About xmlaccess.sh


Overview

xmlaccess.sh provides a batch processing interface that allows you to export an entire portal configuration or parts of a configuration, for example specific pages, to an XML file. You can then re-create the exported configuration from such a file on another portal.

Access xmlaccess.sh by running xmlaccess.sh, which attaches to the portal server using an HTTP or HTTPS connection, allowing remote configuration.


Typical tasks


Limitations

  1. A complete XML export of a portal configuration is not sufficient to re-create the portal.

    You also need the WAR files for portlets and possibly additional file resources, such as theme files if they are not part of the standard portal installation.

  2. xmlaccess.sh is not designed to deal efficiently with large volumes of data.

    For a backup and restore solution on a production server, you should rely on low-level database and file system backups.


Access and security considerations

To use, have...

This implies that be a super administrator of the portal, who can perform any action. Consequently, there are no further access control checks that could restrict actions when you use xmlaccess.sh; you may view all resources in the portal and you may update and delete all resources.

When you run the XML command line tool, authenticate yourself by specifying the portal user ID and password. When you use an HTTP connection, the user and password are sent to the server unencrypted, therefore you should only connect to xmlaccess.sh from inside a protected intranet where you can be sure that the HTTP connection is not compromised. In all other networks configure SSL and use a secure HTTPS connection to connect to xmlaccess.sh.


XML input and output

There are two main types of requests that can be sent to xmlaccess.sh:

Requests to and responses from xmlaccess.sh use the same XML format. An export request generates an XML response that contains all the configuration data required to re-create the exported configuration part. This means that you can export a portal configuration, save the XML output file and, without modification, send it to another portal to re-create the same configuration there.

Use the XML schema for the XML format that WebSphere Portal provides for reference...

Unpack the JAR file and you will find the file with the XML schema under the path...

An XML request contains the following:


Representation of a portal configuration in XML

The XML hierarchy that is found under the portal section in the XML request file represents the structure of a portal as an XML tree. This tree contains resources in the portal, such as portlets or pages, and their configuration data. The XML hierarchy of all supported portal resources is shown in the following table:

XML element Description
portal Main element of every XML request
global-settings

Global portal settings
services-settings Global portal settings for portal services
language Languages defined in portal
task Tasks that can be used to schedule programs
action Actions that can be used to create action sets
virtual-resource Virtual resources that have associated access control settings
user Users defined in the portal user management system
group Groups defined in the portal user management system
markup Markups that can be supported by portal pages
client Client devices (browsers) that the portal knows about
event-handler Definitions of event handlers that can react to events in the portal
skin Visual appearance settings that can be applied to user interface elements
theme General visual settings that can be applied to the user interface
wsrp-producer Producer of Web services as defined in the consumer portal
wsdl-url The URL to the Producer's WSDL document
porttype The URL to the service description, markup, registration, or portlet management of the Producer
web-app Web modules containing portlets
url The WAR file that contains the Web application
context-root The context root that is assigned to the Web application of the portlet application in the predeployed EAR file (reference: application.xml)
display-name The name that is assigned to the application in the predeployed EAR file (reference: application.xml)
servlet Servlets defined in the Web module
portlet-app Portlet applications defined in the Web module
portlet Portlets defined in the portlet application
content-node Elements of the portal content tree (pages or labels)
supported-markup The markups that are supported by this content node
allowed-portlet The portlets that are allowed on this page
component Layout components of pages
component Subcomponents in the structure of the page
portletinstance Occurrences of a portlet on a page with customized settings
cross-page-wire Property broker wiring between two portlet instances.
credential-segment Segments for storing credentials in the credential vault
credential-slot Slots in a credential segment that hold a credential
url-mapping-context User defined URLs that map to pages in the portal
user-resource Allows exporting and deletion of a specific user resources.
policy-node Policies defined in the portal
application-role A named set of authorization roles that can be assigned to users or groups.
wsrp-customized-portletinstance A customized occurrence of a portlet provided by WSRP on a Producer portal
custom-resource A custom resource that can be tagged or rated by users
category-instance A category assigned to a custom resource
tag A tag applied to a resource by a user
rating A rating applied to a resource by a user

Depending on the content of an XML request, these resources can be created, modified, deleted or exported. An XML request can contain any number of such resource definitions. It can therefore create hundreds of new resources in one step or modify only a single configuration setting of one existing resource.


Parent


xmlaccess.sh
Portal administration tools


Related tasks


Set up SSL
Delete orphaned data
Changes to xmlaccess.sh for this version of portal
XML configuration reference
Sample XML configuration files


Work with xmlaccess.sh

 


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