How to Encrypt Traffic, Manage Browser Caching, and Manage Session Information

As the administrator, you can control how MicroStrategy Web session information is encrypted, cached, and stored on a Web user's machine. You can determine the following:

• Whether the data transferred between Web and Intelligence Server is encrypted. By default, this data is not encrypted because encrypting the data increases the load on the Intelligence Server and this may result in reduced performance in MicroStrategy Web.

• Whether users' browsers cache any MicroStrategy Web content on the users' machines.

• Whether users' browsers store cookies to hold information about MicroStrategy Web. If cookies are enabled, MicroStrategy Web stores some of your MicroStrategy Web settings using browser cookies.

• Whether a user can bookmark a page in MicroStrategy Web from their browsers, and whether the session information is included in the bookmark's URL. By default, a user can bookmark a MicroStrategy Web page by adding it to their browser's Favorites list.

To determine how session information is encrypted, cached, and stored

1. Access the MicroStrategy Web Administrator page. (How?)

2. From the pane on the left, select Security. The Security page opens.

3. In the Encryption area, select one of the following options:

   • No encryption (default): Data transferred between the Web and Intelligence Server machines is not encrypted.

   • SSL: Uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to secure data between Web and Intelligence Server. This is the recommended option for secure communications. For background information and instructions to set up SSL encryption for Web, see the System Administration Help.

4. In the Browser Caching area, determine whether users' browsers cache any MicroStrategy Web content on their machines by selecting or clearing the Prevent browser from caching content on the client checkbox.

5. In the Cookies security level area, determine whether cookies are used to store MicroStrategy Web settings in users' browsers. Select one of the following:

   • Disable cookies: Select this option to disable cookies. If cookies are disabled, no settings are stored in cookies. Instead, MicroStrategy Web stores persistable settings, such as the open and close state of a view filter, in the metadata. To maximize the security of data in MicroStrategy Web, select this option.

   • Enable cookies: Select this option to enable cookies. If cookies are enabled, MicroStrategy Web stores some MicroStrategy Web settings in browser cookies.

     If cookies are enabled, you may need to restart your web server after adding or removing a language from a project.

   • Temporary settings stored in cookies are lost when a user closes their browser. These settings include the last page visited, filter and template definitions for report execution, shared report location, and so on.

   • Persistable settings are stored in cookies and can be restored when you visit the application in the future, for example when you open or close editors.

   • If you enable cookies, you also have the option to specify whether Intelligence Server session information is saved in cookies. Select the Store Intelligence Server sessions information in temporary cookies instead of on the Web Servercheckbox to store this information is stored in cookies.

     Since Intelligence Server session information is sensitive, in most cases, enabling the Store Intelligence Server sessions information in temporary cookies instead of on the WebServer option is not recommended.

6. In the URL area, do one of the following:

   • To display the server name and port number in the URL of pages displayed in MicroStrategy Web, and allow users to bookmark MicroStrategy Web pages from a browser, select the Session information is included on the URL checkbox.

   • To hide the server name and port number in the URL of pages displayed in MicroStrategy Web, clear the Session information is included on the URL checkbox.

   Even with the session information in the URL, bookmarks only support basic pages that correspond to saved objects or static links. This means users cannot bookmark a report page after they have applied manipulations.

7. Click Save.