Configuring attached documents for Control Desk Service Portal

IBM Control Desk includes the ability to add attachments to tickets that users create in the Self Service Center in Control Desk Service Portal. To implement this feature, administrators must configure document libraries in IBM Control Desk.

The process for configuring attached documents varies depending on your environment. The following factors can affect the configuration:
  • whether you use the WebSphere® Application Server or Oracle WebLogic Server
  • whether you have a single computer or multiple computer environment
  • whether you use Windows or UNIX

The following table provides a high-level summary of the tasks to perform and directs you to detailed instructions for performing the task. The summary assumes that you are working in a single computer environment. If you are not using a single computer, documentation for other environments is available in Configuring attached documents .

Because some steps in this process require that you work with the IBM Control Desk application server, IBM® Control Desk on Cloud customers must work with the IBM hosting team to configure attached documents.

Table 1. Configuring attachments for Control Desk Service Portal
Step Action Description
1 Create the appropriate documents directories on the computer where you want to store your files and share the drive on that computer so that other users can access it. For more information, see Configuring attached documents directories in a single-computer environment.

2 Update the configuration file in IBM HTTP Server to specify the directory for attached documents. If you are an IBM Control Desk on Cloud customer, work with the IBM hosting team to complete this task.

For instructions, see Editing the httpd.conf file in a single-computer environment.

Use forward slashes (/) in the path statement even for Windows.

For Control Desk Service Portal, after you specify the DocumentRoot and documents directory and before you restart the HTTP server, set the Options property to None, as shown in the following example:
<Directory "C:/DOCLINKS">
#
# Possible values for the Options directive are "None", "All",
# or any combination of:
#   Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatch ExecCGI Multiviews
#
# Note that "MultiViews" must be named *explicitly* --- "Options All"
# doesn't give it to you.
#
# The Options directive is both complicated and important. Please see
# http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/core.html
# options
# for more information.
#      Options None
#
# AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess files.
# It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:
#   Options FileInfo AuthConfig
        Limit
#    AllowOverride None 
#
# Controls who can get stuff from this server.
#    Order allow,deny
     Allow from all 
</Directory>

After you edit the httpd.conf file, you must restart the HTTP server.
3 In Control Desk, specify the system properties for the documents directory. In the System Properties application, edit the following system properties to specify the file path to the documents directory:
  • mxe.doclink.doctypes.defpath

    For example, C:\DOCLINKS

  • mxe.doclink.path01

    For example, C:\DOCLINKS=http://tsd23.tivlab.austin.ibm.com

    This setting assumes the Web Server port is 80. If the port number is not 80, add the port at the end, for example http://tsd23.tivlab.austin.ibm.com:800.

After the system properties are changed, you must restart the Maximo server. Because this task requires working with the application server, if you are an IBM Control Desk on Cloud customer, work with the IBM hosting team to complete this task.
4 Add your documents directory to each application in Control Desk where you want to add attachments, such as Incidents and Service Requests. For instructions, see Maintaining document folders.
5 In Control Desk, set the mxe.doclink.doctypes.topLevelPaths and mxe.doclink.multilang.windows.websphere system properties. In the System Properties application, specify the following system properties:
  • mxe.doclink.doctypes.topLevelPaths

    Specify the file path for the documents directory, for example C:\DOCLINKS

  • mxe.doclink.multilang.windows.websphere

    Set this property to equal true.

Because this task requires working with the application server, if you are an IBM Control Desk on Cloud customer, work with the IBM hosting team to complete this task
6 For customers that install Control Desk in their on-premises environment and that use only Service Portal on Cloud: Configure the system property for the OSLC web application URL. In the System Properties application, edit the mxe.oslc.webappurl system property to specify the hostname or IP address of the Control Desk server.

After you configure the property, ensure that you click Live Refresh to implement the property change.
7

optional

 If necessary, you can edit the file types system property to add or remove file types that you support for attachments. The following file types are supported in Control Desk: bmp, csv, doc, docx, dwg, gif, html, jpg, pdf, ppt, txt, xls, xlsx, xml, xsl, zip.

To change the file types that you support, edit the mxe.doclink.doctypes.allowedFileExtensions system property in the System Properties application.

After you change the system property, the Maximo EAR application must be restarted. Because this task requires working with the application server, if you are an IBM Control Desk on Cloud customer, work with the IBM hosting team to complete this task.

For information about system properties that you can configure for attached documents, see Attached documents properties.

Parent topic: Configuration options for Control Desk Service Portal

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