Exposing RTC web interface to customer
Hi
I want to expose a web interface to a customer to allow him to create work items against a specific project.
Opening the firewall to expose the server is not an option, also we're using AD for user management and don't want to create our customers there as well.
What I would like is something like a web frontend with local users that synchronizes into projects areas on our existing server.
Is there a standardized way to expose work items externally?
regards
/anders
I want to expose a web interface to a customer to allow him to create work items against a specific project.
Opening the firewall to expose the server is not an option, also we're using AD for user management and don't want to create our customers there as well.
What I would like is something like a web frontend with local users that synchronizes into projects areas on our existing server.
Is there a standardized way to expose work items externally?
regards
/anders
3 answers
We implemented an external public-facing RTC server for customers to access, without requiring VPN. Then we built a way to connect the external public cloud server with our internal private server, so we can cross-link work items. In this way, the customer accesses a specific public access "support" project where they can enter defects. Then we take those and link them to work items in our internal RTC customer project using "affects plan item" or "affected by defect" type of link. It's a necessary level of separation, but it does give us a way to keep our secure work secure, and provide traceability to specific customer support needs.
But what I really want to do is to simplify the RTC interface for my customer, so they can only see the menus that I want them to see (example: create defects and no other work items, remove the other menus, etc)...
Comments
I can't make too many of the menus easier, but give them a project with only the defect workitem type,. remove all the others.
in the links presentation section in the workitem ui editor, deselect all the link types you don't want them to see. or better yet, remove the links info section from their workitem UI (not from the data).
I think most of that is a couple hour exercise. sadly you cannot configure the major shell UI elements easily
The standard way is to either host the server outside of the firewall or create a VPN tunnel to your clients. You could then set up a federated user repository in WAS so that your AD is used internally and a separate LDAP or file based authentication is used for your outside vendors.
You could get fancy and use OSLC to expose information, or run a service to push information to a trusted location... but that is not standard.
You could get fancy and use OSLC to expose information, or run a service to push information to a trusted location... but that is not standard.
I would like to revisit this subjects, since we are dealing with the same problem: allow users (e.g. customer) outside the firewall to access RTC that is hosted inside the firewall.
Is it an option connect a server outside the firewall with the server inside the firewall, for instance as an OSLC provider?
Is it an option connect a server outside the firewall with the server inside the firewall, for instance as an OSLC provider?