ADOBE® LMS INTEGRATION FOR BLACKBOARD®

Install Guide

Introduction

Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro 7 provides a more integrated workflow for common tasks with Blackboard 7.3 and 8. The integration provides a means for Instructors, Teaching Assistants and Course Builders to easily install the ADOBE LMS INTEGRATION FOR BLACKBOARD; allows teachers to create Adobe Acrobat Connect Meetings as part of their course offering; and allows students to see upcoming Adobe Acrobat Connect Meetings.

This document will cover the installation of the ADOBE LMS INTEGRATION FOR BLACKBOARD. It is intended for Blackboard administrators.

Requirements

• Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro 7
• Blackboard
• Administrative rights for Blackboard (and familiarity with Blackboard is a plus)
• While LDAP is not required for the integration, its availability provides an easier integration effort.
• ADOBE LMS INTEGRATION FOR BLACKBOARD (Building Block file)

Installation

It is easy for Blackboard administrators to install and configure the ADOBE LMS INTEGRATION FOR BLACKBOARD. It is required that the person doing the installation be an administrator of the Blackboard system, and it helps to have some general knowledge of Building Blocks for this to be a simple process.

Installing and configuring the ADOBE LMS INTEGRATION FOR BLACKBOARD is a three-step process:

1. Configure the Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional Server
2. Configure LDAP (if not already present) [Optional]
3. Configure the ADOBE LMS INTEGRATION FOR BLACKBOARD

Configuring the Adobe Acrobat Connect Server

• Configure the 'Shared Secret' to enable SSO (Single Sign On) in Blackboard.
  • Go to breeze\appserv\conf\ and open 'config.ini' (OR) open 'custom.ini' in breeze installation folder.
  • Add a field SHARED_SECRET_TRUSTED_LOGIN, which would contain the shared secret that would be used in the APIs. (E.g. SHARED_SECRET_TRUSTED_LOGIN=ADOBECONNECTPRO)
• Restart Connect service.

Configure LDAP [Optional]

• Configuring Adobe Acrobat Connect 7 for LDAP:
  • Once you have installed and configured your ACE Server, you can go to the Directory Services tab in the Application Management Console on your ACE Server and enter the required information:
    LDAP Settings:
  • Connection Settings:
    • LDAP Server URL : {LDAP_URL:PORT}
    • LDAP Connection Authentication Method : Simple/MD5
    • LDAP Connection Username : {username}
    • LDAP Connect Password :{password}
  • User Profile Mapping:
    • Login : xxxx (Attribute in LDAP records that should be used as the Connect login ID)
      First Name : xxxx
      Last Name : xxxx
      E-mail : xxxx (Depending on the Login policy in Connect, this field can either be same as the login field or any other attribute in LDAP that has a valid E-mail address)
  • Branch for Users:
    • Branch DN : CN=Users,DC=xxx,DC=xxxx,DC=xxxx,DC=com (A valid DN which has the user under it should be entered here)
      Filter : (objectClass=*)
      Subtree : True
  • Authentication Settings:
    • Check the appropriate options, depending on the requirement. Make sure that the 'Enable LDAP Directory Authentication' is checked if LDAP authentication is required. If fallback is also necessary, importing the password from LDAP can be achieved by going to 'Synchronization Settings > Policy Settings' and setting the appropriate 'Password Setup Policy'.

  Synchronization Actions:

  • Click on 'Synchronize' to import the LDAP records into the Connect Database with the settings mentioned above.

• Configuring Blackboard for LDAP:

  The BB Authentication module (pdf) has all the necessary details for the properties mentioned below.

  • Server settings:
    • bb-config.properties:

    bbconfig.auth.type=ldap

    • authentication.properties:

    auth.type.ldap.impl=blackboard.platform.security.authentication.LDAPAuthModule
    auth.type.ldap.use_challenge=false
    auth.type.ldap.error_fallback_to_bb=true (depends on requirement)
    auth.type.ldap.user_not_found_fallback_to_bb=true (depends on requirement)
    auth.type.ldap.base_search_fdn.1=OU=people,DC=xxx,DC=com
    auth.type.ldap.server_url.1=ldap://server:389
    auth.type.ldap.use_priv_user.1=true
    auth.type.ldap.user_fdn.1=CN=manager,DC=xxxx,DC=com
    auth.type.ldap.user_pwd.1=xxxxx
    auth.type.ldap.user_tag.1=xxxxx

Configuring Adobe® LMS Integration for Blackboard®

• Log in as 'System Administrator' in Blackboard and browse to 'System Admin > Blackboard Building Blocks management > Building Blocks' page.
• Click on 'Install Building Blocks' button and browse to the downloaded WAR file's location.
• Click 'Submit' and then 'OK', which will take you to the 'Manage Building Blocks' page.
• The package installed would be inactive. Change the status to 'Available' in both Availability and Course/Org category. Click 'OK' on all the confirmations.
• Click on 'View Components' to have a look at the details of the components installed by the building block. This is for informational purposes only.
• Click on the 'Properties' button and enter the required details as per the settings of your Blackboard and Connect servers.
  • Server URL:
    • Enter the URL of the Adobe Acrobat Connect server to be integrated with Blackboard.
  • Participant Account Creation:
    • Check the 'Account Settings' option to create new user accounts, used while creating a meeting, for users whose mapping is not available.
    • Admin Login: Provide the administrator login for Adobe Acrobat Connect Server. [Required]
    • Admin Password: Provide the administrator password for Adobe Acrobat Connect Server. [Required]
    • E-mail Suffix: Provide the suffix that should be appended to the username to generate the email address while creating a new user account in Adobe Acrobat Connect. [Required)
  • Configuration Settings:
    • Authentication: Check the boxes if your server is configured with LDAP.
      • Mapping Attribute: This field is the LDAP attribute to which the BlackBoard 'username' is mapped. For example, if id=xxx is an entry in the LDAP server and if BlackBoard is configured with LDAP with the 'tag' in the authentication.properties file as 'auth.type.ldap.user_tag.1=id', this field should contain 'id' as the 'Mapping Attribute'.
    • Organizations: Select the 'Organizations' from the select box to enable access to the Building Block to those organizations.
  • Click "Next" to proceed with the entered details.
• The file that contains the mapping between Blackboard username and Adobe Connect Pro login ID can be uploaded from this page. Follow the instructions given on this page and browse to the file ('csv' or 'txt' file) to be imported and click on 'Upload & Finish'. If the file is in the expected format, a successful upload message will be shown. Click on 'Finish' to skip this step and return to 'Manage Building Blocks' page. [Optional, Recommended]
• Click on 'Tabs' under the 'Blackboard community System - Management' category. [Optional, Recommended]
• Click on 'Tool tab' and enter a value for the 'Title' and 'Reference Name' fields and select the tool as 'Adobe Acrobat Connect.
• Select the other options in 'Availability' as required and click on 'Submit'.
• The Adobe Connect tab now will be visible and meetings will be listed if the LDAP server is configured correctly or if the entered credentials are valid.
• Click on 'My Institution' page and click the 'Modify Content' button. [Optional, Recommended]
• Browse through the page and select 'My Adobe Connect Meetings' module and 'Submit'.
• Change the Layout of the module if required by clicking on the 'Modify Layout' button. [Optional]

Post installation steps - Blackboard server

Setting Shared Secret

• Set the SHARED SECRET so that SSO can take place. This can be set by going to the {BlackBoard *plugin installation directory}\Adbe-AdobeConnectPro\config folder and making an entry in the _globalconfig.dat file. The entry that needs to be made: sharedSecret=xxxxxxx_

Setting a debug attribute

• Set the Debug attribute in the config file if it is to run in Debug mode. This can be done in the same way as mentioned above. The entry that needs to be made is: debug=On

Conclusion

The Adobe LMS Integration for Blackboard is an effective and simple way to include, modify, and track Adobe Acrobat Connect Meetings within Blackboard. For additional information on Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro 7, check out Adobe's website.