Configure WebSphere Portal

 

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Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Use configuration tasks
  3. Use configuration templates

 

Overview

There are three ways to configure WebSphere Portal:

When configuring WebSphere Portal for the first time, consult Installation scenarios to determine which method use. This topic focuses on the use of configuration tasks and the WebSphere Portal configuration properties file. Regardless of how you initially configure WebSphere Portal, you may find it useful or necessary to use these tasks to adjust the configuration.

 

Use configuration tasks

Configuration tasks are run by invoking the following script file:

 WPSconfig.sh

This script file is found in both the Product directory...

/qibm/proddata/portalserver5/config

...and the User directory...

/qibm/userdata/webas5/base/<instance>/portalserver5/config

...and can be run from either location. Because running a task from the Product directory requires you to specify which WAS instance the task applies to, you may find it more convenient to run the task from the User directory.

If you do not find the WPSconfig.sh file in the User directory, it may be because you have not added WebSphere Portal to the WAS instance.

To run a task, first start the Qshell Interpreter on the iSeries server and change to the appropriate directory. To do this:

  1. Open an OS/400 command prompt and enter the following command to start the Qshell Interpreter:

    STRQSH

  2. Enter one of the following to change to the appropriate directory:

    • Product directory:  

      cd /qibm/proddata/portalserver5/config

    • User directory:  

      cd /qibm/userdata/webas5/base/<instance>/portalserver5/config

The syntax for invoking a configuration script is as follows:

To invoke the configuration task that creates the databases used by WebSphere Portal, you would use the following:

Any property values you do not specify using the -D flag are instead pulled from...

/qibm/userdata/webas5/base/<instance>/config/wpconfig.properties

Before running a configuration task, make sure that the wpconfig.properties file contains the correct values for the task you are running.

Notes on using properties:

 

Use configuration templates

When performing configuration tasks, WebSphere Portal derives the values for these tasks from the wpconfig.properties file. In addition to simplifying file management, the use of a single file for maintaining property values has the advantage of serving as a centralized reference for current configuration settings. However, depending on the task you want to perform, there might be many properties in the file that are unrelated to the task. In addition, the possible values for each property, which are often documented in the file, pertain to many different cases. For example, database properties are described for a number of different database types, although you would be interested in only one at any given time.

To make interaction with the wpconfig.properties file more convenient, WebSphere Portal includes configuration templates, which are condensed, special-purpose properties files. These templates provide only the properties needed for a given task and can also be tailored to a particular type of resource (for example, only for the DB2 database type).

 

Parent properties files

The basis for the configuration templates is WebSphere Portal's support for the use of parent properties files. When you invoke a parent properties file during configuration, a property value from that file supersedes a value for the same property in the wpconfig.properties file. The use of a parent properties file is useful in situations where you want to perform the same configuration tasks on multiple machines, such that some of the properties in wpconfig.properties would be the same on all machines, while other properties might be different. For example, the database type and drivers might be the same on each machine, while the user IDs and passwords might be different. In such a case, using a single main properties file (wpconfig.properties) to perform common tasks on each machine is not practical. By putting properties that are common across machines into a parent properties file, it is easier to ensure that each machine is configured in the same way.

To use a parent properties file, specify the parentProperties property when invoking the WPSconfig.sh script:

where instance indicates the WAS instance the configuration task applies to, <path_to_file> is the path to the parent properties file, parent.properties is the name of the file, and task_name indicates the configuration task you want to run.

When using a parent properties file, if all the specified tasks execute successfully and the SaveParentProperties property is set to true, the properties from the parent properties file will automatically be saved to the wpconfig.properties file of the specified portal instance.  In this way, the wpconfig.properties file should always reflect the property values that were used for the configuration.

 

Configuration templates

Configuration templates are essentially parent properties files that are provided with WebSphere Portal and are designed to support specific tasks or sets of tasks. For example, a configuration template might be used to configure WebSphere Portal for security with IBM Directory Server. Where possible, properties in these files are set to the most common default values, and only those values appropriate to the specific type of resource are included. Comments within each configuration template summarize the tasks you need to perform with the configuration template and also include additional details regarding the template's use.

To use a configuration template, invoke the WPSconfig.sh script file and specify the configuration template as a parent properties file. For example, if you have edited config_http.properties for the environment, you would invoke the configuration template from the directory...

/qibm/userdata/webas5/base/<instance>/portalserver5/config
...as follows...

WPSconfig.sh -DparentProperties=config/helpers/config_http.properties -DSaveParentProperties=true

Note that when no task is specified, the wpconfig.properties file is simply updated with the values from the configuration template. This enables you to set up templates specific to a particular task for the purpose of entering the properties and then have those properties saved to wpconfig.properties without being required to edit wpconfig.properties directly.

WebSphere Portal provides several example configuration templates in...

/qibm/proddata/portalserver5/config/helpers

Configuration template Description
config_http.properties

Configure WebSphere Portal to use an external Web server, instead of the internal HTTP transport provided by WAS.

iseries_instance.properties

Set just those properties that are specific to an iSeries basic configuration.

security_active_directory.properties

Configure WebSphere Portal to use WAS security with Active Directory as its Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory.

security_disable.properties

Disable security for WAS if you have previously configured WebSphere Portal to use security.

security_domino.properties

Configure WebSphere Portal to use WAS security with Domino as its LDAP directory.

security_ibm_dir_server.properties

Configure WebSphere Portal to use WAS security with IBM Directory Server as its LDAP directory.

security_sun_one.properties

Configure WebSphere Portal to use WAS security with Sun ONE as its LDAP directory.

 

Create the own configuration templates

In addition to using the configuration templates provided with WebSphere Portal, you can create the own configuration templates if you find it useful to do so. For example, if you found that you were commonly doing the same task across many WebSphere Portal nodes in the enterprise, you could create the own configuration template to make it easier to correctly perform this task on each node. Follow the conventions depicted in the example configuration template files for adding comments, specifying property values, and so on.

 

See also