16 Managing the SOA Connection for WebCenter Portal Membership Workflows

Configure and manage the SOA connection for membership workflow notifications from WebCenter Portal to appear in Oracle BPM Worklist.

Always use Fusion Middleware Control or WLST command-line tool to review and configure back-end servers for WebCenter Portal. Any changes that you make to WebCenter Portal post-deployment are stored in MDS metadata store as customizations.

Note:

Changes that you make to the SOA connection through Fusion Middleware Control or using WLST are not dynamic, so you must restart the managed server on which WebCenter Portal is deployed for your changes to take effect. See Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Portal Application Deployments.

Permissions:

To perform the tasks in this chapter, you must be granted the WebLogic Server Admin role through the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console and the Administrator role in the deployed application:

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

For more information about roles and permissions, see Understanding Administrative Operations, Roles, and Tools.

For troubleshooting issues with BPM worklists, see Email Notifications Not Working

Topics:

• Configuration Roadmap for WebCenter Portal Workflows

• About BPEL Connections

• BPEL Server Prerequisites

• Specifying the BPEL Server Hosting WebCenter Portal Workflows

• Configuring WebCenter Portal Workflow Notifications to be Sent by Email

• Excluding Webcenter Portal Workflows URL in OAM

16.1 Configuration Roadmap for WebCenter Portal Workflows

Table 16-1 in this section provides an overview of the prerequisites and tasks required to use Oracle BPM Worklist in WebCenter Portal.

Table 16-1 Configuring Workflows for WebCenter Portal

Actor	Task	Link
Administrator	1. Install WebCenter Portal and Oracle SOA Suite	Preparing to Install and Configure Oracle WebCenter Portal in Installing and Configuring Oracle WebCenter Portal Preparing to Install and Configure Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management in Installing and Configuring Oracle SOA Suite and Business Process Management
Administrator	2. Create the BPEL connection and enable the WebCenter Portal Workflow using either: Fusion Middleware Control WLST: Use createBPELConnection to create the BPEL connection and setSpacesWorkflowConnectionName to enable the workflow	Fusion Middleware Control: Specifying the BPEL Server Hosting WebCenter Portal Workflows. WLST: createBPELConnection and setBPELConnection in WebCenter WLST Command Reference Reference.
Administrator	3. Deploy the WebCenter Portal workflows: sca_CommunityWorkflows.jar, which is available at /Oracle_Home/wcportal/common/soa-composite/wcp/ WebCenterWorklistDetailApp.ear, which is available at Oracle_Home/wcportal/webcenter/applications/WebCenterWorklistDetailApp.ear Note: During the SOA installation, if you select the option Oracle Webcenter Portal Composites - 12.2.1.0 [wcportal] on the Templates page, WebCenterWorklistDetailApp.ear gets deployed.	Deploying and Managing SOA Composite Applications in Administering Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite
Administrator	4. Configure the BPEL server to use the same identity store as WebCenter Portal	Configuring the Identity Store
Administrator	5. Secure the connection to the BPEL server 5.a (Optional) Configure Single Sign-On If using OAM R2 or later, exclude Webcenter Portal Workflows URL 5.b Configure WS-Security 5.c (Optional) Configure SSL	5.a Configuring Single Sign-On If using OAM R2 or later:Excluding Webcenter Portal Workflows URL in OAM 5.bConfiguring Web Services Security 5.cConfiguring SSL
End User	6. Test that the integration to the Oracle BPM Worklist application is working in WebCenter Portal 6.a In WebCenter Portal, create a portal and invite members. 6.b Log in to Oracle BPM Worklist and view the worklist items. 6.c Select the invitation worklist item and click Accept. 6.d Log out and then log in as the portal manager and view the Members tab. Confirm that the user is now a member in the selected role and the status is not set to Invited anymore.	6.a Managing Members and Assigning Roles in a Portal in Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal. 6.c Using Oracle BPM Worklist in Developing SOA Applications with Oracle SOA Suite 6.d Inviting a Registered User in Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal.

16.2 About BPEL Connections

Consider the following while working with BPEL connections:

• By configuring a default BPEL server, WebCenter Portal users can manage memberships through notifications that can be viewed in the SOA BPM worklist. For more information, see Using Oracle BPM Worklist in Developing SOA Applications with Oracle SOA Suite.

• WebCenter Portal workflows require a single connection to the BPEL server included with the Oracle SOA Suite. For more information, see Specifying the BPEL Server Hosting WebCenter Portal Workflows.

16.3 BPEL Server Prerequisites

Consider the following to ensure smooth functioning of worklists:

• Make sure that the Oracle BPM Worklist application is part of the SOA server. The URL is in the following format:

  http://host:port/integration/worklistapp
  

  If Oracle BPM Worklist is not running in the same domain as the Oracle SOA Suite BPEL server, then the identity store (LDAP) should be either shared (recommended) or contain identical user names.

• Clocks on the WebCenter managed server and the Oracle SOA Suite BPEL's managed server must be synchronized such that the SAML authentication condition, NotBefore, which checks the freshness of the assertion, is not breached.

• No configuration-related exceptions must exist. Use the WLST command listWorklistConnections to display the configured connections and validate the connection details. After listing the connections, validate them using the URL property appended with /integration/worklistapp. Hence, verify that http://host:port/integration/worklistapp can access the Oracle BPM Worklist application.

• If the Oracle SOA Suite BPEL's managed server is configured to use an identity store and that store does not contain BPMWorkflowAdmin, weblogic by default, then the BPMWorkflowAdmin user must be configured, as described in Enabling the weblogic User for Logging in to the Worklist in Developing SOA Applications with Oracle SOA Suite

• The wsm-pm application must be running on both worklists and Oracle SOA Suite's BPEL server's managed servers without any issues. This can be validated through the URL:

  http://host:port/wsm-pm/validator
  

For information on how to resolve BPEL server issues, see Troubleshooting WebCenter Portal Workflows.

This section includes the following subsections:

• BPEL Server - Installation and Configuration

• BPEL Server - Security Considerations

16.3.1 BPEL Server - Installation and Configuration

WebCenter Portal uses the BPM Worklists on the Oracle BPEL Process Manager (BPEL) server, which is included with Oracle SOA Suite.

To work with worklist, you must install Oracle SOA Suite. For information about how to install Oracle SOA Suite, see Preparing to Install and Configure Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management in Installing and Configuring Oracle SOA Suite and Business Process Management.

After installing Oracle SOA Suite, you can configure WebCenter Portal to use the BPEL server for viewing and managing worklists.

16.3.2 BPEL Server - Security Considerations

Worklists display tasks for the currently authenticated user. For portal users to store and retrieve tasks on an Oracle SOA Suite BPEL server, their user names must either exist in a shared user directory (LDAP), or be set up similarly on both the BPEL Server and WebCenter Portal.

For example, if the user rsmith wants to store and retrieve tasks from the BPEL server, you must ensure that the user rsmith exists on both the BPEL server and within WebCenter Portal.

To access BPEL worklist task details sent from WebCenter Portal, without incurring additional login prompts, WebCenter Portal and Oracle SOA Suite servers must be configured to a shared Oracle Single Sign-On server.

For a secure connection you can configure WS-Security between SOA and WebCenter Portal.

16.4 Specifying the BPEL Server Hosting WebCenter Portal Workflows

WebCenter Portal uses the BPEL server included with the Oracle SOA Suite to host internal workflows, such as worklists, portal membership notifications, portal subscription requests, and so on. To enable workflow functionality for WebCenter Portal, a connection to this BPEL server is required.

Note:

WebCenter Portal workflows must be deployed on the SOA managed server that WebCenter Portal is configured to use. Also, keep the following points in mind:

• WebCenter and BPEL should be in same domain.
• Both WebCenter and BPEL should be front ended with OHS.
• The context path for WebCenter and BPEL should be same.

To configure a connection for worklist notifications:

1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control, and navigate to the home page for WebCenter Portal.
2. From the WebCenter Portal menu, select Settings, then Application Configuration.

   Figure 16-1 WebCenter Portal Application Configuration Menu

   
   Description of "Figure 16-1 WebCenter Portal Application Configuration Menu"

   The Application Settings page opens.

   Figure 16-2 Choosing the BPEL Server Where Workflows are Deployed

   
   Description of "Figure 16-2 Choosing the BPEL Server Where Workflows are Deployed"
3. In the BPEL SOAP URL field, specify the name of the SOA server for worklists.

   The SOA server name that you specify here will contain the BPM worklists for WebCenter Portal.

4. Select Enable WebCenter Portal Workflows.
5. Click Apply.
6. Restart WC_Portal, the managed server on which the WebCenter Portal application is deployed, to effect this change.

16.5 Configuring WebCenter Portal Workflow Notifications to be Sent by Email

WebCenter Portal provides human workflows (requiring human interaction), which are integrated with SOA workflows. The SOA server can configure email so that notifications are delivered to a user's inbox, where the user can accept or reject the notification.

This section briefly explains how to enable email notifications and configure your mail server details to have WebCenter Portal workflow notifications sent to users by email. For a more detailed description, see Configuring Human Workflow Notification Properties in Administering Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite.

1. Use Fusion Middleware Control to update SOA to enable email notifications. Under the SOA server, select SOA Administration, then Workflow Properties, as shown in the figure.

   Figure 16-3 SOA Administration - Workflow Config

   
   Description of "Figure 16-3 SOA Administration - Workflow Config"
2. With Email selected as the Notification Mode, provide valid email accounts to use.

   Figure 16-4 Email Notification Mode Properties

   
   Description of "Figure 16-4 Email Notification Mode Properties"
3. Click Go to the Messaging Driver page.
4. Select the Configure Driver icon for your User Messaging Email Driver.

   Figure 16-5 Associated Drivers

   
   Description of "Figure 16-5 Associated Drivers"
5. To configure your email driver for notifications, see Configuring an Email Driver for Notifications in Using Oracle Managed File Transfer.
6. After you finish, save the configuration updates and restart the SOA managed server. (No configuration or restart is required for WebCenter Portal.)
   When a user is invited to join a portal, they are sent an email including Accept or Reject links to the invitation.

   Note:

   To test notifications, in the portal administration settings Members page, you can add people and edit email notification messages. For more information, see Managing Members and Assigning Roles in a Portal in Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal.

16.6 Excluding Webcenter Portal Workflows URL in OAM

When the Oracle SOA Suite BPEL server is configured to use OAM 11g R2 or later, WebCenter Portal Workflows endpoints need to be excluded from the OAM server.

To exclude WebCenter Portal Workflows endpoints in OAM 11g R2 or later:

1. Open the OAM Admin Console.
2. Navigate to your application domain.
3. Open the Resources tab, and click Create.
4. Create a resource of the type HTTP.
5. For Resource URL, enter:
   /soa-infra/services/default/CommunityWorkflows/**
6. Set the Protection Level to Excluded.
7. Create another HTTP type resource and specify the Resource URL as:
   /soa-infra/services/default/CommunityWorkflows*
8. Set the Protection Level to Excluded.
9. Click Apply.
10. Restart OHS.