Documentation Portal FAQ

Documentation Portal FAQ

Locale
English

This page covers frequently asked questions and answers about the BlueCat Product Documentation Portal.

 

 

 

 

 

Why a Product Docs Portal?

We wanted to make it easier for customers to find the technical documentation they need on BlueCat products. We also wanted to ensure that the customers have the most current documentation available, instead of always being unsure whether a downloaded PDF is the latest.

What are the different ways that I can access the Docs Portal?

The Product Docs Portal is publicly available. You can access it by simply going to https://docs.bluecatnetworks.com/.

To access a few sensitive topics, click Customer Sign-in. If you do not have an active Care session, the site will prompt you for your Care credentials.

You can also access the Docs Portal through the BlueCat Care Support Portal:
  1. Log in to the Care Support Portal with your Care credentials.
  2. Select the Documentation tab from the top toolbar.
  3. Click Go to the Product Documentation Portal.

Do I have to enter my password to access a link to a topic in the Docs Portal?

You do not. The Product Docs Portal is publicly available and most topics can be accessed without requiring a password. Certain topics that contain sensitive information can only be accessed to authenticated users.

Can I access the Docs Portal without authenticating?

Yes, the Docs Portal is accessible to everyone. You can access the Docs Portal by going to https://docs.bluecatnetworks.com/. However, there are a few sensitive topics that require you to authenticate.

What languages does the Docs Portal support?

All documentation is available in English, and certain publications are available in Japanese and Simplified Chinese. You can navigate the Docs Portal interface itself in all three languages.

To access Japanese or Simplified Chinese documentation, select the language from the drop-down on the Docs Portal homepage.

If you do not have an account or are not authenticated with the Docs Portal, you will also notice a locale drop-down in the top right corner of the page:

If you are authenticated with the Docs Portal, you can select your user interface locale by selecting My Account > Profile in the top right corner of the page. From the Profile page, you can select your interface locale using the Language drop-down menu under Interface preferences.

Selecting a language from these drop-down menus changes the user interface language only, and not the written documentation.

How do I search for a topic or document on the Docs Portal?

The Docs Portal homepage shows search filter drop-downs and the search bar:

Using the drop-downs, you can filter for the product name, category, publication, and version. Or, simply enter your search terms in the search bar. (You can also use a blank search, which will return all documentation.)

Press ENTER or click on the magnifying glass icon to search.

The search results page shows links to the topics returned and a brief extract from each. Click a blue heading to view a topic.

On this page, there are three buttons on the left navigation bar:

  • Filters—modify your filters for the current search.

  • My searches—apply an existing search scope.

When you click on a topic, the left navigation bar on the topic page shows three buttons:

  • Table of contents—click to collapse the left navigation bar. This is especially handy when viewing the page on a vertical screen.
  • Related links—click to display a list of publications related to this document.
  • Attachments—click to display a list of attachments included in this document.
  • Bookmarks—click to view your bookmarks for this topic.

When you click the Topic options icon next to a topic title:

  • Bookmark—add a bookmark for this topic.

  • Add to a personal book—add this topic or a set of topics to a new or existing personal book.

  • Share URL—copy the URL of this topic so you can share it with other users.

  • Print topic—print this topic or a set of topics.

  • Send feedback—send feedback about this topic to the BlueCat Docs team.

How do I search for a partial string?

You can search for a partial string using an asterisk (*) as a wildcard character at the end of the search string. For example, searching for getent* returns the following:
  • getEntity
  • getEntities
  • getEntityById
  • getEntityByName
  • getEntitiesByName

How do I start a new search?

Click on the BlueCat logo, on the top left of every page.

Can I save a search?

Yes, you can save your search parameters (keywords and filtering options). Later, you can restore those filter settings with a single click in the My searches tab. You can also save the filter settings associated with a search as an alert. Once you create an alert, you will receive a weekly email notification if content matching your search criteria is added or changed.

To save a search and create an alert:
  1. Type your search in the search bar and press ENTER.
  2. Under the search bar, click Save.
  3. OPTIONAL: Enter a name of the search.
  4. OPTIONAL: Enter a description for the search.
  5. OPTIONAL: Select a color to categorize the search.
  6. Select the Activate alert check-box to receive a weekly email notification if content matching your search criteria is added or changed.
  7. Click Save.
    Tip: To view, activate, deactivate, and delete your saved searches and alerts, click My Library > Searches.

Once you have saved a search, you can apply the search filter by clicking My searches in the left navigation pane and selecting the name of the saved search filter.

Where can I find the Customer Care Handbook/release notes/known issues?

The Docs Portal only hosts product documentation. Find the Customer Care Handbook, product and patch release notes, and known issues on the Care Support Portal.

Can I share a link to a topic?

Yes, you can save and share the URLs with other users of the Product Docs platform, including BlueCat members.

Are the topic URLs stable?

Yes. You can save and share topic URLs safely knowing that the link to a specific topic in a specific version won't change when the contents of the topic are updated. However, the same topic in a new release has a different URL. For example, the URL for Managing IPv6 in the 9.4.0 Address Manager Administration Guide differs from the URL for Managing IPv6 in the 9.5.0 guide.
Note: The exception is BlueCat Edge. Since BlueCat Edge is SaaS, we continually update the content in place so BlueCat Edge topic URLs are stable across all releases.

What is a personal book?

Personal books are a convenient way for you to personalize product documentation and access the topics that are most relevant to you. You can select your desired topics, organize them as you see fit, add comments, and add your own custom topics to a personal book.

How do I add a topic to a personal book?

  1. Click the Topic options icon next to a topic title.
  2. Click the Add to a personal book icon at the top of any topic:

  3. Under To personal, select an existing personal book to add the topic(s) to, or click New personal book to create a new personal book.
  4. OPTIONAL: Click the toggle button to select multiple topics to add to your personal book.
  5. Click Save. You can view your personal book under My Library > Personal books.

Can I add my own notes or topics to a personal book?

Yes, you can create your own custom topics and place them anywhere in an existing personal book.

To write additional personal content in your personal book:

  1. Click My Library > Personal Books.
  2. Select the personal book you wish to edit.
  3. Click Edit your personal book.
  4. Click Write a topic.
  5. Write the title of your topic in the Title field.
  6. Write the body of your topic in the Content field.
  7. Click Save.
    Note: Your custom topic will be published next to the current topic in your personal book. To change the topic order:
    1. Click Edit Table of Contents and select your topic. The icon identifies any custom topics.
    2. Select the topic and click the arrow buttons to move it to your desired position.
    3. Click Save.

Are personal books stable?

Yes. As with topic URLs, a personal book will be updated automatically when the Docs Team updates the contents of the included topics. If you export a personal book to HTML or PDF, it won't be updated—you would have to re-export the Personal Book from the latest content.

A topic in a new release will have a different URL from the same topic in a previous release. This means that the only way to "update" a personal book to a new release is to create a new personal book with topics from the new release.

Topics from BlueCat Edge are an exception: a personal book that contains only BlueCat Edge topics will continuously update from release to release.

How do I share a personal book?

  1. Click My Library and select Personal Books.
  2. Select the personal book you want to share.
  3. In the top right corner of the page, click the More button.
  4. Copy the link and send it to other BlueCat users.
    Tip: You can optionally export the personal book in HTML or PDF format. To do so, click the Download as HTML or Download as PDF buttons above the Share toggle button.

I prefer to have PDF copies of product documentation. Where can I download PDFs?

Product documentation in PDF format is no longer hosted on the Care Support Portal; the Docs Platform now hosts all product documentation. If you have a BlueCat Customer Care account, you can download the officially published PDF publication for BlueCat Integrity and Gateway by logging in to the Docs Platform using your BlueCat Customer Care credentials and searching for the Address Manager PDF Documentation or Gateway PDF Documentation publications. If you do not have a BlueCat Customer Care account, you can still save and export an entire publication in PDF format by either creating a personal book or printing the publication.

To download the officially published Address Manager and Gateway PDF publications:
  1. Click the Sign In button in the top right corner of the Docs Platform.
  2. Click Customer Sign-in.
  3. Enter your BlueCat Customer Care username and password, then click Login.
  4. Once you have been redirected to the Docs Portal homepage, use the Publication drop-down menu to filter for Address Manager PDF Documentation or Gateway PDF Documentation.
  5. Use the Version drop-down menu to filter for your desired version.
  6. Press ENTER or click the magnifying glass icon to search.
  7. Select the publication from the search results page.
  8. Click the Attachments tab in the left navigation bar.
  9. Click the download icon button next to the PDF publication that you would like to download and save the file for offline reference.
To export a PDF for an entire publication using a personal book:
  1. Use the drop-down menus on the Docs Portal homepage to filter for your desired publication (for example, the 9.5.0 Address Manager Administration Guide).
  2. Press ENTER or click the magnifying glass icon to search.
  3. Select the publication from the search results page.
  4. Click the Add to a personal book icon on the top navigation bar. The Add to a personal book pop-up window displays.
  5. Click the toggle button to select A set of topics (as opposed to This topic only).
  6. Select the first check box from the Add topics field. Selecting this parent topic auto-selects all child topics underneath it.
  7. Click New book and enter a title and description for your personal book.
  8. Click OK.
  9. Click OK on the Add to a personal book window.
  10. Click My Library > Personal books to navigate to the personal book you just created.
  11. Click the personal book you wish to download.
  12. In the top right corner of the page, click the More button.
  13. Click Download as PDF, then click OK. Once your PDF generates, you can download it for offline reference.
To export a PDF for an entire publication using the print icon:
  1. Use the drop-down menus on the Docs Portal homepage to filter for your desired publication (for example, the 9.5.0 Address Manager Administration Guide).
  2. Press ENTER or click the magnifying glass icon to search.
  3. Select the publication from the search results page.
  4. Click the Print icon at the top of any topic:

  5. Select the first check box from the Select topics to print field. Selecting this parent topic auto-selects all child topics underneath it.
  6. Click Print. A new tab opens and the browser's print settings are displayed.

    Depending on your browser, you can select to print the publication to a PDF. The following image displays this option for Firefox on macOS:

How do I create a bookmark?

  1. Click the Topic options icon next to a topic title.
  2. Click the Bookmark icon at the top of any topic:

  3. From the Bookmark pop-up window, you can optionally tag the bookmark with a colour and add a custom title.
  4. Click Save to save the bookmark. You can find all of your saved bookmarks under My Library > Bookmarks.

How do I send feedback about the documentation to the BlueCat Docs Team?

Click the Send Feedback icon at the top of any topic:

Any comments you submit through here will be sent directly to the BlueCat Docs Team, along with a link to the particular topic. You can also use this method to send us general feedback—please mention that your feedback is not specific to that topic.

You can also open a case through the Care Support Portal, particularly if the issue is bigger than a straightforward comment on a topic. Once you open a case, the BlueCat Customer Care team will engage you directly.

I need more help using the Docs Portal. Where should I go?

If you have any further questions about using the Docs Portal, contact the BlueCat Customer Care team directly, or through the Care Support Portal's community forum. You can also consult the Fluid Topics User Guide for general help and guidance. (Fluid Topics is the platform that hosts the BlueCat Docs Portal.)