6 Getting Started with Oracle WebCenter Portal Components

This chapter describes how to configure your Oracle WebCenter Portal components to get them up and running and ready for use.

• About Oracle WebCenter Portal Components and Managed Servers
  When you install Oracle WebCenter Portal, the components that you choose to install are deployed to various default managed servers.
• Working with WebCenter Portal
  Oracle WebCenter Portal provides an out-of-the-box enterprise-ready customizable application called Portal Composer, also generally referred to as WebCenter Portal, with a configurable work environment that enables individuals and groups to work and collaborate more effectively.
• Understanding Automatic Service Configuration for WebCenter Portal
  WebCenter Portal supports automatic service configuration for certain tools and services.
• Working with Oracle WebCenter Portal's Analytics Collector
  Oracle WebCenter Portal's Analytics Collector supports the Analytics feature that enables users to display usage and performance metrics for portals. This topic describes how to begin working with Analytics Collector.

About Oracle WebCenter Portal Components and Managed Servers

When you install Oracle WebCenter Portal, the components that you choose to install are deployed to various default managed servers.

The following table lists the managed server and the port number on which Oracle WebCenter Portal components are deployed.

Table 6-1 Oracle WebCenter Portal Components and Managed Servers

Component	Managed Server	Port
WebCenter Portal (Portal Composer)	WC_Portal	8888

Working with WebCenter Portal

Oracle WebCenter Portal provides an out-of-the-box enterprise-ready customizable application called Portal Composer, also generally referred to as WebCenter Portal, with a configurable work environment that enables individuals and groups to work and collaborate more effectively.

To access WebCenter Portal:

1. Start the WC_Portal managed server.

2. Access WebCenter Portal using the following URL format: http://host:port/webcenter

   Where host:port refers to the host name and port number of the system where WebCenter Portal is installed. By default, WebCenter Portal is installed on port 8888.

3. Sign in to the WebCenter Portal as an administrator.

   Note:

   If you have specified any user other than weblogic as the domain administrator while creating your Oracle WebCenter Portal domain, then you must manually grant the administrator role to that nondefault user for WebCenter Portal. See Granting the WebCenter Portal Administrator Role in Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

For information about getting started with WebCenter Portal, see Getting WebCenter Portal Up and Running in Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Understanding Automatic Service Configuration for WebCenter Portal

WebCenter Portal supports automatic service configuration for certain tools and services.

Every time you start WebCenter Portal, it automatically tries to create connections for certain various tools and services, unless connections already exist. This section describes what services are automatically configured, how to verify that the automatic configuration succeeded, and how to deactivate automatic configuration if needed.

The following table lists the tools and services for which automatic service configuration is implemented.

Table 6-2 Connections Automatically Configured for WebCenter Portal

Component/Tool/Service	Default Connection Name
Worklists and WebCenter Portal workflows	WebCenterPortal-Worklist

For the listed WebCenter Portal connections to be automatically configured, the following general conditions must be met:

• WebCenter Portal and the target component must be installed in the same domain.

• The managed server of the target component must have an explicit listening address. If its listening address is empty or null or localhost, then it must have a system associated to it that has an explicit address. For information about listening address, see Configure Managed Servers in Creating WebLogic Domains Using the Configuration Wizard.

• The target component must not be deployed to a cluster.

• You must start the managed servers associated with the specified tool or service first. Then start the WC_Portal managed server.

If the target component has already been automatically configured on application startup, it will not be configured again regardless of the result (Fail or Success). Automatic connection configuration of a service fails if the target component does not pass the target component-specific rules. If the automatic configuration fails for a specific component, then you must manually configure the service. For information, refer to the required target component-specific section in this chapter.

Verifying Automatic Connection Configuration for Tools and Services

To verify that tools and services connections are automatically configured for WebCenter Portal when you start the managed servers:

1. Access the Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control Console using the following URL format: http://host_name.domain_name:port_number/em

   For example: http://myhost.mycompany.com:7001/em

2. Enter a valid administrator user name and password for the farm, and click Login.

3. Navigate as follows in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control:

   From the farm_wc_domain, click WebCenter and select WebCenter Portal from the Server tab.

   The WebCenter Portal home page displays the WebCenter Portal menu.

4. From the WebCenter Portal menu, select Settings, then select Service Configuration.

5. Select the different tools and services and verify that the tools and services that support Automatic Service Configuration are configured.

Disabling Automatic Service Configuration for WebCenter Portal

If required, you can disable the auto-configuration feature by setting the following Java property: -Dwebcenter.spaces.disableAutoConfigure=true

You can set this Java property in two ways:

• You can add the property to JAVA_PROPERTIES in DOMAIN_HOME/bin/setDomainEnv.sh (on UNIX) or DOMAIN_HOME\bin\setDomainEnv.cmd (on Windows).

• You can append it at the end of the script when starting up the WC_Portal managed server. For example: DOMAIN_HOME/bin/startManagedWebLogic.sh WC_Portal -Dwebcenter.spaces.disableAutoConfigure=true

Working with Oracle WebCenter Portal's Analytics Collector

Oracle WebCenter Portal's Analytics Collector supports the Analytics feature that enables users to display usage and performance metrics for portals. This topic describes how to begin working with Analytics Collector.

The Analytics feature requires the Analytics schema (ACTIVITIES) to be installed. By default, Analytics Collector is installed on the WC_Portal managed server on port 8888.

Out-of-the-box, the Analytics Collector is configured to receive events using installation defaults. However, WebCenter Portal is not configured to send events to the Analytics Collector. If you want to collect usage and performance metrics for WebCenter Portal, you must register the Analytics Collector and enable event collection. If Activity Graph is installed, the ACTIVITIES schema cannot be shared across applications.

To work with Oracle WebCenter Portal's Analytics Collector:

1. Start the WC_Portal managed server.
2. Register an Analytics Collector for your applications. See Managing Analytics in Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.