A WebCenter Configuration

The main configuration files for WebCenter applications are adf-config.xml and connections.xml. This appendix describes both these files, how to locate them, and also when to configure these files and which tools to use. Other configuration files, such as web.xml and webcenter-config.xml are described here too. See also, Section 1.3.5, "WebCenter Configuration Considerations."

This appendix also outlines how to tune configuration properties for the operating system on which WebCenter applications are installed, WebCenter applications, and their back-end components.

This appendix includes the following sections:

Section A.1, "Configuration Files"
Section A.2, "Cluster Configuration"
Section A.3, "Configuration Tools"
Section A.4, "Tuning Oracle WebCenter Performance"
Section A.5, "Troubleshooting WebCenter Application Configuration Issues"
Section A.6, "Troubleshooting WLST Command Issues"

A.1 Configuration Files

adf-config.xml, connections.xml, and web.xml are used to configure WebCenter applications and their back-end services. The webcenter-config.xml configuration file is specific to WebCenter Spaces and is used to configure application-wide settings.

This section describes how WebCenter applications use each file and the location of these files post deployment. This section includes the following subsections:

adf-config.xml and connections.xml
web.xml
webcenter-config.xml

A.1.1 adf-config.xml and connections.xml

adf-config.xml and connections.xml both store design time configuration information, such as the discussions server, mail server, or Oracle Content Server that is used by the WebCenter application in the development environment:

adf-config.xml - Stores application-level settings, such as which discussions server or mail server the WebCenter application is currently using.

See also, Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.
connections.xml - Stores connection details for WebCenter services.

See also, Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

After you deploy a WebCenter application to a production environment, Oracle recommends that you use Fusion Middleware Control or WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) commands to reconfigure properties in these files. For example, you may want to modify connection details to point to production server instances. See also, Appendix A, "Configuration Tools".

The main advantage of using Fusion Middleware Control and WLST commands is that any configuration changes that you make, post deployment, are stored as customizations in the WebCenter application's Oracle Metadata Services (MDS) repository. MDS uses the original deployed versions of adf-config.xml and connections.xml as base documents and stores all subsequent customizations separately into MDS using a single customization layer. If the application is redeployed in the future, all previous configuration changes are retained.

When a WebCenter application starts up, application customizations stored in MDS are applied to the appropriate base documents and the WebCenter application uses the merged documents (base documents with customizations) as the final set of configuration properties.

For information on MDS customizations, see "Understanding the MDS Repository" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

Reviewing Post Deployment Customizations in MDS

Post deployment, always use Fusion Middleware Control or WLST commands to review the latest configuration or make configuration changes. In Fusion Middleware Control you will mostly use WebCenter application configuration screens but a useful Systems MBean Browser is also available for reviewing configuration settings. These tools always show you the current configuration so, typically, there is no need for you to examine or change the content of base documents or MDS customization data for files such as adf-config.xml and connections.xml.

At times it might be useful to 'see' the information in MDS. If for any reason you must extract or examine configuration file customizations that are stored in MDS, use the WLST command exportMetadata.

A.1.2 web.xml

web.xml is a standard J2EE application deployment descriptor file and it is located in the /META-INF directory for your application. Typical run-time settings in web.xml include initialization parameters, custom tag library locations, and security settings.

Most web.xml properties are fairly static so they are specified for the application at design time. If you need to modify some properties in a deployed environment, you can edit most properties through the "Configure Web Modules" screen on the "Deployment Settings" page. See also, Figure 7-12 in Section 7.1.6.4, "Deploying Applications Using Fusion Middleware Control".

There are very few instances where you might be required to modify web.xml, for example, if you must change:

Content repository upload parameters: UPLOAD_MAX_MEMORY, UPLOAD_MAX_DISK_SPACE, and UPLOAD_TEMP_DIR. For details, see Section 11.12, "Changing the Maximum File Upload Size".

Note: In WebCenter Spaces, you use the uploadedFileMaxDiskSpace parameter in webcenter-config.xml to configure a maximum upload size for files. For details, see Appendix A, "webcenter-config.xml".
Time after which HTTP sessions expire. For details, see Appendix A, "Tuning Oracle WebCenter Performance".
JSP page timeout value. For details, see Appendix A, "Tuning Oracle WebCenter Performance".

Unlike connections.xml and adf-config.xml, web.xml does not store post deployment customizations in MDS. Also, you cannot use Fusion Middleware Control or WLST to modify web.xml in an existing WebCenter application deployment.

If you must modify settings in web.xml follow the appropriate instructions for your application:

Editing web.xml Properties for WebCenter Spaces
Editing web.xml Properties for WebCenter Portal Applications

A.1.2.1 Editing web.xml Properties for WebCenter Spaces

If specific web.xml properties need to be updated, open the WebCenter Spaces .ear file, edit web.xml, and repackage the .ear as follows:

Navigate to your WebCenter Oracle home directory.

Open the WebCenter Spaces .EAR file:

mkdir -p /tmp/my_ear
cd /tmp/my_ear
jar -xvf $WEBCENTER_HOME/archive/applications/webcenter.ear

mkdir war
cd war
jar -xvf ../spaces.war

Edit WEB-INF/web.xml and save the changes.

Create a modified .EAR file with the required web.xml properties.

cd /tmp/my_ear/war
jar -cvf ../spaces.war *
cd ..
rm -rf war

jar -cvf ../webcenter.ear *

Copy /tmp/webcenter.ear to $WEBCENTER_HOME/archive/applications/webcenter.ear.
Restart the WC_Spaces managed server.

At startup, this automatically deploys the newer application with the modified web.xml.

Caution:

Future WebCenter Spaces patches will overwrite this configuration change, so you must remember to repeat such configuration changes after patching, that is, you must obtain the latest webcenter.ear file and repeat these steps.

A.1.2.2 Editing web.xml Properties for WebCenter Portal Applications

Typically, when specific web.xml properties need to be modified, developers edit web.xml at design time, and regenerate the application's .EAR file to include the new values.

If this is not a viable option, you can open the current application .EAR file, edit web.xml, and repackage/redeploy the .EAR as described above for WebCenter Spaces, see Section A.1.2.1, "Editing web.xml Properties for WebCenter Spaces".

A.1.3 webcenter-config.xml

webcenter-config.xml is a WebCenter Spaces configuration file containing application-level settings, such as the application name and logo. webcenter-config.xml is created in MDS the first time you configure "General" settings through WebCenter Spaces Administration and most of the properties in the file are managed through WebCenter Spaces administration screens. For more information, see "Accessing WebCenter Spaces Administration Pages" and "Configuring Global Defaults" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.

There are very few instances where you might be required to manually modify settings in webcenter-config.xml, for example, if you must change the following entries:

<webcenter:uploadedFileMaxDiskSpace>2097152</webcenter:uploadedFileMaxDiskSpace>
  <webcenter:rememberLastAccessedPage>NEVER</webcenter:rememberLastAccessedPage>

Maximum file upload size - the default is 2MB.
Remember the last page accessed in a Space - by default, WebCenter Spaces does not remember the last page a user accesses in a Space, that is, when a user navigates to the Space the first page displays. For alternative options, see Section 9.8, "Controlling Last Page Accessed Behavior in WebCenter Spaces".

If you must modify settings in webcenter-config.xml, follow the steps below:

Export the latest webcenter-config.xml from MDS.

For example:

exportMetadata(application='webcenter', server='WC_Spaces', toLocation='/tmp/mydata', docs='/oracle/webcenter/webcenterapp/metadata/mdssys/cust/site/webcenter/webcenter-config.xml.xml')

Open the file in a text editor and modify settings, as required.

For example:

<webcenter:rememberLastAccessedPage>ACROSS_SESSIONS</webcenter:rememberLastAccessedPage> <webcenter:uploadedFileMaxDiskSpace>4194304</webcenter:uploadedFileMaxDiskSpace>

Save and close webcenter-config.xml.

Import the updated webcenter-config.xml file to WebCenter Spaces.

For example:

importMetadata(application='webcenter', server='WC_Spaces', fromLocation='/tmp/mydata', docs='/oracle/webcenter/webcenterapp/metadata/mdssys/cust/site/webcenter/webcenter-config.xml.xml')

A.2 Cluster Configuration

All post deployment configuration through Fusion Middleware Control, WLST, or the Systems MBean Browser is stored as customizations in the MDS repository. In a cluster environment, since the MDS repository is shared across all nodes, all WebCenter configuration changes done on one node are visible to all nodes in the cluster. To effect configuration changes that are not dynamic, all nodes in the cluster must be restarted. See also Section 8.2, "Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Application Deployments".

In WebCenter applications most configuration changes that you make, through Fusion Middleware Control or using WLST, are not dynamic. For example, when you add or modify connection details for WebCenter services (Analytics, Activity Graph, Announcements, Discussions, Documents, Events, Mail, Instant Messaging and Presence, Search, Worklists) you must restart the application's managed server.There are two exceptions; portlet producer and external application registration is dynamic. Any new portlet producers and external applications that you register are immediately available in your WebCenter application and any changes that you make to existing connections take effect immediately too.

If you edit configuration files in a cluster environment, then you must ensure that identical changes are made in each cluster member so that the overall cluster configuration remains synchronized.

A.3 Configuration Tools

Oracle offers a range of tools for configuring WebCenter application deployments. This section outline which tools ar e available.

Note:

Most of the WebCenter configuration parameters are immutable and cannot be changed at run time unless otherwise specified.

Post deployment, always use Fusion Middleware Control or WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) commands to review the latest configuration or make configuration changes. In Fusion Middleware Control you will mostly use WebCenter application configuration screens but a useful Systems MBean Browser is also available for reviewing and modifying configuration settings.

For more information about these tools, read:

These tools always show you the current configuration so, typically, there is no need for you to examine or manually change the content of configuration files or MDS customization data for files such as adf-config.xml or connections.xml. If you use the same MDS details when you redeploy the application, all configuration performed using these tools is preserved.

What Configuration Tool to Use

You can use any tool for post-deployment configuration. However, if you intend to repeat the configuration steps multiple times, for example, when provisioning newer instances or for automation, screen-based configuration using tools such as Fusion Middleware Control becomes less efficient. In such cases, Oracle highly recommends that you write WLST scripts to perform the required configuration.

All WebCenter configuration operations possible through Fusion Middleware Control are available using WebCenter's WLST commands. You can also use WLST scripts to configure other components, for example, to deploy applications, create managed servers, set MDS properties for an application, configure data sources, and so on. If you want help to automate domain configuration, you can record configuration actions in the WLS Administration Console as a series of WLST commands and then use WLST to replay the commands. For more details on this topic, see "Recording WLST scripts" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Introduction to Oracle WebLogic Server.

Tip:

Where Oracle documentation describes steps in the WLS Administration Console, consider automating the process using the "Record" option.

Another way to configure deployment specific properties is through the WebCenter application's deployment plan. Typical properties changed on deployment include:

Host/port properties for connections
Standard J2EE artifacts in web.xml

Note:

While reconfiguration is possible this way, any metadata repository and ADF connection configuration changes that you make are not saved as part of the deployment plan, that is, they are saved in the archive that is deployed. Therefore, your configuration changes must be repeated on subsequent redeployments.

If you redeploy your application multiple times, Oracle recommends that you use Fusion Middleware Control or WLST commands to perform your post-deployment configuration. This way, configurations changes are saved in MDS and remain intact on redeployment.

A.4 Tuning Oracle WebCenter Performance

Refer to the chapter "Oracle WebCenter Performance Tuning" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Performance and Tuning Guide for information on tuning the parameters listed in Table A-1:

Table A-1 WebCenter Performance Tuning

Performance Tuning	Parameters	File
Environment	System Limit
	JDBC Data Source (settings for `MDSDS` and `WebCenterDS`)
	JRockit virtual machine (JVM) arguments	`setDomainEnv.sh`
WebCenter Application	HTTP Session Timeout	`web.xml`
	JSP Page Timeout	`web.xml`
	ADF Client State Token	`web.xml`
	MDS Cache Size and Purge Rate	`adf-config.xml`
	Concurrency Management	`adf-config.xml`
	CRUD APIs (Create, Read, Update and Delete)	`adf-config.xml`
Back-end Components^Foot 1
Announcements Service	Connection Timeout	`connections.xml`
Discussions Service	Connection Timeout	`connections.xml`
Instant Messaging and Presence (IMP) Service	Connection Timeout	`connections.xml`
Mail Service	Connection Timeout	`connections.xml`
RSS News Feed Service	Refresh Interval	`adf-config.xml`
Search Service	Number of Saved Searches Displayed, Number of Results Displayed, various Timeouts	`adf-config.xml`
WSRP Producers	Connection Timeout	`connections.xml`
Oracle PDK-Java Producers	Connection Timeout	`connections.xml`
OmniPortlet	Connection Timeout	`connections.xml`
Portlet Service	Locale Support, Portlet Timeout, Portlet Cache Size	`adf-config.xml`

^Footnote 1Performance of back-end servers, for example, Worklists, Oracle Content Server, and so on, should be tuned as described in guidelines for those back-ends.

A.5 Troubleshooting WebCenter Application Configuration Issues

This section includes the following sub sections:

Section A.5.1, "WebCenter Does Not Display in the Application Deployment Menu in Fusion Middleware Control"
Section A.5.2, "Configuration Options Unavailable"
Section A.5.3, "Configuration Performed in One Application Reflects in Another"
Section A.5.4, "WebCenter Spaces Logs Indicate Too Many Open Files"

A.5.1 WebCenter Does Not Display in the Application Deployment Menu in Fusion Middleware Control

Problem

After logging into Fusion Middleware Control, you cannot find the WebCenter option in the Application Deployment menu.

Solution

Ensure the following:

Deployed application is an ADF application.

The WebCenter option does not display for applications that are not developed using ADF.
Deployed application is up and running.
Deployed application contains accurate information about the MDS repository and partition, and the MDS repository is accessible to the application. To verify this information, check the metadata-store-usages section in the adf-config.xml file. For information on MDS, see "Understanding the MDS Repository" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

Application is packaged with required artifacts to support configuration:

adf-jndi-config name space is configured in the application's adf-config.xml file. This is provisioned at design time. The following is an example (the text in bold) of the adf-jndi-config name space:

<adf-config xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/config"
     xmlns:jndiC="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/jndi/config"
     xmlns:ns2="http://xmlns.oracle.com/mds/config"
     xmlns:ns3="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/mds/config">
  ...
  ... 
</adf-config>

Appropriate listeners exist in the web.xml file to register the MBeans. This is provisioned at design time. For example, see the text in bold in the following snippet of the web.xml file:

<listener>
   <description>ADF Config MBeans</description>
   <display-name>ADF Config MBeans</display-name>
   <listener-class>oracle.adf.mbean.share.config.ADFConfigLifeCycleCallBack</listener-class>
</listener>
<listener>
    <description>ADF Connection MBeans</description>
    <display-name>ADF Connection MBeans</display-name>
    <listener-class>oracle.adf.mbean.share.connection.ADFConnectionLifeCycleCallBack</listener-class>
</listener>

MBeans are registered for the WebCenter application. To verify this:
1. In Fusion Middleware Control, from the Application Deployment menu, select System MBean Browser.
2. Locate connection MBeans for your application under Application Defined MBeans > oracle.adf.mbean.share.connection.
3. Similarly, locate adf-config MBeans for your application under Application Defined MBeans > oracle.adf.mbean.share.config. Figure A-1 shows how the Application Defined MBeans section looks in Fusion Middleware Control.
  
  If your application consumes producers, then locate the Producer Manager Mbean.
  
  Figure A-1 Application Defined MBeans
  
  Description of "Figure A-1 Application Defined MBeans"
Check the application's diagnostic logs, analyze messages for the modules oracle.adf.mbean.share.connection and oracle.adf.mbean.share.config, and determine what must be done.

A.5.2 Configuration Options Unavailable

Problem

When you try to configure a WebCenter application through Fusion Middleware Control, the following message displays:

Configuration options currently unavailable. The application application_name might be down, did not start-up properly, or is incorrectly packaged.
Check the log files for further details.

Solution

For information on how to resolve this issue, see Section A.5.1, "WebCenter Does Not Display in the Application Deployment Menu in Fusion Middleware Control."

A.5.3 Configuration Performed in One Application Reflects in Another

Problem

You configured a WebCenter application, but those configurations also show in another application.

Solution

This happens when multiple applications share the MDS partition in the same schema. To resolve this problem, deploy these applications again and ensure that each application uses its own MDS schema and partition combination. For information about creating a MDS repository or configuring an existing WebCenter application to use a different MDS repository or partition, see section "Managing the Oracle Metadata Repository" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

A.5.4 WebCenter Spaces Logs Indicate Too Many Open Files

Problem

WebCenter Spaces is inaccessible or displaying error messages and the diagnostic log files indicates that there is an issue with 'too many open files'.

Solution

Do the following:

Check the number of file handles configured on each of the back-end servers, primarily the database, and increase appropriately.
If the problem persists after increasing the file handles, check the value of fs.file-max in the /etc/sysctl.conf file and increase the value appropriately.

A.6 Troubleshooting WLST Command Issues

This section includes the following sub sections:

Section A.6.1, "None of the WebCenter WLST Commands Work"
Section A.6.2, "WLST Commands Do Not Work for a Particular Service"
Section A.6.3, "A Connection with the Name Connection_Name Already Exists"
Section A.6.4, "WLST Shell is Not Connected to the Oracle WebLogic Managed Server Instance"
Section A.6.5, "Application with the Same Name Already Exists in a Domain"
Section A.6.6, "Application with the Same Name Already Exists on a Managed Server"
Section A.6.7, "Already in Domain Runtime Tree Message Displays"

A.6.1 None of the WebCenter WLST Commands Work

Problem

You are unable to run any WLST commands.

Solution

Ensure the following:

Always run WebCenter WLST commands from your WebCenter Oracle home directory (WC_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin).

If you attempt to run WebCenter WLST commands from the wrong directory you will see a NameError.
No files other than Python are stored in the WLST source directory: WC_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst. This directory must contains files with the .py extension only.

The default set of files in this location contain legal Python files from Oracle. It is possible that a user copied some non-python script to this directory, for example, a backup file or a test python file with syntax errors.
webcenter-wlst.jar is located at WC_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst/lib.

A.6.2 WLST Commands Do Not Work for a Particular Service

Problem

You are unable to run WLST commands for a particular service, and therefore, you cannot configure that service.

Solution

First, run generic non-WebCenter commands, for example, listApplications() and displayMetricTableNames()to verify whether these commands work. If generic commands do not work, then apply the solution described in Section A.6.1, "None of the WebCenter WLST Commands Work."

If generic commands work, then run test commands to check WebCenter-specific commands for syntax errors. Run the appropriate WSLT check command (see Table A-2).

Table A-2 File Names and WLST Commands for WebCenter Service

Service Name	File Name	WLST Command
Activity Graph	`ActivityGraph.py`	`metadataAdminCheck()`
Activity Stream	`ActivityStream.py`	`asCheck()`
Analytics	`Analytics.py` `OpenUsage.py`	`analyticsCheck()` `openusageCheck()`
Discussions and Announcements	`Forum.pyJiveAdmin.py`	`fcpCheck()`
Documents	`Doclib.py`	`doclibCheck()`
External Applications	`ExtApp.py`	`extCheck()`
Space Events	`CommunityWLST.py`	`ceCheck()`
Instant Messaging and Presence	`Imp.py`	`rtcCheck()`
Mail	`Mail.py`	`mailCheck()`
Notifications	`Notification.py`	`notificationCheck()`
Personal Events	`Personal.py`	`peCheck()`
Producers
PDK-Java Producers	`Pdk.py`	`pdkCheck()`
WSRP Producers	`Wsrp.py`	`wsrpCheck()`
Pagelet Producers	`Ensemble.py`	`ensembleCheck()`
Producer Helper	`Producer.py`	`producerHelperCheck()`
RSS News Feed	`RSS.py`	`rssCheck()`
Search	`Ses.py`	`sesCheck()`
Worklist	`Bpel.py`	`bpelCheck()`
Export/Import - WebCenter application	`Lifecycle.py`	`lifecycleCheck()`
Export/Import - Spaces and Template	`ExtImp.py`	`expimpCheck()`
WebCenter - General
Service Framework	`WcServiceFwk.py`	`serviceFwkCheck()`
General Settings	`WebCenterGeneralSettings.py`	`generalSettingsCheck()`
WebCenter Spaces and SOA	`WebCenterSpacesSOA.py`	`spaceCheck()`

A.6.3 A Connection with the Name Connection_Name Already Exists

Problem

You are unable to create a connection with the name connection_name. The following message displays:

A connection with name Connection_Name already exists.

Solution

Connection names are unique across WebCenter applications. This error occurs when you try to create a connection with a name that is in use. Ensure that you use a unique name for your connection.

A.6.4 WLST Shell is Not Connected to the Oracle WebLogic Managed Server Instance

Problem

The WLST shell is not connected to the managed server on which you want to run WLST commands.

Solution

Run the following command to connect the WLST shell to the managed server:

connect(username, password , serverhost:serverport)

A.6.5 Application with the Same Name Already Exists in a Domain

Problem

You are unable to register a producer application. The following message displays:

Another application named "YourApplicationName" exists. Specify the Server on which your application is deployed. Use: server="YourServerName".

Solution

There are multiple applications with the same name in the domain in which you are trying to register your application. This usually happens in a cluster environment, where the same application is deployed to multiple managed servers. If this is the case, specify the name of the server in which you are trying to register this application. For example, run the registerWSRPProducer WLST command with the server argument:

registerWSRPProducer(appName='myApp', name='MyWSRPSamples',url='http://host:port/application_name/portlets/wsrp2?WSDL', server=server_name)

For command syntax and examples, see "registerWSRPProducer" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

A.6.6 Application with the Same Name Already Exists on a Managed Server

Problem

You are unable to register a producer application. The following message displays:

Another application named "application_name" exists on the server managedServerName.

Solution

There are multiple applications with the same name on the managed server in which you are trying to register your application. This usually happens when applications are assigned different versions. If this is the case, specify the version of the application you want to register. For example, run the registerWSRPProducer WLST command with the arguments server and applicationVersion:

registerWSRPProducer(appName='myApp', name='MyWSRPSamples',url='http://host:port/application_name/portlets/wsrp2?WSDL', 
server=server_name applicationVersion=version of the application)

For command syntax and examples, see "registerWSRPProducer" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

A.6.7 Already in Domain Runtime Tree Message Displays

Problem

While running a WLST command, the following message displays:

Already in Domain Runtime Tree

Solution

None required. This is for information only.