Manual steps prior to using ReleaseBuilder

 

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Checklist for global settings and configurations in property files

The following list contains all configurations and settings that need to be manually synchronized between the systems involved in the staging to production process. These settings are neither covered by the XML configuration interface nor staged by other tools. All settings should be identified by referring to the appropriate section describing the property (for example, "configure portal").

Component	Property	Description
Portal Server Runtime	Portal System Configuration	All documented entries for WebSphere Portal property files that change the portal server's behavior (for example, Request IDs or Parallel Portlet Rendering).
Portal Server Runtime	Performance related settings	All documented entries for WebSphere Portal property files, excluding settings related to environment scaling.
Portal Statistics	Statistics Log Settings
Portlet Services	Service configuration
Custom Login Commands	Login command
Custom Credential Vault Adaptors	Vault Adaptors
Custom Credentials	Credential Implementations
JAAS Login Modules	Custom modules
Custom components	Custom component property files	These components are not part of WebSphere Portal. They are developed by the customer.
J2EE Artifacts	Any IBM WAS configurations
Custom User Registry	Custom User Registry implementation
External Security Manager (IBM Tivoli Access Manager or Computer Associates eTrust SiteMinder)	Externalized Portal Entitlements
External Security Manager (IBM Tivoli Access Manager)	Externalized Portal Entitlements
User Directory	User Profiles, Groups	LDAP: Configuration movement functions are provided by the product vendor or implementer.
Personalization	Personalization rules and Campaigns
Policies	Policy files	See Sample Policy XML configuration files and Theme policies

Checklist for Portal Artifacts

The following list contains all portal artifacts that need to be manually installed on each system involved in the staging to production process.

Artifact	Type
Portlets	WAR files
Themes	JSPs, Images, CSS. etc.
Skins	JSPs, Images
Portal Screens	JSPs and Images
Portlet Services	Java Libraries
J2EE Artifacts	EAR files Java libraries
Custom User Registry	Java Libraries
Credential Vault Adaptors	Java Libraries
Custom Credentials	Java Libraries
JAAS Login Modules	Java Libraries

Terminology

Staging is the process of moving solution releases from development to production. This process typically consists of partially or fully automated configuration management tasks and quality assurance activities.

Portal Artifacts

Portal artifacts (software components) are stored in the portal file system.

The following components are portal artifacts:

Portal System Configuration	property files
Themes and Skins	JSP files and stylesheets
Portal Customizations	Java Classes
Portlet services, Active Credentials, Credential VaultAdaptors
Portlet Code	Java Classes, JSPs, XML files
Portal Filters	Java Classes
Servlet Filters	Java Classes
J2EE Artifacts	managed by WAS

Portal Extension Artifacts

Portal Extension Artifacts are stored in the portal file system or in a database. These artifacts exist in an installed portal system. They belong to components that are installed together with the portal but are not core portal components. Typically these components are available with and without the portal server.

The following components are examples of portal extension artifacts:

• Portal Search and search collections.
• Web Content Management
• Document Repository
• Documents, flows, roles
• Collaboration Components

Portal Configuration

The Portal Configuration is stored in the portal configuration database. It consists of configuration entities. Each portal resource is represented by one portal configuration entity in the portal database.

The following entities are part of the portal configuration:

• Portal Content Tree (Navigation, Pages, Layouts)
• URL Mappings
• Portlet Application Configurations
• Portlet Application Settings
• Portlet Configurations
• Portlet Settings
• Portlet Data (legacy portlets)
• Portlet Preferences (JSR168 portlets)
• Access Control Data (Roles, ActionSets)
• Credential Data
• Themes
• Skins
• Cross-page wires

A wire can be created only if the wiring endpoints of the corresponding portlets exist. Legacy portlets that are not compliant with JSR 168 or 286 might create those endpoints programmatically on their first rendering. Therefore, XMLAccess cannot create a new wire for those portlets unless they have been rendered the first time. To create this wire...

1. Create a copy of the staging script that contains the release (output of ReleaseBuilder).

2. Remove the failing wire definitions from the copy.

3. Execute the copy of the staging script.

4. View the page that contains the portlet with a web browser.

5. Execute the original staging script.

Portal Solution Release

The Portal Solution Release is the solution that is developed by you, the customer, on top of WebSphere Portal. It consists of portal configurations, portal artifacts, and portal extension artifacts. WebSphere Portal is not part of the Portal Solution Release. The Portal Solution Release configuration is shared between multiple users, user configurations are not included. Administrators create and maintain the portal solution configurations.

Parent topic:

About ReleaseBuilder

Related tasks

Building a Release

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