ReleaseBuilder
To generate or stage follow-on releases of IBM WebSphere Portal portals, configurations, and artifacts need to be moved between systems. ReleaseBuilder enables management of release configurations independent of user configurations.Release configuration data is exported to an XML file that can be imported using xmlaccess.sh. The differential files generated allow us to track which configuration entities were removed, added, or changed compared to the previous release generated from a given portal and to apply these differential updates to another portal. The diff file can be used to apply not only addition and update modifications but also deletions to the target server. This allows two portal servers, for example, a staging server and a production server, to remain in synch.
ReleaseBuilder supports a virtual portal mode that allows the generation of difference configurations for virtual portal scoped resources only. This mode allows us to stage virtual portals.
ReleaseBuilder is a configuration management tool. Do not use it for migration purposes.
Performance benefits
Massively parallel portal configuration tasks, for example hundreds of administrators working in parallel, can affect the user experience and portal performance. Such tasks can be distributed to independent portal systems. ReleaseBuilder, together with xmlaccess.sh, allows us to integrate the resulting configurations.
Usage notes
- ReleaseBuilder is installed when WebSphere Portal is installed along with xmlaccess.sh. We can run ReleaseBuilder on the production server, although it can impact the WebSphere Portal performance.
- Unlike xmlaccess.sh, ReleaseBuilder does not interact with the portal server runtime. You should run ReleaseBuilder on a separate, standalone machine. This system can be the staging system or a completely separate system where WebSphere Portal is installed.
- To maximize use of system resources, WebSphere Portal should not be running when executing ReleaseBuilder.
Parent: Updates using ReleaseBuilder