Configuring secure connections for Smart Office Collaboration

The collaboration functionality in Smart Office uses Web sockets to connect the users to the server. The Web sockets are not secured by default so any data transmitted using the collaboration functionality such as chat messages will be sent in a clear text over the network. If it is necessary, the communication can be secured by using secured Web sockets and an SSL certificate.

To enable secure connections for collaboration, you need a keystore file that contains an SSL certificate. See Creating a keystore for secure Smart Office Collaboration for instructions on how to create a keystore file.

These procedures assume that you have a keystore file and that you know the password to the keystore file. Follow these steps to enable secure connections for collaboration:

  1. Open the Grid Management pages > Management Pages (for the MangoServer application) > Manage Collaboration Server link.
  2. Click the Browse button and open the keystore file. Click the Install button.
  3. Navigate to the Grid Configuration Manager.
  4. Click the Applications link > MangoServer application link > Edit properties link.
  5. Locate the Key Store Password property in the Collaboration section.
  6. Click the link for the value and enter the password for the installed keystore file.
  7. Click the Save button in the dialog. Change the value of the Enable secure collaboration connections property to true.
  8. Verify these properties:
    • The Enabled collaboration server property must be set to true.
    • The Collaboration server host property must be set to the grid host where the collaboration server should start. The value should match the host used for the SSL certificate.
    • The Collaboration server port property must be set to a port number that is not blocked by any firewall and that can be accessed by clients.
  9. Click the Save link on the page.

    If the properties have been changed, the Mango Collaboration Server will be restarted and secured Web sockets should be used for collaboration connections. Open instances of Smart Office must be restarted. Check the log for the MangoServer application to verify that the Collaboration server has started. There should be log entries on the INFO level that indicates that the Collaboration server has started using secured Web sockets on the configured port.

    If there are errors in the log or if Smart Office clients cannot connect to the Collaboration server using secured Web sockets, check these conditions:

    • The correct keystore password has been entered.
    • The hostname in the certificate in the keystore should match the Collaboration server host.
    • The root certificate is trusted on the client machines.