Roadmap: Portlet and theme development environment

A portlet and theme development server is ideal to develop and test portlets and themes.

Who should use this roadmap

Use this roadmap if you are an organization that needs an environment to develop and test your portlets and themes before you go live to the server. Do not use this roadmap to develop web content. Go to Roadmap: Web content servers to develop web content.

Topology diagram

The topology for a portlet and theme environment is the same as the demonstration environment. It includes a portal server with a local database. However, the software configuration is different. The topology diagram depicts a portal server that is connected to a code repository for group development. While the topology diagram depicts a server, the portlet and theme environment might be configured on a notebook.

Portal server with a local database and a code repository.

Installing prerequisites

Before you install HCL Portal, install any prerequisites that are necessary for your environment. You can use existing prerequisite software installations. Verify that your existing version is supported. If it does not, upgrade to the appropriate version.

Procedure

  1. Prepare a database server.
  2. Prepare a user registry.

Installing the Exceptional Digital Experience

Installing HCL Digital Experience involves preparing your operating system, installing or upgrading the installation manager, and running the installation program.

About this task

Documentation resource: Installing HCL Digital Experience software

Applying the latest cumulative fix

Portal maintenance is delivered through two mechanisms: individual fixes (iFixes) and combined cumulative fixes. iFixes are provided, when necessary, for severe or security-related bugs. Combined cumulative fixes are delivered on a regular schedule. They provide a mechanism to deliver fixes faster, improve existing features, deliver new features, update documentation, and provide new documentation on a frequent basis. To deliver continuous improvements for your digital experience software, it is recommended that you apply the latest Combined Cumulative Fix to your environment.

About this task

Documentation resource: Roadmap: Applying maintenance

Transferring your database

After you install your web experience, Apache Server is your available database. Depending on your requirements, you might need to transfer to a different database. The Database Transfer configuration option in the Configuration Wizard assigns users and permissions, creates databases, obtains support for database collation, and transfers your database.

Before you begin

Log in to HCL Digital Experience to verify that you have a working portal:
http://hostname.example.com:10039/wps/portal,
where hostname.example.com is the fully qualified host name of the server where
Portal is running and 10039 is the default transport port that is created by WebSphere® Application Server. The port number might be different
for your environment.

Procedure

  1. To get the latest updates for the wizard, apply the most recent Combined Cumulative Fix. For more information about applying the latest fix pack, see HCL Portal and Web Content Manager Combined Cumulative Fix strategy.
    Note: Skip this step, if you have the most recent fix pack applied.
  2. Access the Configuration Wizard. Go to http://your_server:10200/hcl/wizard.
    Note: If working with HCL Digital Experience 8.5 or 9 software level prior to CF18, the wizard address will be: http://your_server:10200/ibm/wizard. After installing CF18, the configuration wizard will automatically be adjusted to http://your_server:10200/hcl/wizard.
    Restriction: There is a known issue with Chrome version 45.x and the Configuration Wizard. If you are experiencing difficulties, use a different browser when you access the wizard.
  3. Log in to the Configuration Wizard with the administrative ID for the configuration wizard profile, cw_profile.
    Note: The wizard user interface might not be available in all languages. If the language is not currently supported, you might see the English version.
  4. Select Set Up a Stand-alone Server > Database Transfer.
  5. Provide information about your environment.
  6. Save your configuration settings.
  7. Choose one of the following options:
    • Click Download Files to run the steps remotely.
    • Click Run All Steps to run the steps locally.
  8. Optional: If you want to shorten your site URL for search engine optimization benefits, you can modify your context root and remove navigational state information from your URL by using the Modify Site URLs for Search Engine Optimization configuration option.
  9. Log in to HCL Digital Experience to verify that you have a working portal server.

Enabling federated security

After you install your web experience, a default file-based repository is your available user registry. Depending on your requirements, you might need to enable a federated LDAP user registry.

About this task

Note: If you set Use Administrator IDs stored in your LDAP user registry to yes, the WebSphere® Application Server and HCL Portal user IDs and passwords are changed to the LDAP user ID and password. If you do not want to change both user IDs and passwords to match the LDAP user ID and password, set this value to no. After you configure your LDAP user registry, you can manually change the user IDs and passwords.

Procedure

  1. To get the latest updates for the wizard, apply the most recent Combined Cumulative Fix. For more information about applying the latest fix pack, see HCL Portal and Web Content Manager Combined Cumulative Fix strategy.
    Note: Skip this step, if you have the most recent fix pack applied.
  2. Access the Configuration Wizard. Go to http://your_server:10200/hcl/wizard.
    Note: If working with HCL Digital Experience 8.5 or 9 software level prior to CF18, the wizard address will be: http://your_server:10200/ibm/wizard. After installing CF18, the configuration wizard will automatically be adjusted to http://your_server:10200/hcl/wizard.
    Restriction: There is a known issue with Chrome version 45.x and the Configuration Wizard. If you are experiencing difficulties, use a different browser when you access the wizard.
  3. Log in to the Configuration Wizard with the administrative ID for the configuration wizard profile, cw_profile.
    Note: The wizard user interface might not be available in all languages. If the language is not currently supported, you might see the English version.
  4. Select Set Up a Stand-alone Server > Enable Federated Security.
    Note: If you set Use Administrator IDs stored in your LDAP user registry to yes, the WebSphere® Application Server and HCL Portal user IDs and passwords are changed to the LDAP user ID and password. If you do not want to change both user IDs and passwords to match the LDAP user ID and password, set this value to no. After you configure your LDAP user registry, you can manually change the user IDs and passwords.
  5. Provide information about your environment.
  6. Save your configuration settings.
  7. Choose one of the following options:
    • Click Download Files to run the steps remotely.
    • Click Run All Steps to run the steps locally.
  8. Log in to HCL Digital Experience to verify that you have a working portal server.

Tuning the servers in your environment

Tuning the servers is important to the performance of your portal environment. HCL Digital Experience is not tuned for a production environment after installation and deployment. Your database needs tuning for improved performance. You can organize your database now or soon after you finish your configuration. You need to tune and maintain your database on a regular basis.

Procedure

Run the performance tuning tool to complete an initial tuning of your servers.