Administration Guide
This chapter describes how to manage the BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic repository (also called the server repository). It contains the following sections:
You use the Administration Console to configure and manage the server repository. You must log into the Administration Console with sufficient permissions to perform the necessary operations in the file system on which the server repository resides. For more information, see Security in Liquid Data.
This section describes the server repository. It contains the following parts:
The server repository is the central location for storing and sharing the following Liquid Data information:
The server repository provides a file system structure that organizes this information by category. Information is stored in separate folders in various formats. For example, stored queries are saved as XQ
files in the stored_queries
folder. You use the Administration Console to manage these folders and files, as well as to configure the server repository location.
Warning: Use the Repository tab on the Liquid Data node in the Administration Console—not file system commands or tools—to manage folders and files in the server repository.
By default, the server repository resides on a shared file system of the host Liquid Data server in the following location:
domainRootDir
/repositoryRootDir
domainRootDir
is the directory in which your Liquid Data domain files are locatedrepositoryRootDir
is the root directory of the server repositoryFor example, the Liquid Data sample server repository (installed with a full Liquid Data installation) is located in the following directory:
BEA_HOME/weblogic81/samples/domains/liquiddata/ldrepository
If you use the domain configuration wizard to create a Liquid Data and WebLogic Platform domain, the default repository directory created is as follows:
BEA_HOME/user_projects/domains/platform/domainName/ldrepository
You use the General tab on the Liquid Data node in the Administration Console to configure the root directory of the server repository. You can specify a relative path (relative to the current domain directory) or a fully-qualified path. If you specify a location that has an existing server repository, the existing server repository is not overwritten. For more information, see Configuring Liquid Data Server Settings.
You configure only one server repository per Liquid Data deployment. The server repository must reside on a shared volume so that others can access it. In a clustered environment, all managed Liquid Data servers must be configured to point to the same server repository on a shared volume, such as on the local file system of the Administration Server host machine. For more information, see "Clustered Deployments" in Deployment Tasks in the Deployment Guide.
The server repository root directory contains the following folders:
Custom functions library definition files ( |
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Java Archive (JAR) files containing the Java implementations of custom functions. For more information, see Using Custom Functions in the Application Developer's Guide and Configuring Access to Custom Functions. |
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Stored data view ( |
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Delimited files such as comma separated value (CSV) files. For more information, see Configuring Access to Delimited Files. |
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Not supported. Source document type definition ( |
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Exported Liquid Data configuration files. For more information, see Importing and Exporting Liquid Data Configurations. |
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Source and target schema ( |
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SQL Call Description Files. These files configure access to stored procedures and other SQL queries in a relational data source. For more information, see the stored procedure chapter of Building Queries and Data Views. |
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Stored query ( |
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Web Services Description Language ( |
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Application archive (EAR) files of Web Services that have been published through Liquid Data. For more information, see Generating and Publishing Web Services. |
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XML data files used as data sources for views and queries. For more information, see Configuring Access to XML Files. |
The server repository uses the underlying file system of the host machine. The server repository does not provide advanced features, however, such as file locking mechanisms or version control.
In a shared development environment, therefore, consider the implications of deleting, moving, or renaming files to which others or the Liquid Data Server require access. If possible, make server repository changes during idle periods to avoid file contention problems. In addition, consider implementing a third-party source control system to provide locking and version control for repository folders and files.
When deploying Liquid Data in a production environment, you can add items to the server repository without interrupting the run-time state of the system.
In general, the best approach is to populate and refine the server repository in a development environment, create a staging environment for testing and, when the repository is stable, then switch the staging server from development to production mode.
In a clustered environment, all managed Liquid Data servers must be configured to point to the same server repository on a shared volume, such as on the local file system of the Administration Server host machine. For more information, see "Clustered Deployments" in Deployment Tasks in the Deployment Guide.
To navigate to the Repository tab on the Liquid Data node:
The Administration Console displays the contents of the root directory of the server repository. For more information, see Server Repository Location.
Figure 18-2 Repository Tab on the Liquid Data Node
You browse the server repository by navigating the file system hierarchy. When you click the Repository tab, the Administration Console displays the root directory of the server repository.
Note: You must log into the Administration Console with at least read
access to browse items in the server repository. For more information, see Defining Liquid Data Roles and Groups.
To navigate to a folder on the Repository tab:
To navigate to a parent folder on the Repository tab:
To perform an operation on a folder or file in the repository:
This section describes how to work with folders and files in the server repository. It contains the following parts:
Note: In this section, the term item refers to both folders and files.
You can download server repository files, stored on a remote server, to a local system. You might want to download files to retrieve a local copy for editing purposes. After changing the local copy of the file, you can then upload it to the remote server again, as described in Uploading Files to the Server Repository.
Note: You must log into the Administration Console with at least read
access to download files from the server repository. For more information, see Defining Liquid Data Roles and Groups.
To download a file from the server repository:
You can upload files to the server repository that you have created or modified locally, such as XML schemas or custom function library definition (CFLD
) files.
Note: You must log into the Administration Console with at least modify
access to upload files to the server repository. For more information, see Defining Liquid Data Roles and Groups.
To upload a file to the server repository:
The Administration Console prompts you to specify the name of a local file to upload (see Table 18-4).
You can create sub-folders in any folder in the server repository. For example, you might create sub-folders in the stored_queries
directory to define a hierarchy of stored queries for different types of users. You could create a sub-folder named hr_queries
to contain stored queries for confidential personnel data, and another folder named sales_queries
to contain stored queries for sales data. Once created, you can assign separate security policies to each folder to ensure that only authorized users can access these queries, as described in Assigning Security Policies to Liquid Data Objects.
Note: You must log into the Administration Console with at least modify
access to create a folder. For more information, see Defining Liquid Data Roles and Groups.
To create a folder in the server repository:
The Administration Console prompts you to specify a folder name (see Table 18-5).
You can copy files from one location in the server repository and paste them in a different location or in the same location with different names.
Note: You must log into the Administration Console with at least read
access to the source folder and modify
access to the target folder. For more information, see Defining Liquid Data Roles and Groups.
The Administration Console prompts you to specify the target file name (see Table 18-6).
You can rename files or folders in the server repository. You might want to rename items if, for example, you wanted to assign new names to files or folders that you copied from another location.
Note: You must log into the Administration Console with at least modify
access to rename an item. For more information, see Defining Liquid Data Roles and Groups.
Note: You cannot rename any of the default repository folders—only sub-folders that have been created within them, according to the instructions in Creating Sub-Folders.
The Administration Console prompts you to specify a different name (see Table 18-7).
The Administration Console renames the selected item with the name you specified.
You can delete folders and files from the server repository that you no longer need. You can delete only empty folders, so if you want to delete a folder, you must first delete its contents.
Notes: You must log into the Administration Console with at least modify
access to delete an item. For more information, see Defining Liquid Data Roles and Groups.
To delete items from the server repository:
Note: You cannot delete any of the default repository folders—only sub-folders that have been created within them, which is described in Creating Sub-Folders.
The Administration Console deletes the specified file or folder and removes it from the file system.
Notes: If you delete a stored query for which caching is enabled, Liquid Data also deletes any cached results. For more information, see Configuring the Query Results Cache.
You must explicitly configure security for all items to which you want to limit access in the server repository. To configure security, you assign permissions to folders and files using security policies. You might want to assign security policies to folders, individual files, or for sub-folders in the default folders. For details on using security in Liquid Data, see Security in Liquid Data.
Permissions determine the tasks that users can perform on server repository items in the Data View Builder and the Administration Console. Users must be logged in with the following permissions:
Perform the following steps to assign security policies to a repository item:
You can configure the result cache for individual stored queries. Before you configure results caching, it must be explicitly enabled in the Cache Results field on the General tab on the Liquid Data node, as described in Configuring Liquid Data Server Settings. For more information about the results cache and the Cache tab on the Liquid Data node, see Configuring the Query Results Cache.