Virtual portals reference


This topic provides reference information about virtual portals. It contains the following sections:

 

Configuration tasks for administering virtual portals

This section lists and describes the configuration tasks for administering virtual portals. Before you use these configuration tasks to administer virtual portals, read the topics about Plan for virtual portals and Administering virtual portals carefully.

For details about the configuration program and about how to use the configuration tasks refer to About the configuration program.

 

create-virtual-portal

Description: Creates a virtual portal.

Usage: Use this task to create a virtual portal.

Syntax: Invoked as part of the WPSconfig script file as follows:

  • UNIX:        ./WPSconfig.sh create-virtual-portal

  • Windows:  WPSconfig.bat create-virtual-portal

Inputs:

Assumptions/Prerequisites: WebSphere Portal is running.

Error Conditions: None

Task dependencies: None

Tasks invoked: None

You pass the parameters listed above for the virtual portal to the configuration task.

If you want to pass a description for the virtual portal to the configuration task, you have to specify this in the NLS file.

The task creates the virtual portal itself, but it does not create any default content for the virtual portal or grant any access permissions to the virtual portal administrators. You need to perform these tasks separately after creating the virtual portal, for example by using the XML configuration interface. For more information about how to use the XML configuration interface refer to The XML configuration interface.

 

list-all-virtual-portals

Description: Lists all virtual portals.

Usage: Use this task to list all virtual portals.

Syntax: Invoked as part of the WPSconfig script file as follows:

  • UNIX:        ./WPSconfig.sh list-all-virtual-portals

  • Windows:  WPSconfig.bat list-all-virtual-portals

Inputs: None

Outputs: This tasks lists all your virtual portals, together with the following information:

  • The title of the virtual portal
  • The description of the virtual portal
  • The realm of the virtual portal
  • The object ID of the virtual portal.

Assumptions/Prerequisites: WebSphere Portal is running.

Error Conditions: None

Task dependencies: None

Tasks invoked: None

Note: The context of a virtual portal as specified by using the configuration task create-virtual-portal with the input parameter VirtualPortalContext cannot be shown by using the configuration task list-all-virtual-portals.

 

modify-virtual-portal

Description: Modifies a virtual portal.

Usage: Use this task to modify a virtual portal by using its object ID. To determine the correct object ID of the virtual portal, use the task list-all-virtual-portals.

Syntax: Invoked as part of the WPSconfig script file as follows:

  • UNIX:        ./WPSconfig.sh modify-virtual-portal

  • Windows:  WPSconfig.bat modify-virtual-portal

Inputs:

  • VirtualPortalObjectId   The object ID of the virtual portal. This input is mandatory for identification of the virtual portal.
  • VirtualPortalRealm      The realm of the virtual portal.
  • VirtualPortalNlsFile     The National Language Support file of the virtual portal.

Assumptions/Prerequisites: WebSphere Portal is running.

Error Conditions: None

Task dependencies: None

Tasks invoked: None

If you want to modify the title or description of the virtual portal, you have to specify this in the NLS file accordingly.

 

delete-virtual-portal

Description: Deletes a virtual portal.

Usage: Use this task to delete a virtual portal by using its object ID. To determine the correct object ID of the virtual portal, use the task list-all-virtual-portals.

Syntax: Invoked as part of the WPSconfig script file as follows:

  • UNIX:        ./WPSconfig.sh delete-virtual-portal

  • Windows:  WPSconfig.bat delete-virtual-portal

Inputs: VirtualPortalObjectId   The object ID of the virtual portal. This input is mandatory.

Assumptions/Prerequisites: WebSphere Portal is running.

Error Conditions: None

Task dependencies: None

Tasks invoked: None

 

Information overview for configuring user populations for virtual portals

This section gives an overview of the information that is available in the WebSphere Portal Information Center about configuring user populations, realms, and user registries for your virtual portals. The following links move from the general to the detailed and specific.

Note: Read all of the information under the topics listed here before you start configuring the user populations for your virtual portals.

  1. For an overview about portal security refer to Enable security and Security Concepts.
  2. For an overview about user management refer to Managing users and groups.
  3. For details about how to create and configure Member Manager, realms and user registries refer to Using multiple realms and user registries. Review the sections about the Configuration and Sample Configuration. These sections list samples of the required xml files.

 

Hints and tips

The following hints and tips apply to virtual portals in WebSphere Portal V5.1:

  • Do not grant the subadministrators of virtual portals the access permissions to perform any installation related tasks, such as installation of portlets or themes. The isolation between the different virtual portals as provided by WebSphere Portal V5.1 is limited to some extent. All virtual portals share a common Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Therefore it is important to restrict the administration privileges of the virtual portal subadministrators and prevent them from installing their own code artefacts, such as themes or portlets. Unstable or malicious code that is introduced on one virtual portal can destabilize the entire portal installation and thereby all other virtual portals.

    A flexible way to introduce virtual portal specific portlets without impacting any other virtual portal is to use Web services for remote portlets (WSRP). For more information about WSRP refer to Using WSRP services.

  • Do not delete the initial URL Mapping that is assigned to a virtual portal during its creation. Deleting this URL Mapping makes the virtual portal unusable.
  • Not all resources can be scoped to individual virtual portals. For example, all themes and skins are available to all virtual portals without restrictions. Credential vault, portlet services, and portal services are also common for an entire portal installation. They cannot be scoped to an individual virtual portal.
  • The settings which are defined in the portal property files apply for the entire portal installation. You cannot specify separate settings for individual virtual portals.
  • If you want to make use of the single sign-on feature that is provided by WebSphere Application Server, you have to use the same common domain suffix for all virtual portals.
  • Document management, portal search, personalization, and the Document Manager portlet are not aware of virtual portals.
  • There are no virtual portal specific enhancements to the published portal commands and application programming interfaces.
  • The administration portlet Manage Virtual Portals cannot delete all resources that are associated with a virtual portal. For example, it does not delete additional URL Mappings that administrators might have created for the virtual portal. Use the XML configuration interface to do this.
  • All virtual portals on a portal installation share a common logging and tracing.
  • When you re-initialize a virtual portal by using the Manage Virtual Portals portlet, this applies the InitVirtualPortal.xml script (or your custom script) again and recreates the default content of the virtual portal. Resources that you removed from the default content are recreated. Resources that you added to the default content remain in the virtual portal.
  • You have to configure realms manually in the wmmur.xml configuration file. There is no portal configuration task for this. You need to restart WebSphere Application Server after reconfiguring Member Manager.
  • The context of a virtual portal as specified by the configuration task create-virtual-portal and the input parameter VirtualPortalContext cannot be shown by using the configuration task list-all-virtual-portals.

 

See also

 

WebSphere is a trademark of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

 

IBM is a trademark of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.