Change the portal URI after an installation

HCL WebSphere Portal and Web Services for Remote Portlets are installed with a default URI. We can change the default portal Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) any time after installing HCL DX. Some applications have a fixed context root that cannot be changed.

When specifying the context root, do not specify a value that is the same as a directory that exists in a portlet WAR directory. For example, we set the HCL WebSphere Portal context root to /images. There is a portlet with the directory structure /myPortlet.ear/myPortlet.war/images. This issue might cause a conflict if the portlet encodes URI references to resources in its own /images directory. In this situation, the portlet would be unable to display images. HCL WebSphere Portal looks for the image resources according to its own context root path instead of the directory path specified by the portlet WAR file.

Changing the WSRP Producer context root does not require redeploying all portlets. Instead, run the modify-servlet-path configuration task.

If we use WCM syndication, the Syndicators and Subscribers servers that refer to this Portal instance must be updated with the modified URI. Log on to the HCL WebSphere Portal syndicating to this instance. Click...

Administration menu icon > Portal Content > Syndicators

Click the edit icon of the Syndicator we want to edit. Update the URL with the new context root information. Then, log on to the HCL WebSphere Portal subscribing to this instance. Click...

Administration menu icon > Portal Content > Subscribers

Click the edit icon of the subscriber we want to edit. Update the URL with the new context root information.

If you modify the URI in a clustered environment, complete the steps described here on the primary node only, except where specified differently. Also, verify that AutoSynch is set to a frequency of 1 minute.

Modify the HCL WebSphere Portal context root

1. Stop the WebSphere_Portal server.

2. Create backup copies of...
   • wp_profile_root/ConfigEngine/properties/wkplc.properties
   • wp_profile_root/ConfigEngine/properties/wkplc_comp.properties

3. Edit wkplc.properties file and set the WpsContextRoot property.

   Note that leaving this value empty might cause system conflict. If you lave it empty, validate this setting using the Configuration Wizard or by following the steps that are described in ConfigEngine validation targets.

4. Save and close the file.

5. Edit wkplc_comp.properties and set values for the following properties:
   • WsrpContextRoot
   • WpsPersonalizedHome
   • WpsDefaultHome

   Do not enter the same value for WpsPersonalizedHome and WpsDefaultHome. Leaving these values empty might cause system conflict. If you leave these values empty, validate this setting using the Configuration Wizard or by following the steps that are described in ConfigEngine validation targets.

6. Save and close the file.

7. Start the WebSphere_Portal server in a stand-alone environment or the deployment manager and node agent in a clustered environment.

8. cd wp_profile_root/ConfigEngine

9. To change the context root for the values entered in the WpsContextRoot, WsrpContextRoot, WpsPersonalizedHome, and or WpsDefaultHome properties, run the following task:
   ./ConfigEngine.sh modify-servlet-path -DPortalAdminPwd=password -DWasPassword=password

   Check the output for any error messages before you proceed with the next task. If any of the configuration tasks fail, verify the values in the wkplc.properties and wkplc_comp.properties files.

10. Restart the WebSphere_Portal server.

11. To change the context root for the portlets:
    ./ConfigEngine.sh modify-servlet-path-portlets -DPortalAdminPwd=password -DWasPassword=password

    Check the output for any error messages before you proceed with the next task. If any of the configuration tasks fail, verify the values in the wkplc.properties and wkplc_comp.properties files.

12. Start the WebSphere_Portal server in a stand-alone environment or the deployment manager and node agent in a clustered environment.

13. Complete the following steps for an external web server, such as an HTTP Server:
    1. Choose one of the following options:

       HCL WebSphere Portal environment	Steps
       Stand-alone configuration	Copy the following script from plugin_root/bin of the web server to the wp_profile_root/bin directory on the HCL WebSphere Portal server: ./configurewebservername.sh where webservername is the web server definition name we defined previously when we configured the HTTP Server for HCL. Run wp_profile_root/bin ./configurewebservername.sh
       Clustered configuration	Copy the following script from plugin_root/bin of the web server to dmgr_profile/bin on the Deployment Manager server: ./configurewebservername.sh where webservername is the web server definition name we defined previously when we configured the HTTP Server for HCL From the Dmgr server run: ./configurewebservername.sh

    2. Regenerate the web server plug-in in WebSphere Application Server. For a remote web server, copy the generated plugin-cfg.xml file to the remote server.

       Do not complete these steps if we are changing only the WSRP Producer URI.

    3. Restart the web server.

    4. Restart the WebSphere_Portal server.

14. If we use HCL Web Content Manager manually change the JSP components in the Web Resources v70 Library:

    Cluster note: In a clustered environment, complete these steps on the primary node only.

    1. Log on to HCL WebSphere Portal.

    2. Go to...
       Applications > Content > Web Content Authoring > Preferences > Edit Shared Settings > Library Selection

       Add Web Resources v70 to the Selected Libraries list.

    3. Click OK.

    4. Under Item Views, select...
       All Items > All > Components > JSP

    5. Select every JSP component from the Web Resources v70 library and then click Edit.

    6. Update the Path field for every JSP component with the new context root path.

       The JSP path includes two parts, which are separated by a semi-colon. The first part is the context path to the HCL Web Content Manager extensions web application and then the second part is the path to the JSP. Update the path to the web application.

       For example, the other path might be:

       /wcmextension;/jsp/html/general/UpdateItem.jsp

       If we changed the context root to mynewcontext, change the old path to...

       /mynewcontext/wcmextension;/jsp/html/general/UpdateItem.jsp

15. Optional: Update your custom themes to reference the correct Dojo context root.

    The default Dojo context root in HCL WebSphere Portal is /wps/portal_dojo. After running the modify-servlet-path and modify-servlet-path-portlets tasks, the Dojo context root is changed to include the new value in the WpsContextRoot parameter as the prefix. For instance, if the new WpsContextRoot value is myco, then the new Dojo context root becomes /myco/portal_dojo. If the theme includes hardcoded references to "/wps/portal_dojo", update those references to the new context root. If we migrated a custom theme, we might find that it has references to /portal_dojo without the /wps prefix. Look for these references in both the WAR file and in the WebDAV storage for the theme.

    Cluster note: In a clustered environment, complete these steps on the primary node only.

16. Complete the following steps to edit the context root for every search collection:Attention: Edit the context root for each existing search collection.
    1. Log on to HCL WebSphere Portal as the administrator and go to... Manage Search > Administration menu icon > Search Administration > Manage Search > Search Collections > collection_name > Edit Content Source icon

    2. For each content source edit the URL listed in the Collect documents link from the URL with the new context root.

    3. Click Save.

    4. Start the HCL WebSphere Portal crawler content source for each collection.

       If the documents are not stored in the search collection but a schedule is defined for the crawler, the crawler automatically runs at the scheduled time. We can also start the crawler manually. If the documents are already collected, select Regather documents to update the documents with the new context root information.

    5. Click Collections from All Services in the breadcrumb trail and select the next search collection to modify.

17. Clustered environment only: Idle standby only: Resynchronize the nodes and restart the cluster.

    Cluster type	Steps
    Static cluster	Complete the following steps if we have a static cluster on an idle standby environment: Open the deployment manager and go to... System Administration > Nodes > primary node > Full Resynchronize. Click... Servers > Clusters > cluster Stop After the cluster stops, restart it by selecting the cluster. Then, click Start.
    Dynamic cluster	Complete the following steps if we have a dynamic cluster: Open the deployment manager and go to... System Administration > Nodes > primary node > Full Resynchronize. Click... Servers > Dynamic Clusters > dynamic cluster > Dynamic cluster members > member name > Stop Select the member name that we want to start and then click Start.

    
    

    Related information

    • Start and stop servers, deployment managers, and node agents