Essential Things to do First

Before you start using the product, there are a number of important tasks that you should perform to get the most out of the product, and to secure the console from unauthorized access.

Console Setup

The first step is to click on the "Administration" section of the console and select "Console Setup".

Administration folder

You will see a page that allows you to configure a number of console settings:

Basic tab

Decide the type of the installation

The first and most important thing to decide is the console type. Composable Architecture Platform ships as a single distribution, but it can be used in a variety of configurations. By selecting the console type, Composable Architecture Platform will delete elements that are unnecessary for the specific installation. The Demo Server is the most suitable type for training and testing, whereas the other listed types are all production configurations. Once you have selected the type you wish to use there is no undo. If you select the wrong type you will have to reinstall the product.

Set the console web proxy

Unless the system where you have installed the console has a direct connection to the internet, you will need to configure the console's web proxy. If you leave your console without internet access, then you will be unable to receive product updates, new extensions, case studies and fixes.

If you are behind a web proxy that uses Microsoft NTLM authentication, you must also set the Web Proxy Domain value. For Microsoft NTLM to work correctly the Web Proxy Host should be the fully qualified network name of the proxy,

for example: mywebproxy.mycompany.com,

and the Web Proxy Domain should be the simple name for the domain.

Set the console email server

Having an email server defined for the console is an essential step in ensuring that you can reset lost passwords and recover forgotten user IDs. It is also a requirement if you intend to use the email second factor login method.

Please note that unless a mail server is defined, there is no way to recover a lost password. It is often important to set the email sender as many SMTP servers are configured to reject email from unknown senders.

Save the settings

Once you have defined your console type, web proxy and email setup, make sure you click the save button to store the settings. If these settings have been edited, you must restart the console server.

Manage user accounts

After the console has been configured, you should ensure that the list of authorized users is correct by clicking on the "Administration" section of the console and selecting "Users".

Users folder

Create new user

Set up a new account

As a minimum, you should set up a new personal account. The User ID is required to be at least 6 characters long and may not contain spaces.

Supply your real name, email and set the user type to be Administrator. Administrators are not required to have a user role, but it is a good idea to provide your time zone as this will make reports and search queries match your local time.

Finally supply a strong password twice and click on Create.

At this point we recommend that you log out of the console and log in as your new user.

Manage default accounts

By default, the console ships with 3 active accounts: admin, super and security. All of these accounts have elevated access to manage the console and should not be left with default passwords (which for all of them is the same as the user ID).

If you decide to keep these accounts, as a minimum you should change their passwords and supply them with a valid email address that can be used for a password reset.