2 Getting WebCenter Portal Up and Running

This chapter describes the roles and responsibilities of system administrators to get WebCenter Portal up and running.

This chapter includes the following topics:

System administrators working with Portal Framework applications, should refer to Chapter 4, "Getting Portal Framework Applications Up and Running."

Permissions:

To perform the tasks in this chapter, you must be granted the following roles:

  • WebLogic Server: Admin role granted through the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console.

    Users with this role are also known as Fusion Middleware administrators.

  • WebCenter Portal: Administrator role granted through Portal Builder Administration.

    Users with this role are also known as WebCenter Portal administrators.

See also, Section 1.8, "Understanding Administrative Operations, Roles, and Tools."

2.1 Role of the System Administrator

Oracle Fusion Middleware provides a single administrative role with complete administrative capabilities—the Admin role. System administrators with this role can perform the complete range of security-sensitive administrative duties, and all installation, configuration, and audit tasks. This administrator is also responsible for setting up and configuring WebCenter Portal immediately after installation, and performing on-going administrative tasks for WebCenter Portal and other Oracle WebCenter Portal components. This administrator is sometimes known as the Fusion Middleware administrator.

During installation, a single system administrator account is created named weblogic. The password is the one provided during installation.

Use this administrator account to log in to the Fusion Middleware Control Console and WebCenter Portal, and assign administrative privileges to other users:

To find out what other tasks system administrators must do to get WebCenter Portal up and running, follow the steps listed under Table 2-1, "Roadmap - Setting Up WebCenter Portal for the First Time".

To find out what system administrator can do to customize WebCenter Portal out-of-the-box, follow the Table 2-2, "Roadmap - Customizing WebCenter Portal for the First Time".

Note:

System administrators are also responsible for all on-going administrative tasks, for details see Section 3.2, "System Administration for WebCenter Portal (Roadmap) ."

2.2 Installing WebCenter Portal

WebCenter Portal installation is described in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal.

2.3 Setting Up WebCenter Portal for the First Time (Roadmap)

The flow chart depicted in Figure 2-1 and Table 2-1 in this section provide an overview of the tasks required to get WebCenter Portal up and running.

Figure 2-1 Setting Up WebCenter Portal for the First Time

Description of Figure 2-1 follows Install WebCenter Portal Start Node Manager Start the managed servers Log in to WebCenter Portal as the default administrator Grant administrative privileges to others Add/modify connections to back-end components External applications Pagelet producer WSRP producers Oracle PDK-Java producers Connect back-end severs to the same identity store as WebCenter Portal Configure single sign-on Configure SSL Configure WS-Security Workflows Notification message channel Search crawlers Search settings RSS news feeds Restart WC_Spaces, the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed Set global options and customize WebCenter Portal Grant application roles
Description of "Figure 2-1 Setting Up WebCenter Portal for the First Time"

Table 2-1 Roadmap - Setting Up WebCenter Portal for the First Time

Actor Task Sub-task Notes

Fusion Middleware Administrator

1. Verify your WebCenter Portal installation

1.a Install WebCenter Portal

1.b Start Node Manager

1.c Start the managed servers

1.d Log in to WebCenter Portal as the default administrator

1.e Giving a User Administrative Privileges

  

Fusion Middleware

Administrator

2. Add/modify connections to back-end components using either of the following tools:

  • Fusion Middleware Control

  • WLST

  

Back-end components may include:

Fusion Middleware Administrator

3. Connect external applications and portlet producers using either of the following tools:

  • Fusion Middleware Control

  • WLST

  

Portlet producers may include:

Fusion Middleware Administrator

4. Connect back-end severs to the same identity store WebCenter Portal

  

Back-end servers may include:

  • Oracle WebCenter Content Server

  • Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

  • BPEL server

  • Discussions server

  • Presence server

Fusion Middleware Administrator

5. Secure communication with WebCenter Portal

5.a Configure single sign-on

5.b Configure SSL

5.c Configure WS-Security

  

Fusion Middleware Administrator

6. (Optional) Configure system options for WebCenter Portal:

    

Fusion Middleware Administrator

7. Restart WC_Spaces, the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed

    

WebCenter Portal Administrator

8. Log in to WebCenter Portal

    

WebCenter Portal Administrator

9. Set global options and customize WebCenter Portal

    

WebCenter Portal Administrator

10. Assigning Users (and Groups) to Roles

    

Footnote 1 Auto-configured out-of-the-box

2.4 Customizing WebCenter Portal for the First Time (Roadmap)

The roadmap in Table 2-2 outlines the tasks that a WebCenter Portal administrator might perform to customize WebCenter Portal for a new target audience.

Table 2-2 Roadmap - Customizing WebCenter Portal for the First Time

Task Documentation Actor

1. Log in to WebCenter Portal

Log in to WebCenter Portal with administrative privileges and access the administration pages:

Tips:

WebCenter Portal URL is http://<host>:<port>/webcenter

Portal Builder Administration URL is http://host:port/webcenter/portal/builder/administration

WebCenter Portal Admin

2. Customize WebCenter Portal

Customize WebCenter Portal to suit your audience. Choose a name and logo for your application, apply a corporate brand, set language options, choose default portals, default assets, and more. For details, see:

WebCenter Portal Admin

3. Determine self-registration policy

Establish your policy regarding new user registration. Allow users outside of the WebCenter Portal community to self -register on an invitation-only basis or extend self-registration to the public:

WebCenter Portal Admin

4. Plan the public user experience

First impressions are extremely important. Determine the content displayed on your Welcome page and the appearance of WebCenter Portal before users login:

WebCenter Portal Admin

5. Create roles and delegate responsibilities to other users

Create roles to characterize groups of users and determine what they can see and do in WebCenter Portal. Manage and assign roles for any user in the identity store:

WebCenter Portal Admin

6. Customize the Home portal

Design the default Home portal for WebCenter Portal users. Give them instant access to important information and applications relevant to their roles:

Encourage or enforce a consistent look and feel through default page schemes and default page templates:

WebCenter Portal Admin

7. Set up discussion forums and announcements

Configure default options for discussion forums and announcements:

WebCenter Portal Admin

8. Set up people connection components

Configure defaults for activity streams, personal profiles, connections, messages boards, and feedback:

WebCenter Portal Admin

9. Set up mail notifications

Configure default options for everyone's mail:

WebCenter Portal Admin

10. Provide ready-made portals and portal templates

Users can create and manage their own portals without centralized administration. Give them a head-start by creating templates for the types of workspaces and communities they are likely to build:

WebCenter Portal Admin