LDAPAccountManager/lam/docs/manual-sources/chapter-bigPicture.xml

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  <chapter>
    <title>Big picture</title>

    <section>
      <title>Overview</title>

      <para>LAM has two major areas:</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>Admin interface to manage all sorts of different LDAP entries
          (e.g. users/groups/hosts)</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>Self service (LAM Pro) where end users can edit their own
          data</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <para></para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/bigPicture1.png" />
          </imageobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">Admin interface</emphasis></para>

      <para>This is the main part of the application. It allows to manage a
      large list of LDAP entries (e.g. users, groups, DNS entries, ...). This
      part is accessed by LDAP admins and support staff.</para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/bigPicture2.png" />
          </imageobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <para>Functional areas:</para>

      <orderedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>Account tabs: These tabs allow to switsch between different
          account types</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>Tree view: Provides an LDAP browser to edit LDAP entries on
          attribute level</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>Tools menu: Contains useful tools such as profile and PDF
          editor</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>Help: Link to manual</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>Logout: Logout of the application</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>List view: Lists all entries of the selected account type
          (e.g. users)</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>List configuration: Configuration settings for list view (e.g.
          number of entries per page)</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>Filter: Filter boxes allow to enter simple filters like
          "a*"</para>
        </listitem>
      </orderedlist>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">Self Service</emphasis></para>

      <para>The self service provides a simple interface for your users to
      edit their own data (e.g. telephone number). It also supports user self
      registration and password reset functionality.</para>

      <para>You can fully customize the layout of the self service
      page.</para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/bigPicture3.png" />
          </imageobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">Configuration</emphasis></para>

      <para>Configuration is done on multiple levels:</para>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">Global</emphasis></para>

      <para>Effective for all parts of LAM (e.g. logging and password
      policy).</para>

      <para>Configured via LAM admin login -&gt; LAM configuration -&gt; <link
      linkend="generalSettings">Edit general settings</link>.</para>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">Server profile</emphasis></para>

      <para>All settings for an LDAP connection (e.g. server name, LDAP
      suffixes, account types/modules to activate) in admin interface. There
      may be multiple for one LDAP server (e.g. for multiple departments,
      different user groups, ...).</para>

      <para>Configured via LAM admin login -&gt; LAM configuration -&gt; <link
      linkend="serverProfiles">Edit server profile</link>.</para>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">Self service</emphasis></para>

      <para>All settings for a self service interface (e.g. fields that can be
      edited, password reset functionality, ...).</para>

      <para>Configured via LAM admin login -&gt; LAM configuration -&gt; <link
      linkend="a_selfService">Edit self service</link>.</para>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">Profiles</emphasis></para>

      <para><link linkend="a_accountProfile">Account profiles</link> store
      default values for new LDAP entries.</para>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">PDF structures</emphasis></para>

      <para><link linkend="pdfEditor">PDF structures</link> define the layout
      and list of data fields to include in PDF export.</para>
    </section>

    <section>
      <title>Glossary</title>

      <para>Here you can find a list of common terms used in LAM.</para>

      <table>
        <title>Glossary</title>

        <tgroup cols="2">
          <thead>
            <row>
              <entry align="center">Term</entry>

              <entry align="center">Description</entry>
            </row>
          </thead>

          <tbody>
            <row>
              <entry>Account module</entry>

              <entry>Plugin for a specific account type (e.g. Unix plugin for
              user type)</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>Account type</entry>

              <entry>Type of an LDAP entry (e.g. user/group/host)</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>Admin interface</entry>

              <entry>LAM webpages for admin user (e.g. to create new
              users)</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>Lamdaemon</entry>

              <entry>Support script to manage user file system quotas and
              create home directories</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>PDF editor</entry>

              <entry>Manages PDF structures</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>PDF export</entry>

              <entry>Exports an entry to PDF by using a PDF structure</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>PDF structure</entry>

              <entry>Defines the layout and list of data fields to include in
              PDF export</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>Profile</entry>

              <entry>Template for creation of LDAP entries, contains default
              values</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>Profile editor</entry>

              <entry>Manages profiles for all account types</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>Self Service</entry>

              <entry>LAM webpages for normal users where they can edit their
              own data</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>Self service profile</entry>

              <entry>Configuration for self service pages (multiple
              configurations can exist)</entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>Tree view</entry>

              <entry>LDAP browser that allows to modify LDAP entries on
              attribute/object class level</entry>
            </row>
          </tbody>
        </tgroup>
      </table>
    </section>

    <section>
      <title>Architecture</title>

      <para>There are basically two groups of users for LAM:</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis role="bold">LDAP administrators and support
          staff:</emphasis></para>

          <para>These people administer LDAP entries like user accounts,
          groups, ...</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis role="bold">Users:</emphasis></para>

          <para>This includes all people who need to manage their own data
          inside the LDAP directory. E.g. these people edit their contact
          information with LAM self service (LAM Pro).</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/lam_architecture.png" />
          </imageobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <para>Therefore, LAM is split into two separate parts, LAM for admins
      and for users. LAM for admins allows to manage various types of LDAP
      entries (e.g. users, groups, hosts, ...). It also contains tools like
      batch upload, account profiles, LDAP schema viewer and an LDAP browser.
      LAM for users focuses on end users. It provides a self service for the
      users to edit their personal data (e.g. contact information). The LAM
      administrator is able to specify what data may be changed by the users.
      The design is also adaptable to your corporate design.</para>

      <para>LAM for admins/users is accessible via HTTP(S) by all major web
      browsers (Firefox, IE, Opera, ...).</para>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">LAM runtime environment:</emphasis></para>

      <para>LAM runs on PHP. Therefore, it is independent of CPU architecture
      and operating system (OS). You can run LAM on any OS which supports
      Apache, Nginx or other PHP compatible web servers.</para>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">Home directory server:</emphasis></para>

      <para>You can manage user home directories and their quotas inside LAM.
      The home directories may reside on the server where LAM is installed or
      any remote server. The commands for home directory management are
      secured by SSH. LAM will use the user name and password of the logged in
      LAM administrator for authentication.</para>

      <para><emphasis role="bold">LDAP directory:</emphasis></para>

      <para>LAM connects to your LDAP server via standard LDAP protocol. It
      also supports encrypted connections with SSL and TLS.</para>
    </section>
  </chapter>