Skandocs Installation and Connectivity Guide What you need to know to successfully utilise the Internet connectivity in Skandocs

Transcription

1 Skandocs Installation and Connectivity Guide What you need to know to successfully utilise the Internet connectivity in Skandocs Intended Audience This document is aimed at IT technical support professionals for client networks where it is intended that the Skandocs client will be used to remotely access a Skandocs database hosted by Skanska UK via the public Internet. Background Skandocs is a document control system written and implemented by Skanska UK. Authentication servers are hosted by Skanska UK and are available on the public Internet. Access is granted by Skanska UK who issue usernames and passwords to invited users. Desktop functionality is provided by a Windows based client program which needs to be deployed on the client PC. Scope This document contains the information required to deploy the Skandocs client on a non- Skanska network as well as how to configure border security to allow access to the Skandocs server. Architecture The Skandocs system is client-server based. The client program is deployed on the User s PC, with servers hosted by Skanska on the public Internet. Communication between the client component and the server is conducted entirely via the HTTP protocol on TCP port 80. This communication may be provided by HTTP CERN-style proxies, including Netscape Proxy 3.6, Squid 2.x, and Microsoft ISA. Client PC Requirements The Skandocs client software runs on Windows 2000 or later. The program itself is a single binary executable, and therefore does not require installation on the PC which will host it; one simply downloads and executes the binary. Therefore on NT based Systems (Windows 2000 and Windows XP) there is no requirement for the user to have Administrator privileges on the host PC to download and run the executable. However the Skandocs executable does utilise client libraries from Microsoft Internet Explorer (5.0 minimum 6.0 SP1 recommended) and Microsoft Data Access Components 2.6 or later, both or which must be installed on the machine which will host the Skandocs client application in order for it to function correctly. In most cases Internet Explorer and MDAC are already installed under Windows 2000 or later. Client Internet Access Requirements All communication with the Skandocs servers is done by means of the HTTP protocol with a destination port of 80. Both servers, either or can respond to requests. This means that in most cases existing security will permit access to Skandocs, provided that Internet Explorer on the host machine is configured correctly. The client PC must either be able to resolve the hostnames or and open a TCP connection to port 80 on that server (Fig. 5 example a), or be configured to pass the request to an HTTP proxy server which is capable of doing so (Fig. 5 example b). Page 1 of 5

2 Proxy Server Configuration and Authentication If a proxy server is used which requires user authentication, this is also supported within Skandocs. In the case of a Microsoft ISA server which is configured to permit NTLM style authentication, then this should be transparent, and Skandocs will use the proxy server in the context of the logged in user on the Host PC. In the event that the current user on the host PC does not hold sufficient privileges to the proxy for the operation, or that a proxy which uses basic authentication is in place, then Skandocs will prompt for a username, password (and domain where appropriate) in order to authenticate the user through the proxy (Fig. 1). Figure 1. Skandocs login screen showing prompt for proxy authentication credentials. These credentials are for proxy authentication, and are distinct to the Skandocs credentials supplied by Skanska to log in to the application (Fig. 2). Figure 2. Skandocs login screen following successful contact with or, awaiting entry of Skandocs user credentials Page 2 of 5

3 It is possible to override the proxy and authentication settings from Internet Explorer in order to configure Skandocs to use different settings from those used by the browser. In order to override the proxy configuration, when you get to the Skandocs main screen click on System configuration in the left pane tree. Then in the top right pane select Proxy settings (Fig. 3). In order to override the Internet Explorer settings, tick the enabled box and enter the hostname or IP address of your proxy server in the host field and the TCP port that the proxy server listens on in the port field. Click on the Save changes button in the middle bar. You must now close and re-open Skandocs in order for the changes to be effected. In the event that you wish to return Skandocs to using the Internet Explorer proxy configuration, then re-enter the screen shown in Figure 3 and click the Enabled field again to turn the tick into a cross. Then click the Save Changes button and close and re-open Skandocs. Figure 3. Skandocs main screen showing the proxy configuration override. Note the Save changes button which is indicated by the mouse pointer. Page 3 of 5

4 A similar procedure is undertaken for setting manual authentication settings. You may wish to configure Skandocs to automatically provide credentials to your proxy server, rather than prompting the user. In this case on the Skandocs main screen select System Configuration in the left pane tree and then Authentication Settings in the top right pane. Tick the Authentication box and enter the proxy credentials in the username and password fields (Fig. 4). Ensure that the Save Changes button is clicked before closing and restarting the Skandocs client to invoke the changes. In order to remove the stored credentials and return to a prompt for proxy credentials, return to the screen shown in Figure 4 and click the Authentication box until it shows a cross. Click the Save Changes button and close and re-start the Skandocs client to invoke the change. Figure 4. Entering the proxy authentication credentials. Note the Save Changes button indicated by the mouse pointer. Page 4 of 5

5 ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Internet Internet Client s network to ISP router Client s network to ISP router Client s Firewall Must allow client workstation to open TCP port 80 to Client s Firewall Must allow client proxy server to open TCP port 80 to Client's Proxy Server Must allow client workstation to make web requests to Client s workstation hosting Skandocs client program All communication with Skandocs Server transported by HTTP protocol. HTTP servers are :80 :80 Example (a) - Workstation running Skandocs client is permitted to make direct TCP port 80 connections to Internet hosts. Client s workstation hosting Skandocs client program All communication with Skandocs Server transported by HTTP protocol. HTTP server is :80 Example (b) - Workstation running Skandocs client is required to use an HTTP proxy to connect to Internet hosts. Figure 5. Two examples of Skandocs deployed on a non-skanska Network For Skandocs assistance please contact the Skanska IT Helpdesk on +44(0) (0800 to 1800hrs Mon-Fri) or mailto:it.support@skanska.co.uk Page 5 of 5