Universal Web Connector

General

The Universal Web Connector (UWC) is meant to be used with technologies that provide access to virtualized resources. It can be used to automate the login and resource selection process, and will automatically start the retrieved connection file. To achieve this full automation, one can use Connection Scripts. These scripts can be easily added or modified to retrieve the connection files from web pages where the UI design is bound to change over time, or customizations have been applied. Custom actions using out-of-the-box helper functions and PowerShell commands provide additional flexibility and adaptivity to handle unique connection scenarios. 

The Universal Web Connector is designed as a standalone Launcher component, meaning most configuration is done on the Launcher rather than within the Login Enterprise Virtual Appliance.

When to Use

Generally, the UWC should be used for connection scenarios that are not supported with built-in Connectors (NetScaler, Storefront, VMware Horizon, RDS). 

There are several customizations that can be made to NetScaler, StoreFront, VMware Horizon, etc. that can necessitate using the UWC. This includes, but is not limited to, any multi-factor authentication configurations.

For questions on supporting specific scenarios, please contact Support (support@loginvsi.com). 

NOTE: The script files for the UWC will be slightly different than script files for the a preview version of this connector (a.k.a Browser Connector). Please contact support for help with converting your preview version scripts to work with UWC.

Installation

The UWC is easily installed via an MSI installer, which enables users to install the UWC application, or update an existing installation, on Windows operating systems. 

By default, the UWC will install to:

C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\

Note: The MSI installer can be used to update to newer versions of the UWC. However, to revert to an older version, one must uninstall the current version before using the MSI installer to install the older version. 

Connection Scripts

Connection scripts are executed by the connector (UWC) and perform automated actions related to the access, selection, and launch of virtualized resources-- for example clicking buttons and entering text. The Connection Scripts are written mainly in JavaScript, with the ability to perform PowerShell commands. 

To use Connection Scripts with the UWC, one must download, unzip, and place them in a separate folder, that is passed to the Connector via the --scripts-path argument. 

At the top of each Connection Script, there is a wildcarded path, for example:

//Path=/logon/*

Each Connection Script will have a similar Path, and this path is a trigger to execute the script. For example, the above Path points to a web page accessed during the Logon phase of the connection. When the UWC reaches a web page with /logon/ in its URL, the corresponding script will execute.

Arguments

By default, the UWC requires several arguments to properly execute a Connection. There are both required and optional arguments.

Required:

• url: The address of a web page that UWC will attempt to open in its WebView window
• scripts-path: path to Connection Script folder (absolute path is recommended)

Optional:

• username: The username of the account to utilize
• password: The password of the account to utilize
• resource: The name, as written in the Resource Catalog, of the Desktop or Application to target
• ignore-ssl: Switch argument to ignore errors if website uses self-signed, expired, or other types of untrusted SSL certificates
• timeout: timeout in seconds after the which the UWC application process will be ended

Users can pass as many custom arguments to the UWC as they'd like to write truly customized scripts without limitation.

Test Configuration

Before configuring the UWC connector within the Login Enterprise Virtual Appliance, it is recommended to test the configuration from the Launcher. This can be accomplished with the following PowerShell code:

$url = 'https://myworkspace.com/'
$scriptsPath = 'C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\Scripts'

# Either of the following options can be used
& "C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\UniversalWebConnector.exe" --url $url --scripts-path $scriptsPath
Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\UniversalWebConnector.exe" -ArgumentList "--url $url --scripts-path $scriptsPath"

After confirming successful execution of the desired connection, one can configure the UWC within the Login Enterprise Virtual Appliance.

The following commands can be used within the "Connection command line" field to run UWC as a Custom Connector.

Without Placeholders:

"C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\UniversalWebConnector.exe" --url "https://myworkspace.com/" --scripts-path "C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\Scripts" --resource "SBC Desktop" --username "loginent0001" --password "pass**word"

With Placeholders (for standard use within Virtual Appliance):

"C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\UniversalWebConnector.exe" --url "{host}" --scripts-path "C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\Scripts" --resource "{resource}" --username "{username}" --password "{password}"

With Account Custom Fields:

"C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\UniversalWebConnector.exe" --url "{host}" --scripts-path "C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\Scripts" --resource "{resource}" --username "{custom1}" --password "{custom2}" --custom3 "{custom3}"

With Custom Arguments:

"C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\UniversalWebConnector.exe" --url "{host}" --scripts-path "C:\Program Files\Login VSI\Universal Web Connector\Scripts" --resource "{resource}" --username "{username}" --password "{password}" --some-new-arg "some constant value" --some-new-arg2 "{custom1}"

After starting a test using the UWC as the Custom Connector, the Launcher finds and starts the UWC process using the provided arguments. When the UWC is launched, it uses connection scripts as specified by the --scripts-path argument to connect to the Digital Workspace, download the connection file, and connect to the target machine by executing the connection file.

Logging

If the Launcher experiences issues setting up the connection (e.g. cannot find the script location or access the website), all of the error messages are saved to the Launcher Logs and the process will silently exit.

To access the logs, one can open the logs folder from within the Launcher UI, or navigate to the following path:

C:\Users\<Launcher User>\AppData\Local\Temp\LoginEnterprise\Launcher\Logs

For easier troubleshooting, the UWC outputs error, warning, and informational messages to its own console window. They also contain the sources of the messages (Dotnet, JavaScript, PowerShell, LE Engine, HTTP).