Manual Chapter : Configuring Webtops

Applies To:

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 7.0.0, 6.1.0, 6.0.1
Manual Chapter

Configuring Webtops

About webtops

There are three webtop types you can define on the Access module for BIG-IQ. You can define a network access only webtop, a portal access webtop, or a full webtop.

Important: Do not assign a webtop for a portal access connection configured for minimal patching mode. This configuration does not work.
  • A network access webtop provides a webtop for an access policy branch to which you assign only a network access resource for starting a network access connection that provides full network access.
  • A portal access webtop provides a webtop for an access policy branch to which you assign only portal access resources. When a user selects a resource, the BIG-IP device managed by BIG-IQ communicates with back-end servers and rewrites links in application web pages so that further requests from the client browser are directed back to the BIG-IP device managed by BIG-IQ.
  • A full webtop provides an access policy ending for an access policy branch to which you can optionally assign portal access resources, app tunnels, remote desktops, and webtop links, in addition to network access tunnels. Then, the full webtop provides your clients with a web page on which they can choose resources, including a network access connection to start.
    Note: If you add a network access resource with Auto launch enabled to the full webtop, the network access resource starts when the user reaches the webtop. You can add multiple network access resources to a webtop, but only one can have Auto launch enabled.

Create a webtop link

You can create and customize links that you can assign to full webtops. In this context, links are defined applications and websites that appear on a webtop, and can be clicked to open a web page or application. You can customize these links with descriptions and icons.
  1. At the top of the screen, select Configuration, then on the left side of the screen, click ACCESS > Access Groups .
  2. Click the name of the Access group that interests you.
    A new screen displays the group's properties.
  3. Expand Webtops and click Webtop Links.
  4. Click Create.
    The New Webtop Links screen opens.
  5. From the Link Type list, select whether the link is a URI or hosted content.
    • If you selected Application URI, in the Application URI field, type the application URI.
    • If you selected Hosted Content, select the hosted file to use for the webtop link.
  6. In the Caption field, type a descriptive caption.
    The Caption field is pre-populated with the text from the Name field. Type the link text that you want to appear on the web link.
  7. If you want to add a detailed description, type it in the Detailed Description field.
  8. To specify an icon image for the item on the webtop, click in the Image field and choose an image, or click the Browse button.
    Click the View/Hide link to show or hide the currently selected image.
  9. To save your changes, click the Save & Close button at the bottom of the screen.
The webtop link is now configured, and appears in the list, and on a full webtop assigned with the same action. You can edit the webtop link further, or assign it to an access policy.
Before you can use this webtop link, it must be assigned to an access policy with a full webtop, using either an advanced resource assign action or a webtop, links and sections assign action.

Create a webtop section

Create a webtop section to specify a caption to display on a full webtop for a list of resources. Specify the order of the webtop section relative to other webtop sections.
  1. At the top of the screen, select Configuration, then on the left side of the screen, click ACCESS > Access Groups .
  2. Click the name of the Access group that interests you.
    A new screen displays the group's properties.
  3. Expand Webtops and click Webtop Sections.
  4. Click Create.
    The New Webtop Sections screen opens.
  5. In the Name field, type a name for the webtop section.
  6. From the Display Order list, select one the options.
    Specify the display order of this webtop section relative to others on the webtop.
    • First: Places this webtop section first.
    • After: When selected, an additional list displays; select a webtop section from it to place this webtop section after it in order.
    • Specify: When selected, an additional field displays. Type an integer in it to specify the absolute order for this webtop section.
  7. From the Initial State list, select the initial display state:
    • Expanded: Displays the webtop section with the resource list expanded.
    • Collapsed: Displays the webtop section with the resource list collapsed.
  8. To save your changes, click the Save & Close button at the bottom of the screen.
The webtop section is created.
Specify resources for this webtop section.

About uploading custom files to Access

You can upload custom files to the Access module of BIG-IQ® Centralized Management to provide resources directly to users.

For example, you can upload BIG-IP Edge Client® installers, antivirus or firewall update packages, or Citrix receiver files for your users to download. You can upload custom images, web pages, Java archives, JavaScript files, CSS files, archive files, and many other types of files as well.

Optionally, you can compress and upload multiple files as a single ZIP archive file. When you upload an archive file, you can choose to either upload the compressed file, or upload and extract the compressed file.

Upload Only
Select this option to upload an archived file that must remain in archive format. For example, you can upload a ZIP file for a user to download, containing a package of documents, or an application and related files. Some applications also use archived files; for example, you will upload a JAR file without extracting it.
Upload and Extract
Select this option to upload an archived file and extract it to the specified location. The folder hierarchy of the extracted file is preserved when you use this action. Select this option when you are uploading a collection of files that must be separated on the server for use by the end user; for example, to upload a web application that includes top-level HTML files, and subdirectories containing scripts, images, CSS, and other files.

Upload files to Access

Before you upload multiple files to Access module of BIG-IQ Centralized Management, you can compress and combine the files into a ZIP archive file. Then, you can upload and extract the files in one step.
You can upload files to Access to provide content for public viewing, to provide pages and content to Portal Access connections, or to provide customized webtop links.
  1. At the top of the screen, select Configuration, then on the left side of the screen, click ACCESS > Access Groups .
  2. Click the name of the Access group that interests you.
    A new screen displays the group's properties.
  3. Expand Webtops and click Hosted Content > Manage Files .
  4. Click the Upload button.
    Click the New Hosted Content Configuration screen opens.
  5. For the Select File setting, click the Browse button and select the file to upload.
    • To upload each file separately, select the first file, then repeat this step for all remaining files.
    • To upload all files at once from a compressed file, select the compressed file.
    The Select File and File Name fields are populated with the file name.
  6. If you are uploading a compressed file that you want to extract, from the File Action list, select Upload and Extract.
  7. To save your changes, click the Save & Close button at the bottom of the screen.
    The file appears in the Managed Files list.
You must associate any access profiles that will access hosted content with the hosted content repository.