Connecting to Proton Manager for the First Time
Congratulations on getting setup and ready to go with BCMS and Proton. While Proton was designed to be easy to setup and use, this section can help answer questions that may come up when using Proton the first time. This section focuses on getting started with the Proton features in the Browsium Client Manager, including finding the server URL, creating user accounts, and other basic elements on the administrative side of the system.
Connecting to the Proton Manager
Section titled “Connecting to the Proton Manager”Accessing the administrative console and reporting screens of the Proton Manager is easy. All you need is a modern browser (latest Internet Explorer, Edge Chrome, or Firefox recommended), the BCMS URL (configured during setup) and lastly, network access to your BCMS (Proton) Server to access your server data.
During installation, an Internet shortcut (.lnk file) is created on the server to enable easy access to the Browsium Client Manager and Proton features on your server. This shortcut connects to Browsium Client Manager while setting the managed BCMS to the one for your organization. To access the Browsium Client Manager from other systems, or to provide access to other administrators, simply provide the shortcut .lnk file.
While .lnk files are very helpful when accessing a web server with a complex URL, email systems typically block these files. Therefore, sharing them with other administrators of your Proton Server can be difficult. The following paragraph provides an alternative for sharing this URL.
Another option for sharing the Proton Manager URL with other administrators is to provide the shortcut URL itself rather than the .lnk file. The URL is:
where SERVERNAME is the machine name (or Fully Qualified Domain Name) of the Windows system where you installed Proton and PORT is 443 for a default BCMS installation. If you are using port 443, you can leave PORT blank as 443 is the default port for all HTTPS traffic.
SERVERNAME and PORT are referenced in the following sections using the same definitions used above.
Self-Signed Certificate Errors
Section titled “Self-Signed Certificate Errors”It is possible to install BCMS using a self-signed certificate used to encrypt communication to and from the server. If a self-signed certificate was chosen during setup, you may require a few extra steps to ensure proper client connectivity.
During the secure connection process with Browsium Client Manager may trigger certain browser error notifications if the Proton Server was installed with a self-signed certificate and the Manager is being accessed from a system not running Proton Server.
Browsium recommends the use of certificates signed by only known and trusted certificate authorities.
The following error message is generated by the Browsium Client Manager to validate the secure connection to the Proton Server when the Proton Server is using a self-signed certificate. Click ‘Verify’ to complete the validation and then log into the Proton Manager.
Other certificate errors you may experience only impact connections to the Browsium Client Manager. The errors can be safely bypassed without creating any security exposure or risk to the organization once the certificate details have been verified as indicated below.
Internet Explorer users may see this certificate error if the certificate is self-signed:
Click the ‘More Information’ link to verify the URL (IP address or name), then click ‘Continue to this website’ if the details are correct.
When viewed with Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge (Chromium), the certificate error screen looks like this:
Verify the URL (IP address or name) is the right location, then click the ‘Continue’ link to proceed.
Users should only see these certificate errors once for each browsing session when connecting to the BCMS Manager.
Creating the First Account
Section titled “Creating the First Account”Once connected to Browsium Client Manager, user accounts are required for access control. Administrator, Power User, and Standard User account types are available. The first account created will be an Administrator. Select the ‘Create an account’ button the first time you access Browsium Client Manager.
Browsium Client Manager accounts are stored in Proton database but local and SSO authentication is supported. See the ‘Configuring Single Sign On’ section of the Browsium Client Management Server Administration Guide for more information on SSO configuration.
Because BCMS are integrated, and BCMS must be setup first, the first account may have already been created.
Then create a username and password, using a well-formed email address for the username and a strong password. Then select Register.
The default Proton password policy enforces a minimum of 8 characters, including 1 special character. Supported special characters are
] [ ? / < ~ # ` ! @ $ % ^ & * ( ) + = } | : ” ; ’ , > {
To change the defaults and enforce stricter password policies, including account lockout and password expiration, see Password Policy Management in the Users Page section.
Once your account is created, you’ll be able to log in directly with the credentials you created.
Additional accounts can be created using this same screen and permission levels are managed on the Users page in Proton Manager.