Evolve External Portal Setup

Winshuttle leverages the Microsoft Azure App Service as a hosting provider and Azure AD (Active Directory) for external user management; and provides a Portal UI which is hosted on Azure CDN.

Prerequisites

Below are the prerequisites for setting up external Portal.

  1. You should have a valid license for creating external Portal.

  2. You should have appropriate rights on Azure for deployment.

  3. You should have a B2C configured for the external users.

  4. You should have purchased custom domain, where you want to setup the external Portal.

  5. Think of appropriate CDN endpoint name which you want to create on Azure, it will be created by deployment script but needed in next step. Example: aryabhataendpoint

  6. Make CNAME mapping against your custom domain with the CDN endpoint name in your domain provider website (like: godaddy).

    If CDN endpoint name is aryabhataendpoint then use “aryabhataendpoint.azureedge.net” in mapping value.

  7. Click here to find details on how to configure Azure AD B2C.

  8. Click here to find details on how to fill out the details required in external Portal configuration in Evolve.

External Portal Deployment on Azure

Below are the steps for Evolve external Portal deployment on Azure:

  1. Go to Portal tab on the left menu in Evolve (this should be visible if appropriate license is available).

  2. Click Add to add a new Portal. Select External in Portal mode and fill in appropriate details.

    The Portal url corresponds to the URL that the user wants for the external Portal (Prerequisite Step 4).

  3. Click on Next and add B2C details. In the Redirect URL Add the Portal URL as accessible to user. Click here to find the details you need to provide.

  4. Submit the Portal. Here you will see that the Config Status is Pending.

  5. Click on the icon in Actions for your Portal and configure the Portal with required widgets. Click on Deploy.

  6. Go back to All Portals and select the created Portal by checking the checkbox in front of it; and click on Download Package.

  7. Unzip the folder and you should be able to view files like PortalService, UI, Prerequisites.ps1 script, Setup.Ps1 script, dsettings.json, and other related files.

  8. Open PowerShell in admin mode and run the Prerequisites.ps1 script. This will install the required packages for deployment. Input A to allow running scripts. You will now see Name and Version listed; this indicates that all packages have been installed.

  9. Close the PowerShell and relaunch the PowerShell in admin mode and run the Setup.Ps1 script and add details for user subscription for deployment like ID, Name, Tenants etc.

  10. Enter appropriate Relay Service name to be created on Azure. Press enter to create Relay.

  11. Enter appropriate App Service name to be created on Azure. Press enter to create App service.

  12. Enter appropriate App Storage name to be created on Azure. Press enter to create App storage.

  13. Enter appropriate Web App Storage name to be created on Azure. Press enter to create Web App storage.

  14. Enter appropriate Function App name to be created on Azure. Press enter to create Function App.

  15. Next provide consent to upload the PortalService.zip file to Azure for the function app created in last step.

  16. Enter the appropriate CDN profile name to be created on Azure. Press enter to create profile.

  17. Enter the appropriate CDN Endpoint name to be created (It should be same as Prerequisite step 5) on Azure. Press enter to create end point.

  18. In case you get the message “EndPoint is not available: your end point name” follow below steps:

    Update the CNAME mapping with appropriate CDN endpoint name i.e., repeat Prerequisite step 5 and step 6

    After CNAME mapping is updated then provide the endpoint name to PowerShell script. i.e., continue from step 17.

  19. Enter the custom domain, it is the domain you have acquired as prerequisite .

  20. In a few minutes, all resources will be created/uploaded on Azure.

  21. From the deployment folder copy the contents of dsettings.json file.

  22. Go to the Relay created in step 10. Select hybrid connections →Select evolvehybrid→click on Shared access policies→select Evolve in policy; and copy the Primary connection string.

  23. Go to the Evolve site. Select the Portal and click on edit. Click on next on the first screen and you will see two new sections: Connection string and Deployment Metadata

  24. Copy the connection string copied in step 22 and Paste the content of dsettings.json into Deployment metadata copied in step 21.

  25. Submit the Portal. You will observe the Config Status will be changed to Completed.

  26. Go to your B2C and add the Portal URL in the redirect URLs.

Setup steps are now completed. Do an IIS reset on all the WFE.

Setup External Users

Once the setup is completed, you are all set to setup the external users. Follow below steps for configuring external users for Portal use:

  1. Go to Evolve. Select Users from left menu and click Add New User.

  2. Disable the System IDP and add user details manually.

  3. Click on Next. No need to assign license to the external users.

  4. Click on Next and provide access to external user on the apps that are required.

  5. Click on Submit.

  6. On the Users screen click on Portals count in front of the user and provide access on the Portal to the external user. Click Save.

  7. User will receive an email with the sign up link.

  8. Go to the Sign up URL and follow the steps to create a user and password.

  9. Once user is created you can go to the Portal URL and access the Portal site.