Configuring an external portal for external users

As an external administrator, you must configure an external portal before external users can register, log in, and use the portal. You must enable external users to receive registration emails, connect an enhanced catalog to an external portal, and add a configuration for an external company.

Additionally, you can configure the following optional settings:

• ReCAPTCHA for registration—You can configure reCAPTCHA to protect your external  BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal against spam and other types of automated abuse. For more information about reCAPTCHA, see Google online documentation .
• Password settings—You can configure the expiration period for the password rest link and password uniqueness. You can also force external users to reset their password.
• Domain rules—You can configure a whitelist or a blacklist to permit or restrict the registration access for certain domains.
• Email notifications—You can configure the frequency of receiving email notifications about new user registrations in your external portal.

Before you begin

• You must have the MyIT Admin permissions.
• A BMC Helix Digital Workplace  administrator must prepare an external portal for configuration. For more information, see  Preparing an external portal for external administrators .

To enable external users to receive registration emails

1. In the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console, go to Configuration > Configuration > Email.
2. In the Backend URL field, provide a link that points to your host.

3. In the Sender field, provide a name for the email account from which external users receive emails from the external portal.

   Example

   ExternalDigitalWorkplace@bmc.com

   The following image shows an example of the email configuration:

   

4. Click Save.
   For more information about configuring email notifications, see Configuring email notifications.

To connect an enhanced catalog to an external portal

1. In the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console, go to Configuration > Configuration > Enhanced Catalog.
2. Enter the values for the URL, Domain, System User, and System User Password fields.
   The following image shows an example of the enhanced catalog configuration:
   
   
3. Click Save.
   For more information about enabling an enhanced catalog, see Enabling and configuring the enhanced catalog for BMC Digital Workplace.

To add a configuration for an external company

1. In the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console, go to Configuration > Configuration > External Users.
2. Open the Settings tab.
3. From the Site list, select the region of the registered external users.
4. In the URL field, enter the URL that external users will use to access an external BMC Helix Digital Workplace portal, as shown in the following example.
   
   
5. Click Save.

6. Set the DNS name for the URL added in the previous step. 

   The hostname dedicated to be used as an external portal URL must be registered with DNS. This hostname must be associated with IP address of the corresponding BMC Digital Workplace server. 

   Setting the DNS name is a task for network administrator to assign (one more) domain name for IP address of the BMC Digital Workplace server or to assign (one more) domain name for IP address of the load balancer serving for cluster of BMC Digital Workplace servers.

   Note

   The same domain name cannot serve both internal and external user access.

To configure reCAPTCHA for registration

By default, the reCAPTCHA option is disabled.

1. On the Google reCAPTCHA site, generate the keys for the  reCAPTCHA v3 type. To do this, complete the Google registration form  and click Submit.
   The following image shows an example of the generated keys:
   
   
2. In the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console, go to Configuration > Configuration > External Users.
3. On the Settings tab, turn on the reCAPTCHA (v3) toggle.
   
   
4. In the reCAPTCHA Site Key field, enter the site key generated in step 1.
5. In the reCAPTCHA Secret Key field, enter the secret key generated in step 1.
6. Click Save.
   The reCAPTCHA is configured and runs adaptive risk analysis in the background to detect suspicious user interactions. It does not require a user to perform any actions. However, if a suspicious interaction is detected, a user sees an error message and cannot register in an external portal.

To configure the password settings

Until you configure the password setting, the following default settings are applied in an external portal:

• The password reset link expires in 1 hour.
• External users are not forced to reset their passwords.
• The password uniqueness value is 1, which means a password cannot match the previous user's password.

To configure the password settings, perform the following actions:

1. In the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console, go to Configuration > Configuration > External Users.
2. Open the Settings tab.
3. To configure the expiration period of the password reset link, in the Password reset link expiration field, enter the required number of hours.
   The minimum allowed value is 1 hour. The maximum allowed value is 168 hours.
4. To configure password uniqueness, from the Password cannot match previous passwords list, select the required value.
   You can select values from 1 to 5.
5. To force external users password reset, perform the following steps:
   

   1. Turn on the Force external user password reset toggle.
      
      

   2. In the After field, enter the required quantity of days.
      The minimum allowed value is 15 days. The maximum allowed value is 365 days.

   3. From the  Password reset user notifications should be delivered list, select one of the following options:

      • Two weeks before expiration with daily reminders delivered during the final week.

      • Two weeks before expiration. One week before expiration. One day before expiration.

6. Click Save. 

To configure the domain rules

By default, there are no domain restrictions for registration.

1. In the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console, go to Configuration > Configuration > External Users.
2. Open the Settings tab.
3. To restrict registration for certain domains, perform the following steps:
   1. From the Domain Rules list, select Blacklist.
   2. In the text field, enter a comma-separated list of domains or sub-domains.
      The blacklisted domains and sub-domains are not permitted for registration.
4. To permit registration for certain domains, perform the following steps:
   1. From the Domain Rules list, select Whitelist.
   2. In the text field, enter a comma-separated list of domains or sub-domains.
      Only the whitelisted domains and sub-domains are permitted for registration.

   Note

   The changes you make while configuring the domain rules do not affect existing registrations.

5. Click Save.
   When external users try to register in an external portal by using the unsupported domains or sub-domains, the following message is displayed, and the users cannot register: This domain is not valid for registration.

To configure the email notifications

By default, the frequency of email notifications is set to Daily.

1. In the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console, go to Configuration > Configuration > External Users.
2. Open the Settings  tab.
3. In the Email notification settings section, select the frequency of receiving notifications about new user registrations. The following options are available:
   
   • Hourly
   • Daily 
   • Per request
   • None
     
4. Click Save.
   You receive email notifications about new registrations in your external portal according to the selected frequency. 
   If the  Auto-approve new user requests setting is turned off, in the generated email, the Review requests button is displayed, as shown in the following example:
   
   
   
   If you click the Review requests button, you are redirected to the User Management tab with the Approval Required sub-tab opened, where you can approve or block new external users. For more information about approving external users, see Managing access for external users.

Where to go from here

Managing access for external users