This is the second part of the series focused on customer focused analytics. If you have not seen it yet you can check the part 1 here.

I am going to discuss how to build a custom application URL to host BI contents so that a user group gets their BI contents available in just one place rather than having to go through launchpad and bunch of folders. I am going to discuss on a step by step approach how to configure in IIS webserver so all the screen shots are specific to IIS only.

Prerequisites

Three items need to be installed/configured on the server in order to prepare to serve up IIS websites:

• IIS services should be configured on the server
• .Net Framework 4.5 should be installed

Configure IIS Services on the server

Go to the Server Manager console on the server and select the option Add Roles -
  

Select the web server IIS role anc click next -

Once the installation is over, you will be able to see the role and services installed -
  

Install .Net Framework 4.5

Download the .Net 4.5 setup from Microsoft site.
Double click on the downloaded .exe file to start the setup.
Follow the on screen instructions to complete the setup.

How to Setup a Custom IIS Website for housing opendoc links

1. Content Home Folder for Site

Create Directory Folder

Create a folder that will server as the home folder for the website, this is required while creating the website.

Apply Access Levels to Site Folder

Go to the properties of the home folder that was created for the web site and add the ‘Everyone’ group with execute access –
  

2. Create the Website In IIS

Add the Web Site

Open up the Windows Server IIS manager console in one of two ways:

Start > Run > inetmgr > hit enter

or …

Start > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services Manager

Right click on ‘Sites’ and select the option – Add Web Site.
  

Fill in the detail fields corresponding to the application area for which we are creating the site. These are…

Site Name: This name should match that of the Application Area established in the BO Launchpad

Physical Path: This is the path to the home contenet folder for the site that you created in an earlier step

Host Name: This equates to the web URL that users will enter to visit the web page (see example, below, for the “Inventory” application).
  

Application Pool Settings

In IIS left pane, click on Application Pools to see all application pools for your sites.  For your new site, make sure that the application pool is set to use the latest version of .Net Framework .  If it is not, double click the application pool and in the dialoge window select the latest version for .Net Framework.

Bindings

In IIS left pane, right-click on your new application site and select Edit Bindings…  Make sure that both bindings are present on the website – the short name and the fully qualified name.

3. Finalize Web Content Customization

Populate the Home Directory with Sample Web Content

Once the website is created, the code needs to be put in the home folder we created.

  
 

Modify Customized Content Files

There are couple of things that we need to modify for the sites for each application area that we are rolling out the site for.

The following three files need to be modified to change the site as per the new application.
  

Default.aspx

The timeout popup setting is in this file in the section for function Init() , if required it can be changed. We are currently using a standard timer value of 7140000.

Web.config

The title of the Web Site and the working environment is present in this file –
  

The Workingenv parameter decides which links will be used from the links.xml file.
The Title parameter decided what will be the title of the webpage.

Links.xml

the opendoc links, title of the different tabs and the tooltip help is present in this file –
  

Based on the working environment we set in the web.config, the opendoc links will be picked from the links.xml file.

while inserting the links, we needto modify them a bit –

4. Request DNS Alias for the server/loadbalancer

Once the website is created, make sure to create an simple alias for the users to accessthe site – for example http://sales, http://quality etc.
Alias names being requested should be SAME as the bindings that have been provided for the web site.

Once the alias has been created, access the web site using any browser and confirm that it is working as expected.

Now finally once you are done with these you will have a website where you can embed the BI content for a personalized experience of your end user community.