Getting Started with IBM Connections Engagement Center (ICEC). · 2018. 9. 13. · Getting Started with IBM Connections Engagement Center (ICEC). Speakers: Marcus Felder Charlie Price

© 2017 BM Corpora on

Getting Started with IBM Connections Engagement Center (ICEC).

Speakers: Marcus FelderCharlie Price

Wes Lum

© 2017 BM Corpora on© 2018 IBM Corporation 2

Agenda• Install and Configuring ICEC

• Setting up ICEC pages and widgets

• Troubleshooting ICEC


Install – Pre-install• Create ICEC database

• Run icec/SQLScripts/db2 -tvf “Create_XCC_DB2_Database.sql”

• Create database provider

• Create Application server or use existing


Install• Update install.properties

• ~25 properties to configure was information, db connectivity, admin users and context root

• Run ICECInstaller_Linux.sh


Configure ICEC• Access /xcc/admin

• Confirm context root:

• Set customization and authentication cookie name



ICEC – Additional Configurations• Enable ICEC in Communities

• Enable the ICEC Flyout

• Enable ICEC mobile access

• Include ICEC link in Connections Navigation

• Make ICEC your landing page

• Personalization attributes

• Update Connections proxy configuration

• People Birthday widget


Enable ICEC in Communities• Update widgets-config.xml

• Configure ICEC iwidget title text• Create string properties file

• Update LotusConnections-config.xml

• Register Widget in database

• Publish community configuration


Enable ICEC in Communities – Register iwidget


Use case / Demonstration• Gail is a marketing lead for her team and she uses ICEC as her main

source of information, interaction, and engagement with her team

• Frank is the ICEC administrator for the company


Troubleshooting ICEC

• Problem determination

• Activating client and server-side debug

• Using troubleshooting steps to diagnosis an ICEC issue

• Overview for contacting support


Problem Determination• Determine steps to reproduce

• Does the issue affect all users, a specific group or a particular user?

• Can the issue be reproduced on-demand or is it intermittent?

• Determine if it is a client-side issue• Which browser/s can the issue be reproduced?

• IE, FF, Safari, GC, etc.

• Affected runtime mode

• On-Premise, Cloud, Community, Fly-out, Mobile

• Determine if it is a server-side issue• Everything appears correct from the client-side perspective

• Are widget sources accessible and working properly when

directly accessed?

• Is the issue related to unsearchable content or database errors?


Activating Client and Server-side Debug• Using ICEC admin dashboard to allow debugging via URL

• With a browser, open the Connections

Engagement Center Admin Dashboard.

Go to the following URL:

https://<yourHostname>/xcc/admin

• Select Allow debugging via URL checkbox.

• Enabling debug parameter in URL• Debug any ICEC page by appending the parameter xccdebug=true to the URL.

For example: https://<yourHostname>/xcc/main?xccdebug=true

• Enabling this option allows complete JavaScript and CSS resources to load.

• Within the browser developer console page debugging can be verbose if many widgets exist on the affected ICEC page. Therefore to isolate the affected ICEC widget, create a separate blank ICEC page, create the widget and assign the same Community resource. If the issue is reproducible, then browser console logs which correspond to only the affected ICEC widget will be generated.


Enabling trace and collecting server logs• Setting up the server-side trace detail: *=info: de.timetoact.xcc.*=finest


Problem Description and Impact

• Scenario

John Doe is a popular YouTube streamer who is trying out the Connections platform for deliverying content and conducting social interactions w/ his subscribers. John is known for providing subscribers with new content every night at 12AM EST. John is utilizing the ICEC feature in order to track certain content's popularity w/ his subscribers. He has created a Static Blog Content widget using ICEC. The widget uses a public community owned by John as a resource. John uses the community blog entries to deliver new video content. To ensure video content is delivered at midnight some entries are set for delayed publishing. However, when viewing the ICEC page, John has noticed three separate issues. All of the issues have created significant delays in delivering content to his subscribers and caused loss of confidence from supporters.


Issues #1None of the currently published entries are being displayed. Only the entries which were set to delayed publishing are rendered within the ICEC widget.


Issues #2When the community blog entry consisted of an embedded Youtube video, the ICEC widget body continuously loads and fails to display the desired content.


Issues #3

Issue #3: Unable to access ICEC page due to undefined error.


Using Network console to check API call• Use the Network tab to check network traffic and responses of API calls made by ICEC to

other applications. Run the affected API call directly from the browser or using a REST API tool to compare returned output.


Comparing API call to working environment • Using the browser developer console we can check a working environment to determine

the correct API call that should be used to gather feed for the published blog entries.


Console or Debugger • Check for JavaScript and CSS loading errors using the Debugger tab


Client-side debug does not provide any leads• For Issue #3, we check the browser developer console with ICEC page debugging enabled but

are unable to see any errors. The network traffic and console logs for javascript, css, etc., does not provide any helpful information for determining root cause. Notice that we are receiving all HTTP 200 responses despite the ICEC page failing to load and returning an undefined error.


Checking server logs • After enabling ICEC trace details within the WAS ISC, tail the trace.log file for error messages

generated. The logs indicate there is an issue w/ the Search application.


Analysis Overview and TipsBrowser developer console analysis of page debug:Check for JavaScript errors and CSS errors using the Debugger tab Use the Inspector and Style Editor tab to check the HTML and CSS for the affected content.Use the Network tab to check network traffic and responses of API calls made by ICEC to other applications.Run the affected API call directly from the browser or using a REST API tool to compare returned output.Isolate the affected ICEC widget to a separate ICEC page when reviewing page debugging.

Server-side analysis:Reproduce the issue while tailing the trace.log and/or open the log and scroll to the bottom to determine what error messages or related information is generated.

If the issue is related to unsearchable resources or expected content is missing, then ensure to check the status of the Search index:

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSYGQH_6.0.0/admin/troubleshoot/r_analyse_search_results_frame.html


Overview for Contacting Support• Collect environment details

• ICEC version, database, security measures (i.e. SSO , TAM, SAML, etc.), TAI (Siteminder), proxy server, edge components (load balancer), host OS.

• Check version via ICEC About tab

• If migrated from XCC, then what version is involved.

• Was the issue experience in XCC or previous version?

• Did the issue only occur after migration to ICEC or upgrade to latest version?


Exporting ICEC Page Content to XML• Open Connections Engagement Center in your browser as an administrative user and click on

Customize. Go to the tab Page Management. You will find the export link on the right side of each page in the list. With a click on the download icon you will download the page as XML file.

• Support can review the XML output file to determine if any information is missing or incorrect. Admins or support can also use the exported ICEC page to test if the issue is reproducible once imported under another user's account within the current environment or a test environment where the same aggregated content exist.


Collect server logs, network trace and config files

• After enabling the server-side traces, collect trace.log, SystemOut.log and SystemErr.log files.

• Collect widgets-config.xml and LotusConnections-config.xml.

• Either export the browser console logs to a HTTP Archive (HAR) format or use Fiddler to collect network traffic and review URL responses.

• Collect screen shots of the issue and/or errors generated to the user interface.

• Upload all data to Support Community.


Q & A• Questions?

Documents

Getting Started with IBM Connections Engagement Center (ICEC). · 2018. 9. 13. · Getting Started with IBM Connections Engagement Center (ICEC). Speakers: Marcus Felder Charlie Price