WHITE PAPER. Good Mobile Intranet Technical Overview

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER Good Mobile Intranet

2 CONTENTS 1 Introduction 4 Security Infrastructure 6 Push 7 Transformations 8 Differential Data 8 Good Mobile Intranet Server Management

3 Introduction Good Mobile Intranet brings the power of your corporate intranet and enterprise information to your mobile personnel when and where they need it 1. By empowering mobile users with interactive access to mission-critical systems intranets and enterprise applications that have been web-formatted for Good Mobile Intranet Good Mobile Intranet increases the ROI of your existing IT investments. Good understands that mobile solution must have more than just features. Mobile solutions must provide a user experience that is easy and productive before they will be adopted and, ideally, embraced. Key features of Good Mobile Intranet include: Intuitive user interface. Users can get started quickly and become as productive while mobile as they are in the office. Online and offline productivity. Users can be kept in the loop whether in or out of coverage, since information can be pushed or broadcasted to mobile handhelds for review at the user s convenience. 1 Good Mobile Intranet is only available for Good Mobile Messaging for Microsoft Exchange. Enterprise class security. Good Mobile Intranet leverages the same security infrastructure as Good Mobile Messaging to connect to systems residing behind the firewall and to transport information securely through the Good Network Operations Center. Good Mobile Intranet also has NTLM authentication. Ease of management. Good Mobile Intranet can be installed and updated using Good Secure OTA (Over-the-Air), completely wirelessly, while day to day management is easy with the Good Mobile Intranet management console. Exchange Domino Good Messaging Server External Web Site Intranet Web-based CRM Other Good Mobile Intranet Server Good Network Operations Center WAN and Wi-Fi networks Handhelds with Good client 1 Good Mobile Intranet

4 GOOD MOBILE INTRANET OVERVIEW Good Mobile Intranet provides wireless access to myriad sources of enterprise information, including intranets and applications like CRM (customer relationship management) that have been specifically web-formatted for use with Good Mobile Intranet. Good Mobile Intranet enables companies to extend valuable data to mobile users through a complete platform, including the Good Mobile Intranet Client and Server, administration tools and support for a broad range of open standards and technologies. Working with your Good Mobile Messaging Server and applications, the Good Mobile Intranet system includes: Good Mobile Intranet Server for handling requests from Good Mobile Intranet Clients and managing interactions with Web sites and Web-enabled backend systems. Good Mobile Intranet Client running on wireless handhelds for requesting and submitting data. Good Mobile Intranet Server Console allowing remote administration of users, policies and pushes. Unlike micro-browsers, Good Mobile Intranet is optimized for accessing data over today s wireless networks and doesn t require a continuous connection. Mobile users can request or submit information quickly and easily by using Good Mobile Intranet applications on a handheld, and receive responses while working on other tasks. Users can also save and later view information offline to maximize productivity. Additionally, unlike browsers, Good Mobile Intranet provides secure connectivity behind the corporate firewall, automatically incorporating your enterprise s security policies. Corporate developers can use standard Web tools to adapt and extend existing applications for use with Good Mobile Intranet, since Good Mobile Intranet is capable of rendering HTML, ASP, JSP, CHTML, XHTML, and WML content. Also, custom or non API-enabled backend systems can be accessed via a number of techniques such as light Visual Studio.NET programming and.asp page creation; and then accessed directly with Good Mobile Intranet. Using Good Mobile Intranet to access enterprise applications is simple and fast users click one URL link to access a Good Mobile Intranet form-based application and they can then begin using it immediately. In addition to user-initiated data access, the Good Mobile Intranet system enables administrators to configure and proactively push messages, Web pages and other documents to users handhelds. 2 Good Mobile Intranet

5 The Good Mobile Intranet system is built with Java Server technology and it includes the following: Good Mobile Intranet Server Console The server includes an HTTP-based management interface for server administration. You can access the console interface from any host on your network that runs Internet Explorer or from a Good Mobile Intranet handheld (if you have the appropriate access permissions). Push Management The server includes a Push Management system to submit, cancel and view the status of pushed messages. Wireless Network Subsystem This server subsystem controls wireless transmissions between the server and the handheld. This subsystem communicates with the Good Secure Operations Center to ensure continuous, reliable message delivery. Logging Subsystem The server supports an extensive logging facility you can use to view detailed server activity as well as troubleshoot problems that may occur. The server includes an intelligent XSLT transformation engine for conversion of Web page content. You can develop your own applications to take advantage of these built-in transformations or create transformations of your own. 3 Good Mobile Intranet

6 Security Infrastructure The Good System has been specifically designed to meet the security needs of even the largest, most security-sensitive corporations. It provides an end-to-end system designed to protect corporate information at all times even while it is being transmitted over the wireless network and while it resides on the handheld. The Good System combines industry security standards, such as AES, with Good s own security technologies. Plus, installation of Good applications does not require any modifications to your firewall and allows you to leverage your existing network security infrastructure. Good Mobile Intranet leverages the same infrastructure as Good Mobile Messaging and offers a complete, encrypted, end-to-end secure system. First, a unique encryption key is generated and maintained for each user and stored on the handheld. Good Technology uses advanced encryption technology standards to encrypt and decrypt all messages and transmissions exchanged between the backend enterprise application and the handheld. Second, data flows between Good Mobile Intranet Server and the Good Secure Operations Center over the Internet using the HTTPS protocol. HTTPS provides secure communications through corporate firewalls using SSL. In this communication scheme, the Good Secure Operations Center, which is identified by its URL, can be thought of as the server and Good Mobile Intranet Server as its client in a client/server relationship over the Internet. Through the use of master/session key pairs, the Good System updates keys wirelessly without compromising the security of the system. New session keys are generated every 30 days and encrypted using the master key, then are sent to the handheld wirelessly and automatically installed. Messages that are sent before the new key was deployed are decrypted with the prior key, while all messages that follow the arrival of the new key are decrypted using it. For handheld security, Good provides the ability to centrally set password policies that are enforced on all handhelds connected to the Good Mobile Messaging/Good Mobile Intranet Server. And if a handheld is lost or stolen, IT administrators can remotely erase applications and data on the handheld including Good Mobile Messaging or Good Mobile Intranet data that may have been stored or backed up on a memory or SD card. Please see the Good Security White Paper for additional information about the Good security architecture for Good Mobile Messaging and Good Mobile Intranet. 4 Good Mobile Intranet

7 COOKIES To improve application performance, Good Mobile Intranet manages cookies on the server instead of sending them to destination handhelds. So when a handheld makes a request to a Web site, the server checks to see if there is a cookie associated with that handheld stored for that site or application. If the server has the =cookie for the request, it sends the cookie as part of the handheld s HTTP request. Since no OTA time is used transmitting cookies, server-side cookies improve application performance. In addition, server-managed cookies save time by following all HTTP redirects that include cookies and automatically taking care of Web logins requiring cookies. And since cookie data is stored in the server s database, users can clear cookies stored on the handheld. AUTHENTICATION Good Mobile Intranet also allows mobile users to authenticate to a variety of Web servers, such as HTTP Basic, using NT LAN Manager (NTLM)-based authentication all right from their handhelds. If a user requests information from a Web server and that information has been protected using authentication, the Web server sends an Authentication Required header with the response to the request. This notifies the client that user credentials must be supplied in order for the resource to be returned as requested. Good Mobile Intranet passes the authentication information back to the handheld and then the user is prompted to enter a user name and password. Once the user name and password are entered, the request is sent back with the required credentials to the Web server. This information is kept by the client for future use. Meaning, when the user accesses the same domain, the credentials are retained and the user is not prompted again for authentication for the remainder of the session. However, handheld users can manually clear HTTP basic authentication through the Good Mobile Intranet client interface. 5 Good Mobile Intranet

8 Push Sometimes you need to get important information to your mobile users, information that they might not yet know they need. Good Mobile Intranet includes push functionality that enables system administrators to proactively broadcast Web pages and documents to mobile users. Good Mobile Intranet s push capability is useful for distributing company or industry news and alerts; sales information, like new leads or updated price lists; field service information like trouble tickets; or other information like reports or management metrics. URLs and documents can be pushed on a scheduled basis, or administrators that have access rights to the Good Mobile Intranet Server Console can execute one-time, ad-hoc pushes when required. The process flow for Good Mobile Intranet push is: Push Initiator Step 8: Optional delivery notification. Step 1: Push is initiated. Step 2: Server responds. Step 3: Contents stored in database. Good Mobile Step 4: Retrieved for delivery. Database: Pending Push Messages Step 5: Handheld requests content from the server. Step 6: Server delivers content to handheld. Step 7: Handheld acknowledges receipt. Good Mobile Intranet on Handheld 1. Push is initiated by the system administrator. Push documents can be traditional file attachments (such as Word, Excel or PDF documents), HTML Web pages or URL locations that contain intranet links and HTML content and so on. Administrators can deliver push messages as needed or on a pre-defined scheduled basis. 2. Contents of a push are stored in a database on the Good Mobile Intranet Server. 3. Push content is retrieved for delivery. Push documents can be downloaded and received as a background process, so a user s workflow is not interrupted. For important, immediate notification, administrators can send a push alert, which automatically takes priority on a user handheld. 4. When a user attempts to open a pushed page or document, the Good Mobile Intranet Client requests content from server. If the user receiving a push document or alert is out of coverage, the push is queued on the server until coverage is restored. 5. Handheld acknowledges receipt of the push. Server queuing and handheld acknowledgement guarantee and confirm push delivery. 6. Optional delivery notification is sent. 6 Good Mobile Intranet

9 Transformations Most desktop, intranet and Internet applications do not render well or at all on mobile handhelds. Good Mobile Intranet accommodates that problem. Where the target application is accessed via a URL, the Good Mobile Intranet Server includes a set of transformations you can use to integrate applications with Good Mobile Intranet. These transformations enable you to take new or existing Web client architected applications and optimize them for user handhelds. In the following figure, you can see how the same site is rendered on the desktop and through Good Mobile Intranet. Transformations can be used on a specific page, a domain or all pages in a site. They also enable you to filter information before it reaches the handheld so users get the information they need in an attractive display. During transformations, the Good Mobile Intranet Transform Engine parses through HTML to find specific items, remove items or rewrite them according to the logic of the transformation. For example, Good Mobile Intranet can process a Web application to remove graphics or simplify table layouts. The Good Mobile Intranet-defined transformations control the layout of the output documents and where to access data within the input document. This saves on bandwidth, makes applications perform faster and provides a much more usable experience on the handheld. Transformations reside on the server, so all the heavy-duty processing is done by the server instead of the handheld. This enables more efficient downloads and faster application processing on the handheld. Transformations work for most public Web sites as well as your corporate intranets and Web-architected enterprise applications. 7 Good Mobile Intranet

10 Differential Data To reduce transmission time, Good Mobile Intranet Server supports differential-data transmission. If differential-data transmission is enabled, the server maintains a cache of the documents it sends to individual handhelds. When a Good Mobile Intranet browser on the handheld sends an HTTP request for a document, the response comes back to Good Mobile Intranet Server which automatically checks its differential data to see if the document requested is a newer version of a document previously sent to the handheld. If it is, the server compares the two versions and sends only the changes to the handheld. A similar process happens when Good Mobile Intranet Server receives the updated version of a push message. Before sending it to the handheld, the server compares it to the previous version of the push message and sends only the updated portion of the message to the handheld. When the Good Mobile Intranet handheld receives differential data from the server, it updates the document with new content, so both the server and the handheld have the latest versions. So what you save with differential data is the transmission time and not outdated versions of data. Good Mobile Intranet Server Management Good Mobile Intranet Server includes an HTML interface, called the Good Mobile Intranet Server Console, for managing the Good Mobile Intranet Server via a standard Web browser. TRAFFIC The traffic page of the server console displays the amount of HTTP traffic sent between wireless handhelds and Good Mobile Intranet Server. This page is useful for comparing network traffic activity over hourly, daily or weekly periods. LOG FILES Good Mobile Intranet Server includes both production logs and diagnostics logs. With the exception of the Access log, production logs are enabled by default and cannot be disabled, while diagnostic logs are disabled by default and can be enabled if desired. The server also sends logging information to the Event log. By accessing the server console, you can see what logs are currently enabled as well as enable or disable logging for server components. 8 Good Mobile Intranet

11 SITE ACCESS Sometimes it is necessary to limit your users access to sites. With the Site Access of the Good Mobile Intranet Server console, you can: Set the default home page for handhelds. Map the host name received in a URL to a different host name (Host substitution). Map the path following the host name in a URL to a different path (URL substitution). URL substitution in combination with host substitution makes it possible to fully change the URL that a wireless handheld requests without reconfiguring the handheld. This can be useful, for example, if you want to change the server host. Proxy and per-user proxy management. PUSH ADMINISTRATION The Good Mobile Intranet Server Console provides a graphical user interface for sending and managing push messages. You can use the console to view the status of push messages, send new messages, generate push reports and set push administration options. USER MANAGEMENT Once users have been enabled on the Good Mobile Messaging Management Console, they will be displayed on the Users page in the Good Mobile Intranet Server Console. With the console tool, you will be able to add, delete and manage Good Mobile Intranet users centrally and easily. Good Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Good, Good Technology, the Good logo, Good Mobile Messaging, Good Mobile Intranet, and Powered by Good are trademarks of Good Technology, Inc. MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Screen image simulated. Rev Good Mobile Intranet