A blog containing development tips I have learned through the years as a PeopleSoft developer.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
PeopleSoft Interaction Hub VM Demo Image Available
The PeopleTools team just posted information about a new VirtualBox image for PeopleSoft Interaction Hub. Read more about it on the PeopleSoft Technology Blog.
We are planning our 9.2 upgrade now for next year and we have 9.1 HCM, FIN and Portal all on 8.51 tools. And one of our leaders went to Open World and came back with the belief that the Interaction Hub was no longer a separate application but rather it was built into the HCM and FIN application. While I believed that the interaction hub was the Portal product re-branded. Which is the case? And should we continue to carry our Portal in 9.2? What do you recommend? Thanks!
@Kevin, Interaction Hub is STILL a separate product. You can use it with the restricted use license, so maybe that was the confusion. It is still a separate database. Also, you won't be carrying Interaction Hub to 9.2 because Interaction Hub doesn't have a 9.2. It is 9.1 with "continuous release." That means it receives new feature updates in "Feature Packs" rather than full upgrades. These are easier to apply. Like upgrades, they have a minimum PeopleTools release. Yes, Interaction Hub is just a new name for Enterprise Portal.
We are using Interaction Hub and have configured Unified Navigation to HCM, FSC and CRM applications. We are very happy with the results that we see.
We are currently trying to find out how we can have users access the portal from outside our network. And when they do so how can we restrict their access? For e.g. if the user is external, they may not be able to see their Direct Deposit information from HCM.
Have you encountered this situation in the past? Do you have any suggestions with regards to the best practices that can be followed here?
Thanks for all guidance you are providing through your blog.
@Tom, yes, I am familiar with this requirement. I suggest you look at the Grey Heller ERP Firewall. It is an impressive product and does what you require.
This is regarding a good-to-have feature in Interaction Hub. We have implemented Unified Navigation and have Navigation Collection pagelets as well that help navigate to content provider components from with IH.
Sometimes when a content provider goes down or is unresponsive, the links in the navigation collection go missing and Unified Navigation breaks, which is an expected behavior. Is there a way to have an automatic notification placed in Hub which would let users know that the content provider is down?
Do you have any thoughts about how that can be done?
@Tom, makes sense. There are a couple of ways. If all of your PeopleSoft systems are in the same domain, or if you use JSONP, etc, you can write Ajax to check the status of other systems. If all of your systems are in the same domain, then an Ajax request to PSIGW/HttpListeningConnector that returns status code 200 means it is probably up. Using JSONP, you would probably create an anonymous IB service that returns a JavaScript call with the server status. Since the call would not return if the server is down (success function not run), then with JSONP you would assume the server is down until it reports it is up. If Ajax or JSONP won't work, then you could write listener services that check the status of your app tiers and writes those statuses to a table. Your pagelet would then just display any systems in a down status. This is probably the most efficient because it isn't making ajax requests to all your other systems everytime someone hits a homepage. It also gives you control over the monitoring frequency. These are just some ideas.
HI Jim, currently we are using enterprise portal 9.1, we want to convert into interaction hub , am searching in net for related material,but those material are not upto the mark , i want your help in converting our portal that any configuration related material how to create , how to modify the portal, please if you can send me the relavant document where in i can read out try to implement. thanks, Satish
Is there any place where we can find the schedule for release of Interaction Hub Maintenance Packs? We havn't been able to locate it and thought of asking you before approaching Oracle Support
Thanks Jim. Yes I looked at the PUM Homepage (Support Doc ID 1464619.1), but Interaction Hub or Portal wasn't listed there. Any other resources that you might know?
@Tom, I'm sorry. Interaction Hub doesn't use PUM does it. No, I don't know where to find the schedule. Besides support, you may want to ask your question on the PeopleSoft General Discussion OTN Forum as well.
We are in process of implementing PeopleSoft Interaction Hub 9.1 with 9.2 HCM. We have a requirement that when we click on the any of the HCM tile through Unified navigation in PIH the URL should not change to HCM instance. The URL should always stay constant and show PIH URL.
@Jim... Will Virtual Addressing will help? How can we restrict URL redirection for External Traffic on PIH as the HR web server is not on DMZ, only PIH web server is.
@Vivek, even with Interaction Hub, users accessing HCM will still browse HCM directly and will need access through DMZ if you want them to access HCM externally. That has always been the case. The only difference is the URL displayed in the browser. PIH with HCM 9.1 showed the PIH URL, but the iframe inside PIH pointed to HCM, which meant the browser had to have real access to HCM regardless of using PIH or not using PIH. Whether Fluid or not Fluid, you will still be browsing the HCM /psc/ URL. It is just that one makes it obvious and the other doesn't.
20 comments:
Jim,
We are planning our 9.2 upgrade now for next year and we have 9.1 HCM, FIN and Portal all on 8.51 tools. And one of our leaders went to Open World and came back with the belief that the Interaction Hub was no longer a separate application but rather it was built into the HCM and FIN application. While I believed that the interaction hub was the Portal product re-branded. Which is the case? And should we continue to carry our Portal in 9.2? What do you recommend? Thanks!
@Kevin, Interaction Hub is STILL a separate product. You can use it with the restricted use license, so maybe that was the confusion. It is still a separate database. Also, you won't be carrying Interaction Hub to 9.2 because Interaction Hub doesn't have a 9.2. It is 9.1 with "continuous release." That means it receives new feature updates in "Feature Packs" rather than full upgrades. These are easier to apply. Like upgrades, they have a minimum PeopleTools release. Yes, Interaction Hub is just a new name for Enterprise Portal.
Hi Jim,
We are using Interaction Hub and have configured Unified Navigation to HCM, FSC and CRM applications. We are very happy with the results that we see.
We are currently trying to find out how we can have users access the portal from outside our network. And when they do so how can we restrict their access? For e.g. if the user is external, they may not be able to see their Direct Deposit information from HCM.
Have you encountered this situation in the past? Do you have any suggestions with regards to the best practices that can be followed here?
Thanks for all guidance you are providing through your blog.
Tom Mannanchery
@Tom, yes, I am familiar with this requirement. I suggest you look at the Grey Heller ERP Firewall. It is an impressive product and does what you require.
Thanks Jim. We will surely check it out.
Tom
Hi Jim,
This is regarding a good-to-have feature in Interaction Hub. We have implemented Unified Navigation and have Navigation Collection pagelets as well that help navigate to content provider components from with IH.
Sometimes when a content provider goes down or is unresponsive, the links in the navigation collection go missing and Unified Navigation breaks, which is an expected behavior. Is there a way to have an automatic notification placed in Hub which would let users know that the content provider is down?
Do you have any thoughts about how that can be done?
Thanks,
Tom
@Tom, makes sense. There are a couple of ways. If all of your PeopleSoft systems are in the same domain, or if you use JSONP, etc, you can write Ajax to check the status of other systems. If all of your systems are in the same domain, then an Ajax request to PSIGW/HttpListeningConnector that returns status code 200 means it is probably up. Using JSONP, you would probably create an anonymous IB service that returns a JavaScript call with the server status. Since the call would not return if the server is down (success function not run), then with JSONP you would assume the server is down until it reports it is up. If Ajax or JSONP won't work, then you could write listener services that check the status of your app tiers and writes those statuses to a table. Your pagelet would then just display any systems in a down status. This is probably the most efficient because it isn't making ajax requests to all your other systems everytime someone hits a homepage. It also gives you control over the monitoring frequency. These are just some ideas.
Thanks for the direction Jim. We will give that a shot.
Tom
HI Jim,
currently we are using enterprise portal 9.1, we want to convert into interaction hub , am searching in net for related material,but those material are not upto the mark , i want your help in converting our portal that any configuration related material how to create , how to modify the portal, please if you can send me the relavant document where in i can read out try to implement.
thanks,
Satish
@Satish, Interaction Hub is just the new name for Enterprise Portal 9.1. You are already there.
Hi Jim,
Is there any place where we can find the schedule for release of Interaction Hub Maintenance Packs? We havn't been able to locate it and thought of asking you before approaching Oracle Support
Thanks,
Tom
@Tom, great question. I don't pay much attention to the PUM release schedule. I am sure you already reviewed the PUM homepage on My Oracle Support.
Thanks Jim. Yes I looked at the PUM Homepage (Support Doc ID 1464619.1), but Interaction Hub or Portal wasn't listed there. Any other resources that you might know?
Tom
@Tom, I'm sorry. Interaction Hub doesn't use PUM does it. No, I don't know where to find the schedule. Besides support, you may want to ask your question on the PeopleSoft General Discussion OTN Forum as well.
Thanks for the guidance Jim. :) Will surely check it out. I will share if I find it.
Good luck with the Oracle Open World next week.
Hi Jim,
I got the Interaction Hub Maintenance Schedule via OTN Form. :)
PeopleSoft Interaction Hub Maintenance Schedule for 2014 - all (Doc ID 1619151.1)
Thanks,
Tom
Hi Jim,
We are in process of implementing PeopleSoft Interaction Hub 9.1 with 9.2 HCM. We have a requirement that when we click on the any of the HCM tile through Unified navigation in PIH the URL should not change to HCM instance. The URL should always stay constant and show PIH URL.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Vivek Sahoo
@Vivek, unfortunately, Fluid doesn't work that way. Unlike classic, which uses a frameset, Fluid displays content only.
@Jim... Will Virtual Addressing will help? How can we restrict URL redirection for External Traffic on PIH as the HR web server is not on DMZ, only PIH web server is.
@Vivek, even with Interaction Hub, users accessing HCM will still browse HCM directly and will need access through DMZ if you want them to access HCM externally. That has always been the case. The only difference is the URL displayed in the browser. PIH with HCM 9.1 showed the PIH URL, but the iframe inside PIH pointed to HCM, which meant the browser had to have real access to HCM regardless of using PIH or not using PIH. Whether Fluid or not Fluid, you will still be browsing the HCM /psc/ URL. It is just that one makes it obvious and the other doesn't.
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