Unclouding: UCS-Apps as SaaS-Alternative

Not only since the discussions about the GDPR last year, security and data protection have returned to the attention of both companies and users. Following the trend to move as much as possible to the cloud, there are now again conflicting approaches: The “unclouding”, that is the return from the cloud to on-premise solutions on the one hand or the operation of own systems in IaaS environments (Infrastructure as a Service) on the other.
In the following, I will briefly examine the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches and show how users can operate IT services securely and, most importantly, at their own command. Naturally, the services which users can integrate into their environment from the Univention App Center play an essential role for us.

Many small improvements and one extension: UCS 4.4.1 with REST API (beta) released

Bremen, July 16, 2019 – Our first point release of UCS 4.4 includes all minor improvements and bugfixes of the updates released over the past months and also brings some exciting new features:

Univention Directory Manager (UDM): More performance, improved functionality and a new REST API as beta version

There are significant performance improvements for managing the contents of the directory service via UDM, especially for application scenarios with complex structures. A brand new feature is the REST API for UDM, which considerably facilitates the integration of UDM with other applications. This REST API has been released as beta version for the time being. After further tests and improvements we plan to release a stable version in autumn.

Point Release UCS 4.4-1: performance improvements, app recommendations and UDM REST API Beta

Our first point release of UCS 4.4 includes all minor improvements and bugfixes of the Errata updates released over the past months, but it also brings some exciting new features.

Univention Directory Manager (UDM): More performance, improved functionality and a new REST API as beta version

There are significant performance improvements for managing the contents of the directory service via UDM, especially for application scenarios with complex structures. There have also been further minor improvements in DNS management, where the search for IP addresses is now enabled in further modules, as well as in the use of standard containers of domain controller objects.

OpenProject 9 with new Boards for Agile Project Management – download now in the App Center

The new version 9 of the open source project management software OpenProject includes new Agile Boards and therefore supports even better classical as well as Agile project management, such as Scrum and Kanban.
The main advantage: teams can manage their projects in a classical approach via waterfall as well as steer projects or subprojects in an Agile approach – included in one software.
OpenProject can easily be installed via the UCS App Center. For comfortable user identity management, OpenProject is integrated in the UCS LDAP. An upgrade for existing users to the new version is possible via the App Center.

Free ONLYOFFICE given tabbed interface and other extended version features

ONLYOFFICE is a collaborative office suite for working with documents, spreadsheets and presentations in UCS. It is combined with either Nextcloud or ownCloud and installed from Univention App Center casually (Docker-based) or as a pre-configured virtual appliance. You can also integrate it in UCS LDAP to manage all users. Read this article to learn about the latest and likely the most extensive update in ONLYOFFICE Document Server.
Free open source ONLYOFFICE Document Server has caught up with the advanced version, ONLYOFFICE Integration Edition, in functionality. This means that all features including the tabbed interface layout, Content Controls, navigation and many more are now available for small teams using the the community version of ONLYOFFICE. The update also includes novelties newly introduced in version 5.3.
For bigger organizations that rely on higher number of employees and seek professional technical support, ONLYOFFICE still offers its business-scale solution.

UDM REST API (beta version) released: The new interface for accessing all content in the directory service

With the beta release of the REST API for the Univention Directory Manager (UDM), a preliminary version of the future standard interface for the integration of applications with the Univention directory service is available. In the following, I would like to give you a brief overview of the objectives and use cases regarding the current status of the API and encourage you to test it – we look forward to your feedback for further improvements for the final version!

What is the „UDM REST API“?

A “REST API” (also called “RESTful API”) is a web service that allows integration between applications.
The REST API of the Univention Directory Manager provides access to all contents of the Univention Corporate Server (UCS) directory service. Its functionality is therefore comparable to that of the already available and further existing scripting interfaces (e.g. the “udm” command line tool). In contrast to these, however, the API is accessible via the web through HTTPS and can be more easily integrated into existing applications using standardized data formats (JSON).

Schools in the District of Kassel: Managing iPads Centrally With UCS@school

In the district of Kassel, our team of 12 is responsible for the IT support of a total of 72 schools (49 elementary schools, 14 high schools, 3 grammar schools, 2 vocational schools, and 4 special needs schools) and around 27,000 user accounts (approx. 25,000 pupils and 2,000 faculty members). We take care not only of the hardware (server, PCs, iOS devices, etc.), the network, and the telephone systems, but also of the operating systems, software, and mobile device administration.
In this blog article, I would like to describe the challenges we encountered as a district with a large surface area and a multitude of small, spread-out boroughs when it came to allowing the use of mobile devices in our schools and keeping the efforts associated with the introduction and support to a minimum at the same time.

Differential backup by SEP sesam reduces backup volume and time expenditure for Kopano users

SEO Backup for Kopano and UCS
For quite some time it has been possible to make an online differential backup of Kopano. It is therefore sufficient to make a full backup at longer intervals (e.g. weekly). In between (e.g. every night) differential backups are sufficient, which occupy less space and are much faster.
Therefore we are happy that with SEP sesam we now have a backup software that supports Univention Corporate Server (UCS) and Kopano all-inclusive, including the differential backup for Kopano.

Brief Introduction: SAML- a secure, comfortable web access

SSO-SAML-UCS
SAML – meaning „Security Assertion Markup Language“ – is a standard which enables a Single Sign-On (SSO). Users only log in once and are able to use other programs and services automatically. UCS supports SSO with SAML as well. That‘s why users get not only a central identity by using SAML but also a central log-in with UCS, making web-based working more secure and comfortable.

UCS@school and Open-Xchange for Schools in Basel

For some time now, we have been looking for a consistent solution for the mail system used by our teachers and students. We need a secure environment that’s easy to manage. In a combined effort, ICT Medien and Adfinis SyGroup, a Swiss Service Provider, migrated the schools’ existing mail system with around 32,000 accounts. We connected the current identity management (UCS@school) to the e-mail and groupware solution Open-Xchange. In this article we’re going to describe the initial situation, talk about our considerations, the planning phase, and the requirements for the new mail and groupware solution. We’re also going to tell you about our system architecture and the servers involved. During the migration we encountered some problems – you’re going to read about them and about our solutions. Before we start with the more technical details, we’d like to say how happy we are with the new Open Source solution: The new mail system fulfils all requirements in terms of security, high availability, and the current data protection guidelines.