Transcript What We'll Cover

Web Content Management
with Lotus Domino
Andrew Pollack
Northern Collaborative
Technologies
http://www.thenorth.com
Proud member of The Penumbra Group
http://www.penumbragroup.com
What We'll Cover
Choosing Domino for Web content
Supporting multiple languages
Securing a Domino application
Exploring an actual content
management system
Publish or Perish
Check back weekly for new content!

Last updated July 3, 1998
Content draws users, graphics don't

Well, at least not business graphics
Web designers know code, not content
How is a Web Page Like a
Wedding Invitation?
You want just a few lines of simple
content
You pay an expert to produce it
It takes two weeks to see the result
The expert never gets it right the first
time
Can I have that in Kanji?
Power to The People
The content owner is the best author




Its
Its
Its
Its
their audience
their interest area
usually their language
their budget
If you give them control of the page


It will be what they want
You can focus on other things
Summary: Top 5 Reasons To
Let Content Owners Publish
They need it today
Budget? What budget?
"Just a little more to the left..."
Don't have any web developers who
speak Cantonese
Otherwise, you have to do it yourself
Where Domino Fits
Front ends and back ends and
middleware, Oh my!
Domino, WebSphere, and DB2 -- who
does what?
What scale really means
Front ends
Interaction with the user
Great for holding information
Not so good for storing data
Lotus Domino, Apache
Back ends
Great for holding lots of data
Not so good for storing information
IBM DB2, Oracle, SQL Server
Lotus Domino
Middleware
Ties the front end to the back end
Contains business and security logic
Puts the Bop, in the Bop-Shu-bop

adds dynamic data
Servlets, JSP's
Lotus Domino forms and agents
The 100% Domino Model
Big Happy Domino Server
Design: Framesets, Pages,
Navigators, Outlines ... so much
more!
Middleware: LotuScript, Java,
Javascript, @Formulas, Agents,
Events
Data Storage: Domino
Databases
Domino, WebSphere, & DB2 The J2EE Model
Design = Domino: Framesets,
Pages, Navigators, Outlines.....
Middleware = WebSphere :
Servlets & JSP
Data Storage = DB2
Domino is design
From concept to creation -- rapid
development
It's a flexible container -- a great place
for your stuff
Authentication and authorization are
built in
DB2 is transactional data
Price lists
Parts inventory
Financial data
Multi-phase commit
WebSphere is Middleware
Connects Domino's design to DB2's data
Thousands of transactions per second
What Scale Really Means Data
How Much Data
If you're talking about millions of
records its Data. Put it in a relational
database.
Yes, I know you CAN put millions of
documents into a Domino database, but
think about the data first
Is it content or transactions?
What Scale Really Means Users
How Many Users?
Web users are like snowflakes


One isn't a problem, it's when they gang
up
They're really cold -- when they get angry
Is it content or transactions?
Content is "easy" to serve
Transactions are harder
Where is the data?
Summary: Where Domino Fits
Domino is Design

Can also be middleware and/or data
storage
WebSphere is middleware

Great for high volume and transactions
DB2 is data storage -- and lots of it

If you're talking about millions of anything,
its probably data
Domino WANTS to be
multilingual
Just turn it on and let it go!
Tools like Global Workbench
Automatic content translation tools
My favorite settings

Those that make my customers happy
Domino is multilingual inside!
ASCII? One byte per character?

How 80's of you! That went out with big hair and
alligator shirts
Speaking Chinese runs in families

Language properties are part of the text -- they
come from the author
So why do you have to do anything?

Many languages have several different versions
and character sets
Design Tools like Global
Workbench
These tools are GREAT for design
elements
Can be hard to retrofit
Best if used when creating new
applications
These tools are not helpful for content
translation
Automatic Content Translation
Tools
The holy grail of content management
Not quite there, but getting better
Provide users "the gist" of the page
Can be useful, but a high cost for
imperfect translation
Users are still better
My Favorite Language Settings
Lesson
These are the
settings chosen by
the content owners
at my largest
customer...
Securing a Domino Application
This is a REALLY BIG topic
How secure do you need it?
First, protect the operating system
Authentication vs. authorization
Security vs. obscurity
Data security vs. transmission security
How secure do you need it?
What kind of data is being served?




Personal information
Medical or financial information
Business planning data
Competitive information
Are there legal requirements?

Many kinds of credit, medical, and personal data
have specific legal security requirements
First, Protect the Operating
System
The OS is the door to everything

Get in that door, and the data is open
Anything that listens is vulnerable

File sharing, printer sharing, universal plug 'n
access
A quality firewall closes the doors

Doesn't let anything talk to what's listening
Keep up to date on patches
Keep up to date on warnings

HTTP://WWW.CERT.ORG
Authentication tells us who
you are
Name and password = secret handshake

Be careful of who's watching!
Trusted certificates = a photo ID

Difficult to forge, but frustrating to some users
Bio authentication = well, Bio authentication

Your thumb should not have value if detached
from your hand.
Authorization tells us what you
can do
Access control groups
ACL entries -- including roles
Reader and author field data types
Security is protected data,
even if you know where it is
Read access fields
$ViewTemplateDefault
File and directory controls
Database ACLs
Obscurity is hidden data
Non-linked pages
Hidden views
Document indexes
Many skilled users DO know how to get
this data
Even less skilled users will try url
hacking to see what's there
Transmission security -- stopping
the man in the middle
Make sure the person you're talking to
is the only one you're talking to
Sniffers can read the packets
SSL encrypts the connection
Basic authentication without SSL is wide
open to the man in the middle
Summary: Securing A Domino
Application
First, secure the operating system
Build the application carefully
Obscurity is not security
Use the access control tools
Don't forget the 'man in the middle‘
A Real Content Management
System
Automatic layout makes your colors
brighter and your whites whiter!

Any simple text can look great with the
right layout design around it!
Never let them see you sweat

Don't show users links to pages they don't
have access rights to view!
The layout defines the overall
look and feel
Store the layout as a header & footer
subform and display it on the web
Add some simple rich text
Display it through the layout
Automating Index Pages
Index pages provide quick, organized
access to content
Avoid showing secure links to users
without authorization to use them
Here's A Sample Index Page
Index pages are heavily coded
for optimal design
Link definitions fill in the
lookup view
Reader Names fields keep the link from from
the view, preventing display for users who
cannot access the content
Notes view lookup returns a result
The view column formula....
Creates html output for each document....
Which gets included right onto the form
Rich Text Rocks for Content
Owners
Easy to use -- just like mail
Supports the content owner's language
Flexible and powerful for advanced
users


Store HTML and Javascript natively
Don't forget tools like Midas to create and
manage rich text programatically
An Actual Content
Management System
Screenshots are Taken from live
sites
Creating content
Controlling access
Sample Rich Text Based
Content
More Rich Text Power
Editor Approval Cycles -That's Old Hat
This is basic workflow
Lotus Notes has OWNED this space
since it invented the stuff more than 10
years ago
To implement workflow in new sites,
check out Lotus Workflow 3.x
Your Turn!
This presentation at Admin 2002 goes into a
few more topics and is more in depth
You’re welcome to contact me
 [email protected]
 http://www.thenorth.com
I’m also doing “Development Tips & Tricks for
Administrators” at Admin 2002
Now its time for Questions & Answers
Questions?
•Submit your questions now by
clicking on the “Ask A Question”
button in the bottom left corner of
your presentation screen.