Managing projects

Project administration is at the center of administrative tasks in MainView Middleware Administrator (MVMA). Project administration wraps all related administrative functions into its functional set.

As a reminder, the project is the container that you fill with users, groups and connections. Users, groups and connections are linked through permissions assignments that enable users to act on products represented by project connections.

Project planning and execution elements include:

• Planning the project: Note relevant users and groups that have logical connection to a new project. Communicate with potential and actual project members once the project is created. Plan those connections that might belong to the project.
• Configuring the project: Assign product users and groups. Select IBM WebSphere MQ or TIBCO EMS connections to associate with the project. Set permissions on a per user or group basis for the project. This step turns the project live, letting users manage desired middleware assets. Configure event rules to apply to project entities.

Defining a project

Once users and groups have been created, and connections set up (for WMQ and EMS connections), you can define a new project.

To create a new project:

1. Select the Projects option from the Navigation Panel (select the word Projects, not the horizontal navigational arrow to its right).
2. The Projects view fills the workspace; select the Add Item icon "+" from the options above the list. The Properties for New Project editor is displayed.
   
3. Define properties for the project as required.
   Select the Remote File Access Enabled checkbox to enable remote access to directories and files on the connection's remote system, as configured for the connections associated with the project. Remote File Access needs to be configured for each connection in the project in order to view files on that system. See also Adding connections for further information on the Remote File Access properties applicable to each connection.
   • Click on a category link (Connections, Users, Groups, and so on) to expand the section and define as required.
   • Note that the Project Name field is mandatory.
4. Save your settings. The Projects view is displayed, with the new project displayed in the list of projects.

Copying a project

To copy a project:

1. Select Projects from the Navigation Panel.
2. In the displayed Projects View, click on the Operations arrow icon next to the relevant project.
3. Select Copy.
4. In the displayed Properties for New Project dialog, define settings as required.
5. Click the Save icon to save your settings.

Editing a project

To edit a project:

1. Select Projects from the Navigation Panel.
2. Click on the relevant project name in the Projects View.
3. Modify the project settings as required. Note that you cannot modify the Project Name field.
4. Click the Save icon to save your settings.

Auditing a project

To audit a project:

1. Select Projects from the Navigation Panel.
2. In the displayed Projects View, click on the Operations arrow icon next to the relevant project.
3. Select Audit.
4. In the displayed Audit Events dialog, define a time period you want to audit for the selected project, and click Submit.
5. Browse the list of events that are generated for the selected time period.

Deleting a project

To delete a project:

1. Select Projects from the Navigation Panel.
2. In the displayed Projects View, click on the Operations arrow icon next to the relevant project.
3. Select Delete.
4. In the displayed confirmation message, click OK.

Configuring projects

Project configuration involves working with these elements:

• Project - Planning and creation (naming).
• Users - Add, modify or delete users (including modifying user permissions).
• Groups - Add, modify and delete groups (including modifying group permissions).
• Connections - Research connections, add them to projects or delete them from projects.
• Events - Configure event rule definitions (rule types) for project-associated events. Active events triggered by the triggering of event conditions update users and Product Administrators of important project-related alerts. Events are available only for installations with IBM WebSphere MQ support. See also Defining events.
• Links - Lets you associate links to web resources that may be useful for the project.
• Filters - Set filters for connections to limit what objects under the connection are visible to users and groups in the project.
• Security - Associating users and groups with projects, configuring events for them, and setting project connection filters all relate tangentially to security.

Project maintenance is the process of monitoring and tweaking configured projects and their components.

Managing connections 

Configuring projects includes associating connections with the project. You do not manage these connections, rather their association with users within MVMA projects.

Adding connections

To associate an IBM WebSphere MQ queue manager or TIBCO EMS server with a project:

1. Open the (collapsed) Connections properties group.
2. Click the Add Connections  icon to display the Add Connection dialog.
3. Select the Connection (Queue Manager or Server) to add to project.
4. The connection is added to the Project Properties page.
5. Repeat the previous steps to add more connections to the project.
6. Save your changes.

Two operations are available for a configured filter; you can apply a filter to a connection, or delete a filter from a project, as described below. 

Deleting a connection

To delete any connection from a project:

1. From the Projects view, click on the Project name to display the Properties Editor.
2. Select Connections to expand the category.
3. Select Remove from the drop-down menu adjacent to the connection you wish to delete. It is removed from the Connections list for the project.
4. Select Save to save the changes to the project.

Applying filters to connections

Applying a filter means taking an existing filter and applying it to a particular connection. Refer to Defining filtering for further information on how filters work, including how to apply multiple filters to a connection, and how to disassociate filters from a connection.

Viewing filters

To view which filters are currently defined for a connection:

1. Open Projects and select the project to view.
2. Expand the Connections category.
3. Select the + icon beneath the Filters category heading.
4. The selected connection is expanded and displays applied filters.

Assigning users to projects

Creating users and associating them with groups are administrative building blocks within project configuration. Projects tie users to managed connections and related objects via permissions assignment.

Permissions, which is detailed in The role of permissions, include:

• Inquire: Lets user see all project objects and view their properties (attributes). Inquire does not let a user change properties or browse messages.
• Read: Allows user to browse messages within the message manager.
• Write: Lets user modify or create messages in the message manager.
• Delete: Allows user to delete messages in the message manager.
• Operator: Enables object administration. Full administrative permission on existing objects, but not the capability to create new objects or delete existing ones. Note that although import operations often result in the modification of objects (and therefore Operator permissions will suffice), if an import operation involves the adding of an object, you will require Administration permissions.
• Administration: Lets the user create new objects and administer and delete existing ones.

To assign users to projects:

1. Select Projects from the Navigation Panel, and click on the relevant Project name.
2. The Properties Editor for the selected Project is shown. Note that all categories are collapsed (each can be expanded).
3. Open the Users properties category, which displays the project users.
4. Use the Add Item icon to open the Select User to Add to Project dialog.
5. If required, filter for users that can be added to the project by using the *** wildcard at the end of a user expression. For example, jdoe* would find all users with a username that begins with "jdoe".
   In order for the filter to work when requesting users from an LDAP server, you must change the "LDAP Users Search Filter" setting in the Security category of the Navigation Panel to an expression that can take an argument. For instance, this field is defaulted to "(&(objectClass=user)(sAMAccountName={0}))", where the filter typed into the dialog will be substituted in place of "{0}".
6. Highlight the user that you want to add, but do not confirm the addition.
   1. Assign permissions to the target user ("user1"):
   2. Select each required permission.
      
7. Click OK to confirm the user's addition to the project.
8. The dialog closes and the new user and privileges shown appear in the users table as the last list entry. All privileges assigned are displayed (note that you can also change the user permissions from here, for example, if a user's permissions change over time).
9. Select Save to save changes.

Deleting users from projects

To delete any user from a project:

1. Select the Project Properties for the required project.
2. Select the expansion triangle to expand the Users category.
3. Select Remove from the Operations drop-down menu next to the user you wish to delete.
4. The user is deleted from the Users list.
5. Confirm the actions by selecting Save from the top-level options.

Assigning groups to projects

To add a group to a project:

1. Select Projects from the Navigation Panel.
2. Select the project (from the Projects View) to which you intend to add a group.
3. Expand the Groups section so that all entries are visible.
4. Select the Add Instance Icon  and the Select Group to Add to Project dialog is displayed.
5. If required, filter for groups that can be added to the project by using the *** wildcard at the end of a group expression. For example, ad* would find all groups that begin with "ad".
   In order for the filter to work when requesting groups from an LDAP server, you must change the "LDAP Groups Search Filter" setting in the Security category of the Navigation Panel to an expression that can take an argument. For instance, this field is defaulted to "(&(objectClass=group)(cn={0}))", where the filter typed into the dialog will be substituted in place of "{0}".
6. Select the group to add to the project.
7. Assign the required permissions. Select each permission type.
8. Confirm and the group is added to the groups list for the project.
9. Save your changes.

To delete a group from a project:

1. Select the Project Properties for the required project.
2. Select the expansion triangle to expand the Group category.
3. Select Remove from the Operations drop-down menu next to the group you wish to delete.
4. The group is deleted from the Groups list.
5. Confirm the actions by selecting Save from the top-level options.

Setting links

You can provide project-specific custom links or URLs to web resources that you considers helpful for the assigned project and for your users. These are hyperlinks often seen on websites.

You can provide project-specific links to one of a number of target locations - internal and external documentation sites, phone lists. and so on. The links you define will be accessible from the links option in the User Console Global Actions Bar.

To define a link:

1. From the Projects view, select a project for which to set links (if the target project is already selected, skip this step).
2. Expand the Links setting and view existing links for the project.
3. Select the Add icon above the first link. You are prompted to add a URL and a link name in the text entry dialog. Note that if you want to point to an external URL, you must use the http:// prefix.
4. Click Add to add the link to the Links list.
5. Select Save to save the link.

To delete any associated links:

1. From the drop-down menu next to the link that you wish to remove from association with the project, click Remove.
2. The link is removed from the list.
3. To enforce the deletion, select Save. You are returned to the Projects view.