Step-by-Step Cluster Guide for IBM WebSphere Portal v7.0.0

Just got this link for Creating cluster in WebSphere Portal V7.0.

Step-by-Step Cluster Guide for IBM WebSphere Portal v7.0.0

Where to learn WebSphere Portal Administration

As WebSphere Portal moving into the new version with more facilities and functionality, more it's getting attention as a robust technology and more people want to know about it and learn about this product as a technology.

I can see that in IBM forums and different communities where people are showing there eagerness about this product and want to find out how they can start learning it. For those enthusiasts, I have prepared some useful links to start with. This is mainly a WebSphere Portal administration know how but you can still get a fare amount of idea on WebSphere Portal as a product.

1. WebSphere Portal Infocenter : This is a one stop shop for you. You will get everything here. It's updated frequently to cover all the necessary updates the product might have for you. http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wpdoc/v6r1/topic/com.ibm.wp.ent.doc_v615/welcome_main.html
2.  WebSphere Portal Family Wiki : Wiki covers all the learning resources as well as case studies and best practices. http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf
3. WebSphere Portal Product Documentation Site: This site contains all the relevant documentation for the product version wise.                             http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/portal/proddoc.html#v70proddocwiki
4. WebSphere Portal Developerworks Forum : You can exchange you knowledge with some of the experts here and can post your query about the product. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=168
5. WebSphere Portal Developerworks Zone :                                                              http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/portal/
6. IBM WebSphere Portal Channel on YouTube :  IBM WebSphere Portal YouTube channel provides demos and videos to help you get the most out of WebSphere Portal. http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/IBM_WebSphere_Portal_channel_on_YouTube
7. Resources for IBM WebSphere Portal Administrators and Developers: http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/xpViewCategories.xsp?lookupName=Resources%20for%20WebSphere%20Portal%20administrators%20and%20developers

Hope I have covered most of the resources link which can give good reference to the product. You can always add in to make it more compiled list.

WebSphere Portal Server V7.0 is out

Today, IBM has released WebSphere Portal Server V7.0 officially and made it available through passport advantage site. I am going to download it this weekend and will try to get some hands-on with new features. :) Anybody wants to have some useful links for WPS 7.0, I have made it available right here.

Download : You can download it from passport advantage site.

Download document : http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24026527

Hardware & Software requirements : http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27019556#Red%20Hat%20Enterprise%20Linux%20%28RHEL%29%20AS/ES

Product documentation : http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/portal/proddoc.html

Guide for basics of LDAP

I have come across this really useful document on basic LDAP concepts. Anybody who needs to have basic understanding about the LDAP and it's architecture can take benefit from this document published in developerworks site.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/tivoli/library/t-ldap01/index.html#N10070

Integrating Facebook pages with business portals

This demonstration shows you how companies can create pages and applications to establish customized and personalized presences on Facebook. This demonstration uses the Open Financial Network and the Banking template as an example scenario.

Here is a link for the DEMO. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy29PQgovsw

Cleared Test 955 IBM WebSphere Portal 6.1 Deployment and Administration

It's a great feeling after clearing my first certificate in IBM Websphere Portal after being in this technology for almost over 5 years. Last week I appeared for the test and cleared it with score of 95 which is great relief. Planning to give one for content management as well in near future.

How to attach default skin to Theme using xmlAccess

Today, I encountered a really interesting problem reported by my ex-colleague. While working on the portal, accidentally he has removed skins which are attached to default theme of the portal. Now this has resulted in him not able log in to the portal.This is due to no portlet display because of the skin being deleted.
When he tried log in using direct portal url which bypasses the log in portlet he found out the pages are there but portlets are not rendered while clicked on those pages. He was not even get back to the default settings using themes and skins page from the administration section.

Solution to this problem is getting back the default settings for the themes/skins using xmlAccess.
To resolve this we followed below steps.

1. We exported the complete portal configuration using xmlAccess. For this we have used sample ExportRelease.xml which comes with default portal installation. This can be found under [Portal_server_root]/doc/xml-samples. Here is a command to do that

./xmlaccess.bat -in C:/Program Files/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/doc/xml-samples/ExportRelease.xml -user wpsadmin -password wpsadmin -url http://localhost:10038/wps/config -out wpsserver_config.xml

2. Open the exported file, which in this case wpsserver_config.xml and find the entry which starts with theme action="update" active="true" default="true". Add a parameter defaultskinref="K_NO2UF4I1186E1026H4BLVI00E6" to it. Here value for the defaultskinref is the ID of the skin which is deployed in your environment. This will be a default skin to your theme. You can fine skins in the same xml file. Find using skin action="update" text.

3. Once updated and saved, import this xml file to your portal server using xmlAccess. Here is a command for it.

xmlaccess.bat -in C:/updatedXML/wpsserver_config.xml -user wpsadmin -password wpsadmin -url http://localhost:10038/wps/config

That's it. We are able to access portal as it was before the problem. :)

A new Kid on the block - JBOSS GateIn

The best of exo and JBOSS portals has arrived as they called it : JBOSS GateIn. Have a look at it

http://www.jboss.org/gatein/gallery.html

A First Look at IBM's WebSphere Portal Server 7

I just got this alert about IBM Websphere Portal 7 Beta, I thought I should share it with you all.

http://www.theserverside.com/report/Evaluating-WebSphere-Portal-Server-7-A-journey-Into-the-WPS-Unknown

How to improve performance of your WCM server

Well, it's been quite hectic last few weeks for me. Engaged in fine tuning our production environment with remote WCM content rendering. During this task I was going through many documents on performance improvement. I have jotted down few points here for ease.

Application server tinning
---------------------------
Here you need to set the min and max value for the following parameters
Web Container Thread Pool - 60/60
Data source connection Pool - JCRDB - 10/150

Cache Manager Service tuning
------------------------------
Open the CacheManagerService.properties file and modify the following values.

cacheinstance.com.ibm.workplace.searchmenu.helper.SearchMenuCacheHelper.size 5000
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ContainedRolesCache.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.AccessControlUserContextCache.size 5000
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ApplicationRolesForPrincipalCache.size 12500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.AccessControlUserContextCache.lifetime 10800
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ExplicitEntitlementsCache.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ExplicitEntitlementsCache.ICM_CONTENT.size 12000
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ExplicitEntitlementsCache.VIRTUAL.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ProtectedResourceCache.size 12500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ExternalOIDCache.size 12000
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.AccessControlUserContextCache.lifetime 10800
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.RolesCache.size 7500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.groupmanagement.NestedGroupCache.size 1200
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.datastore.pageinstance.DerivationCache.size 250
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.datastore.pageinstance.OIDCache.size 250
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.datastore.services.Identification.SerializedOidString.cache.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.model.content.impl.ResourceCache.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.model.content.impl.TopologyCache.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.pe.portletentity.size 250
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.services.cache.cachedstate.CachedStateServiceSession
Bound.cache.size 250
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ApplicationRoleChildrenCache.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ApplicationRoleDescriptorCache.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ApplicationRoleOIDCache.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ChildEntitlementsCache.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.ac.ExplicitEntitlementsCache.APPLICATION_ROLE.size 500
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.policy.services.PolicyCacheManager.lifetime 28800
cacheinstance.com.ibm.wps.model.content.impl.ResourceCache.lifetime 14400

Navigation Service Tuning
--------------------------
Open the NavigatorService.properties file and enable the public session required for rendering portlets on anonymous pages.

public.session = true

WCM object Cache settings
---------------------------
abspath 8000
abspathreverse 8000
processing 10000
session 6000
menu 500
nav 500
strategy 8000
global 100
module 100

WCM Configuration Service
---------------------------
Enable the user cache

Find the WCMConfigService.properties file under:
/PortalServer/wcm/shared/app/config/wcmservices
Set user.cache=true

How to create empty virtual portal using configuration Task

This post is more in continuation of my last blog entry regarding changing host name for your existing virtual portal. Fulfilling this task requires you to create an empty virtual portal as mentioned in a separate step.

Here is how you can create virtual portal with the help of configuration task create-virtual-portal.

1. Back up wkplc.properties file under /WebSphere/wp_profile/ConfigEngine/properties folder.

2. Modify it for the following configuration properties and save.

# Title of the Virtual Portal
VirtualPortalTitle=
# Realm of the Virtual Portal
VirtualPortalRealm=
# Hostname of the Virtual Portal.If you set the hostname, the portal sets the hostname, and the portal
parameter context is ignored.
VirtualPortalHostName=
# Context of the Virtual Portal
VirtualPortalContext=
# File which contains language specific information for the Virtual Portal
VirtualPortalNlsFile=
# VirtualPortalObjectId: ObjectId of the Virtual Portal
# The ObjectId is needed to modify, delete Virtual Portals and
# can be obtained by running task list-all-virtual-portals
# Note: Do not delete the default Virtual Portal (ObjectId ends with _0)
VirtualPortalObjectId=

3. Run the following command to create an empty virtual portal using above mentioned parameters.
./ConfigEngine.sh create-virtual-portal

4. Execute the ./ConfigEngine.sh list-all-virtual-portals task to make sure that the virtual portal is created on the target environment.

5. You can access virtual portal through http://localhost:10040/wps/portal/ URL. You will get a blank page with message "Error 404: There is no content available."

In my next blog I will show you how you can populate empty virtual portal.

Using a new host name for an existing virtual portal

Currently while working on my project I encountered an issue as a result of upgrading portal to 6.1.0.3.
The issue was regarding virtual portal that I created before an upgrade and assigned "Host Name" parameter to it. To troubleshoot the issue I had to change the "Host Name" value, in fact needed to remove it. Anyone played with Virtual portal might have got that this is not possible by just editing the virtual portal settings using Administrative portlet. You can not modify this entry after you assigned it. I have gone through the infocenter and found that this is know limitation for virtual portal and one has to follow below mentioned series of steps to achieve this task.

1. Export the content of your existing virtual portal using xmlAccess interface.
[Portal_server_root]/bin $ ./xmlaccess.sh -user admin -password secrete -url http://hostname:port/wps/config/virtual_portal_context -in /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/doc/xml-samples/Export.xml -out result.xml

2. Delete existing virtual portal using manage virutal portal portlet.

3. Clean up any references to the deleted virtual portal by using the Task.xml of xmlAccess.
./xmlaccess.sh -user admin -password secrete -url http://hostname:port/wps/config -in /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/doc/xml-samples/Task.xml -out result_cleanup.xml

4. Create a new empty virtual portal by running configuration task create-virtual-portal. Use the context of the deleted virtual portal and do not provide any host name parameter value.

5. Import the contents of the original virtual portal to the new virtual portal using xmlAccess interface.
./xmlaccess.sh -user admin-password secrete -url http://hostname:port/wps/config/New_virtual_Portal_Context -in /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/bin/result.xml -out result_import_VP.xml

Now you are ready to access your virtual portal :). Hope this helps the community in some way.

How to remove maximize and minimize links in the Portlet context menu

In certain cases it is an desired behavior to disable the minimize and maximize functionality of portlets in IBM WebSphere Portal. you can achieve this behavior by following the simple step mentioned here.

1. Take a backup of portletContextMenu.jsp file from your custom theme war file. It can be loacated at (WarFileName)/themes/html/Portal folder, where (WarFileName)
is the name of your web application containing your themes.

2. Open the portletContextMenu.jsp file and search for the following elements for the minimize and maximize links. Remove the following two "c-rt:if" elements:



3. Save the modified file in your web application and redeploy the web application. Pages with your custom theme applied will now not render any minimize and maximize links in the portlet context menu.

Troubleshooting Port conflict in Websphere Portal

Today, I found this strange error while starting "Websphere application server" and "Websphere Poral server" on my box which already running one more instance of WPS. I was able to start only one process at a time but not both. I got this error while starting the server1 when websphere Portal is already started.

WsServerImpl E WSVR0009E: Error occurred during startup
com.ibm.ws.exception.RuntimeError: com.ibm.ws.exception.RuntimeError: org.omg.CORBA.INTERNAL: CREATE_LISTENER_FAILED_4 vmcid: 0x49421000 minor code: 56 completed: No

This was due to port conflict between processes "server1" and "Websphere Portal". To resolve this perform the following steps.

1. Stop all WebSphere processes: Application Servers, nodeagents, and the deployment manager.
2. View all ports in use on the operating system by issuing a netstat -a command. Make note of any ports in use.
3. Open the serverindex.xml file for your server. You can find it in the directory /config/cells//nodes//serverindex.xml
4. Check this file for any of the port conflict with the result in step-2.
5. Resolve the port conflict by editing the serverindex.xml and change the conflicting port number to one that is not in use, then restart all the WebSphere processes.

Websphere Portal isses with IE8

In my current project, I got this request from our client that they need portal application to be tested on IE8. Sounds pretty easy to me at the first glance but to my surprise I found few really interesting issues and their solution. So I thought let me share it with other community members as well.

Main issues which I dealt with were regarding java script used in themes/skins as well as portlet applications. One major issue was with Portlet context menu not displaying at all in IE8. Also the pagination was broken in IE8 as well. Our developer has spent substantial time on fixing this but eventually I found this out of the wood solution for that.. :)

1. In Websphere Portal navigate to Administrative portlets and click on Supported Clients.


2. You can see the "Manage Clients" Portlet. Click on Add New Client link
3. Fill up the necessary details about IE8 as shown below.



4. Save it and you are done.

Here are few more options that you can provide in the form above.
User Agent: .*MSIE 8.0.*
Markup: html
Markup version: ie
Manufacturer: Microsoft
Model: Internet Explorer
Version: 8.0
Capabilities: CACHE_VARY,
HTML_2_0,
HTML_JAVA,
HTML_CSS,
HTML_FRAME,
HTML_TABLE,
HTML_4_0,
HTML_3_2,
HTML_JAVASCRIPT,
HTML_3_0,
HTML_NESTED_TABLE,
FRAGMENT_IDENTIFIER,
HTML_IFRAME

Hope you like this hidden feature of IBM. :)

Sample virtual member manager plug-in for WebSphere Application Server Version 6.1 and above

I got this very nice article on virtual member manager plug-in for WAS 6.1 and above while browsing through developerworks site. The plug-in manager provides a framework that enables you to write extensions to virtual member manager API to consume a variety of services that can be added in the future

You can find complete article here.

WebSphere Portal NOW:- Jump Start a Content Portal in Less Than a Month!

Just back from a long break. Stepped in to second phase of my life- After marriage :) Starting year 2010 with an excellent offer from IBM once again.

IBM has just released a new software template and services solution for WebSphere Portal that handles the majority of requirements most companies have for a basic content portal.
The WebSphere Portal NOW is a reusable software template and a well-defined services process, which allows for deployment of a fully working portal and content solution for customers in less than a month.
Basic Features:

• WebSphere Portal structure for a pre-configured environment with two themes, including a Home Page with links to critical information, feeds, documents, processes or applications.
• Pre-configured Web Content Management with support for different types of content, organized publishing streams for authors and editors, and flexible publication scheduling.
• Ready to use Services, such as application or web site links, RSS feeds, Sametime contacts, document management, or people finder.

More information can be found here.