Creating an authoring server

You can run an authoring server on a separate system or machine partition from your production server.

Procedure

  1. Install WebSphere Commerce and its supporting software by using the custom installation option of the WebSphere Commerce installation wizard.
  2. Perform one of the following tasks:
    • If you have a production server available:
      1. Ensure that you can connect from the WebSphere Commerce authoring server node to the production database.
      2. DB2Catalog the remote production database so that it is accessible from your authoring server.
      3. Ensure that you have the following information about your production server available:
        • Database name

          DB2The database name must be the database name as cataloged on the authoring server.

        • Database user name (user ID)
        • Database user password
        • Oracle Fully qualified database server host name
        • OracleDatabase server port

        You might need to provide a name for the JDBC data source that is created for the production database.

        This information is used to create a data source that is used by the quick publish function in workspaces.

    • If you do not have a production server available, ensure that you record the database information that you enter on the Database and Schema pages of the Instance Creation wizard. You need this information in order to complete the Staging page of the Instance Creation wizard.

      When you have a production server available, you can update the authoring server with the production server information by following the instructions in Updating the quick publish target.

  3. Optional: DB2 If you plan to use custom table spaces with workspaces on your authoring server, update the workspace enablement code. You must update this code to output the workspace creation SQL/DDL and defer the workspace creation until the instance creation is complete.
    1. Go to the WC_eardir/components/Workspaces/xml directory.
    2. Back up the configureWorkspaces.xml file.
    3. Open the configureWorkspaces.xml for editing.
    4. Within the file, find the CreateWorkspaceDBMS target.
    5. Edit the generateSQLStatementsOnly attribute to set the attribute value to true.
    6. Record the value of the generateSQLStatementsOutputFile property.
    After you create your WebSphere Commerce instance, you must complete step 5.
  4. Create a WebSphere Commerce instance:
    1. Start the WebSphere Commerce Instance Creation wizard.
    2. Complete the pages of the wizard.
    3. On the Staging page of the wizard, ensure that you select Use staging server and Enable workspaces. If you do not select these check boxes, the resulting WebSphere Commerce instance is a production WebSphere Commerce instance. For information about how to complete the other fields on the Staging page, click Help.

    When the instance creation process is complete, you have an empty authoring server instance.

  5. Optional: DB2 If you updated the workspace enablement code to support the use of custom table spaces on your authoring server, modify the generated workspace creation SQL/DDL. Modify the SQL/DDL to update any CREATE table statements to reference your custom table spaces.
    1. Locate the file that is specified by the value of the generateSQLStatementsOutputFile property in the configureWorkspaces.xml that you recorded.
    2. Open the file for editing.
    3. Update the CREATE table statements in the file to reference your custom table spaces.
    4. Save and close the file.
    5. Apply the file against your database to complete your workspace creation.
  6. If a production server is available:
    1. Open the WebSphere Commerce configuration file in a text editor.
    2. Find the ManagedFileUpdateEARConfiguration tag.

      The ManagedFileUpdateEARConfiguration tag resembles the following text:

      
<ManagedFileUpdateEARConfiguration display="false">
   <ContentManagedFileEARUpdate Implementation="com.ibm.commerce.filepublish.util.ContentManagedFileEARUpdateImpl" />
   <ContentManagedFileHandler Implementation="com.ibm.commerce.filepublish.util.ContentManagedFileHandlerImpl" />
   <ProductionServerInformation applicationName="WC_demo" />
   <ModuleInformation moduleName="Stores.war" />
   <EvaluationCriteria minNumOfFilesForUpdate="10"
                       minSecFromLastUpload="3600" />
</ManagedFileUpdateEARConfiguration>
    3. Update the ProductionServerInformation and ModuleInformation tags:
      ProductionServerInformation
      Specify the WebSphere Commerce application name on the production server in the applicationName parameter. The WebSphere Commerce application name is WC_enterprise_application.
      ModuleInformation
      Specify the module name for your store in the moduleName parameter. The usual name for the stores module name is Stores.war. This name is unlikely to change unless you have extensive customization.
    4. Save your changes.
    5. Propagate your changes to the WebSphere Commerce configuration file.
  7. Configure the authoring database and the production database for use with the staging utilities.
  8. Synchronize the new, empty authoring server instance with your production server.
  9. Optional: Enable e-mail notification in workspaces.

    Enabling email notification in workspaces allows WebSphere Commerce to sent email automatically in the following situations:

    • Workspace Content Contributors receive email notification when a task they are assigned is part of a task group that is activated.
    • Task Group Approvers receive email notification when a task group for which they are an approver is ready for approval.
    • Workspace Content Contributors receive email notification if a task group approval request is rejected and their assigned tasks are reactivated.
  10. Create users and assign the users Workspace Manager, Workspace Content Contributor or Task Group Approver roles.
  11. Stop and restart the authoring server instance.