Second Point Release: Univention Corporate Server 5.0-2

With the Point Release UCS 5.0-2, another important step has been taken for further developing Univention Corporate Server towards more accessibility, better usability, as well as the integration of services and their central management. In this blog article, I would like to give you an overview of the most important new features and improvements, such as the integration of Self Services into the UCS Portal, the introduction of service-specific passwords or various performance improvements in the use of DNS and LDAP, as well as an overview of the apps made available for UCS 5.

UCS and UCS@school: on the Road to Accessibility

Barrierefreiheit in UCS
Most of us find it difficult to imagine what it’s like to work on a computer, tablet or smartphone with limited physical, sensory and/or cognitive abilities. There are numerous obstacles out there in the digital world, not just for users with physical disabilities. Older people and non-native speakers face barriers in digital environments as well—so let’s talk about how we can include all users, in particular users in the education and in the public sector.

The future is UCS 5

End of UCS 4
In May 2021, the release of UCS 5 took place. Important changes are:

  • New design and improved user interface
  • Expansion of Univention App Center
  • New core: Debian “Buster” and Python 3
  • Simplification and concentration on the essentials

Since the release of UCS 5, installations have been increasing daily. New systems are being installed and existing UCS 4 systems are being updated.

Univention ID Broker: GDPR compliant Broker

ID Broker: ID Vermittlungsdienste für Schulträger und Schulen
On May 11, 2022, we released the new Univention ID Broker to simplify the integration of educational portals and educational SaaS services (Software as a Service) in schools’ IT environments. The broker acts as intermediary service and connects UCS@school (serving as identity management system at school boards, states, and individual schools) with different external services, like learning management systems, digital media, and other educational offers. As a result, students and teachers can log in with their usual credentials to access their personalized and familiar environment. Here they get immediate access to all connected and enabled services (single sign-on).

UCS 5.0: opsi 4.2 in the Univention App Center

The fifth major release of Univention Corporate Server was published in May, 2021. As announced back then, not all apps were immediately available, but migrated step by step. As of now, opsi 4.2 is available in the Univention App Center: one version for the predecessor UCS 4.4-x and one version for UCS 5.0.

Together with the Univention developers and the App Center team, we at uib gmbh have built and tested packages for our open source client management system. As a result, opsi works on UCS 5.0. I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the most important features of opsi 4.2 in this guest article.

New in EGroupware 21.1: Placeholders, and automatic generation of PDF/PNG

A new EGroupware version is available in the Univention App Center, and it offers some cool new features. For example, users can insert all data stored in EGroupware into Collabora Online directly via a new dialog, and not just via placeholders.This way, only a few clicks are necessary to include entries from the address book, calendar, timesheets, etc. into an office document—say good-bye to the tedious copy & paste sessions between EGroupware modules.

UCS 5.0-1: First Point Release

On the way to perfection.

The first point release of UCS 5.0 brings further important features and tops off the major release from May. The announced Light Theme is now available as an alternative for the user interface. There were improvements in the UCS Portal and App Center, and a number of other apps are now also available for UCS 5.0.