed this one-time configuration process, eSuite is ready to go. The AS/400 with the Network Station product installed and the standard Java RMI and eSuite registry servers running functions as the core server. The next time the Network Station (the client) is booted, it will use Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) as the communications protocol to download the Network Station kernel from the AS/400 (the server). Once the kernel is restored and running on the Network Station, the JVM is ready to start. When the user clicks the eSuite WorkPlace menu bar button you created in the configuration, the eSuite desktop application is started in the Network Station JVM. The application requests user-specific information (more about this in a moment) from the eSuite registry server running on the AS/400 and displays the desktop.

Administration

The key to successful deployment of network-centric software in a business enterprise environment is the ability to efficiently manage users. The eSuite WorkPlace includes a server administration tool, the WorkPlace Administrator, that lets an administrator add or delete user information and define the set of tasks and applications each user has access to. All user information is stored on the AS/400 and is managed by the eSuite registry server at runtime.

The administrator tool provides a centralized and easy way to set up and maintain multiple eSuite WorkPlaces for individuals or groups within a company. Functions controlled by the WorkPlace Administrator include

• creating and managing users and user groups (Figure 4)
• defining the tasks required for end users to do their work (e.g., e-mail, Web browser, spreadsheet)
• organizing tasks into categories and controlling how the categories are presented in the eSuite WorkPlace; for example, you might group the e-mail and Web browser tasks into a category and call the category "Internet" or group various Web pages together under a category called "The Web" (Figure 5)
• defining the tasks available to group members
• customizing eSuite applets for your organization
• configuring the end-user environment for a unified corporate experience (e.g., the use of a proxy server for Web browsing)
• monitoring system usage

Registering Users

All eSuite WorkPlace users must be registered before they can log on. To register users, you use the WorkPlace Administrator to add them to the eSuite registry. The values you enter when registering a user connect the Network Station log-in information with the registry.

To register a user, log on to the Network Station using user ID admin. Click the WorkPlace Administrator task on the eSuite WorkPlace desktop to start the eSuite server administrator tool. You'll see an existing user called Administrator (user ID admin). This user is a preregistered user with administrator access, and it is the user entry you use when you start the eSuite WorkPlace for the first time. You should add yourself as a user (using your own user ID) and later delete the Administrator user to prevent other users from inadvertently logging in as Administrator and accessing the registry.

To register a new user:

1. On the administrator tool's Users tab (Figure 4), click Add.
2. Enter the user's name in the pop-up window that appears. This value is optional; if you omit the user name, the eSuite WorkPlace displays the user ID in its place. User names are sorted alphabetically exactly as you enter them; to make it easier to locate users on the Users tab, you should use a consistent naming format (e.g., First_name Last_name or Last_name, First_name).
3. Enter the user's ID. Enter a unique user ID so that it corresponds exactly to the user ID established on the host server.
4. Click OK.

Once a user is added, a list of default tasks will be associated with that user. You can use the WorkPlace Administrator to provide access to additional tasks or to revoke access to certain tasks. To assign tasks to a user:

1. On the Users tab, click the name of the user.
2. Click the task (e.g., spreadsheet) you want to assign to the user.
3. Click the Assign button.

To remove a task from a user:

1. Click the user's name.
2. Click the task you want to remove.
3. Click the Remove button.

Once you've used the WorkPlace Administrator to define users and tasks, the registry server provides the information at runtime: when a user logs on, the server returns to the eSuite WorkPlace the set of tasks the user can run, the files available, and any component-specific information (e.g., mail server location, component defaults) you've specified.

Lotus eSuite uses Java's persistent object methodology to maintain eSuite desktop persistence. When a user reconnects to the network to start a WorkPlace session, the desktop is exactly as he or she left it, regardless of the user's location or the device being used.

For More Information

As you can see, setting up Lotus eSuite WorkPlace is simple and straightforward. Should you run into any problems, check out the items in "Troubleshooting Tips" for some help. For more information about eSuite, visit the Lotus eSuite Web site, http://esuite.lotus.com/. For information about the Network Station, see http://www.as400.ibm.com/networkstation .

Richard Sinn is a freelance writer, a software engineer at IBM Rochester, and a lecturer at the University of Minnesota. You can reach him via e-mail at webmaster@openloop.com or at http://www.openloop.com/. is a freelance writer, a software engineer at IBM Rochester, and a lecturer at the University of Minnesota. You can reach him via e-mail at webmaster@openloop.com or at http://www.openloop.com/.

Sidebar: Prerequisites and Ordering Information

The official name of the eSuite WorkPlace offering is Lotus eSuite WorkPlace for IBM Network Station 1.1.0.0 (product ID 5648KN1). The current product works only with IBM Network Station Series 1000 machines, but future releases will run on other client hardware and operating systems (e.g., Intel-based PCs with Windows or Oracle network computers) that have a Java Virtual Machine. If you already own the Network Station product for the AS/400, eSuite WorkPlace is free of charge. To order, U.S. customers can call IBM at (800) 879-2755 and select Option 1. Customers outside the United States can order online at http://www.elink.ibmlink.ibm.com/pbl/pbl

To use eSuite with the AS/400, you need OS/400 V4R2M0. You must also have the Network Station software (product ID 5733A07, plus PTFs for Releases 2, 2.5, and 2.5+), the AS/400 Developer Kit for Java, and cume tape C8041420 installed on the AS/400 server. If you're using the AS/400 as the main Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mail server, you also need PTF SF46919 under product ID 5769TC1.

- R.S.

Sidebar: Troubleshooting Tips

If you have problems bringing up the Lotus eSuite WorkPlace, the registry servers, or the eSuite WorkPlace Administrator tool, do the following:

• Verify that the Java path is correct in the AS/400 environment variable settings. Environment variables are like system values for the current Java program - they provide information about how the program will be run. The Java path indicates where the Java program bytecode is located on the AS/400.
• Verify that the eSuite user has been added to the eSuite registry via the WorkPlace Administrator tool.
• Verify that the Remote Method Invocation (RMI) registry and eSuite registry servers are running.
• For the WorkPlace Administrator, verify that you are logged in as admin.

- R.S.

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