1 Introduction to Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal

This chapter provides a high-level overview of Oracle WebCenter Portal and its administrative tools.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal is written specifically for Oracle WebLogic Server—the primary platform for Oracle Fusion Middleware software components such as Oracle WebCenter Portal. If you using a third-party application server provided by a vendor other than Oracle, such as IBM's WebSphere, refer to the Third-Party Application Server Guide.

1.1 Introducing Oracle WebCenter Portal

Welcome to Oracle WebCenter Portal!

Oracle WebCenter Portal is an integrated set of components with which you can create social applications, enterprise portals, collaborative communities, and composite applications, built on a standards-based, service-oriented architecture. Oracle WebCenter Portal combines dynamic user interface technologies with which to develop rich internet applications, the flexibility and power of an integrated, multi-channel portal framework, and a set of tools and services that provide content, collaboration, presence and social networking capabilities. Based on these components, Oracle WebCenter Portal also provides an out-of-the-box enterprise-ready customizable application called WebCenter Portal, with a configurable work environment that enables individuals and groups to work and collaborate more effectively.

Oracle WebCenter Portal provides an open and extensible solution that allows users to interact directly with tools like instant messaging, documents, content management, discussion forums, wikis, blogs, and tagging directly from within the context of a portal or an application. These tools and services empower end users and IT to build and deploy next-generation collaborative applications and portals.

This section describes Oracle WebCenter Portal components and architecture in the following topics:

1.2 Oracle WebCenter Portal Architecture

Oracle WebCenter Portal comprises the following components (shown in Figure 1-1):

Figure 1-1 Oracle WebCenter Portal Architecture

Description of Figure 1-1 follows
Description of ''Figure 1-1 Oracle WebCenter Portal Architecture''

1.2.1 WebCenter Portal Framework

Injects portal capabilities into ADF, including:

  • Run-time application customization (you can make in-place changes to WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications using Composer without re-deploying the application)

  • Support for JSR-168 and JSR-286 standards-based WSRP portlets, and PDK-Java portlets

  • Content integration through JCR (JSR170), to content repositories such as Oracle WebCenter Content Server and Oracle Portal

  • Oracle JSF Portlet Bridge, which lets you expose JSF pages and Oracle ADF task flows as standards-based portlets

1.2.2 Application Development Framework

The Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) is a productivity layer that sits on top of JSF and provides:

  • Unified access to back ends such as databases, web services, XML, CSV, and BPEL

  • Data binding (JSR 227) connecting the user interface with back-end data controls

  • Over 100 data-aware JSF view components

  • Native component model that includes task flows

  • Fine grained JAAS security model

1.2.3 Composer

Composer provides:

  • Ability to perform run-time application and user customization in-place in your browser

  • A rich, intuitive user experience where you can:

    • Browse and add resources, such as task flows and portlets, to pages

    • Re-arrange page layout

    • Set page and component properties

    • Contextually wire components

1.2.4 WebCenter Portal

Out-of-the-box application built using JSF, Oracle ADF, WebCenter Portal Framework, Composer, and tools and services.

WebCenter Portal provides:

  • A browser-based platform for creating enterprise portals, multiple sites and communities

  • A Home portal for each user, providing a private work area for storing personal content, viewing and responding to business process assignments, emailing, and so on

  • Threaded discussions, blogs, wikis, worklists, announcements, RSS, recent activities, search, and more

1.2.5 Tools and Services

Table 1-1 lists the tools and services available in WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications.

Table 1-1 WebCenter Portal Tools and Services

Services A Through N Services P Through W

Activity Graph

NotesFoot 1 

Analytics

People Connections

Announcements

Personalization

Discussions

Polls

Documents (includes Wikis and Blogs)

RSSFoot 2 

EventsFootref 1

Recent Activities

Instant Messaging and Presence (IMP)

Search

Links

Tags

ListsFootref 1

Worklist

Mail

  

Footnote 1 WebCenter Portal only.

Footnote 2 RSS news feeds are only available in WebCenter Portal. The RSS Viewer task flow is available in WebCenter Portal and other Portal Framework applications.

WebCenter Portal's tools and services provide:

  • Seamless integration with enterprise-level services

  • Thin adapter layer to abstract back-end services. For example:

    • Content adapters: Content Server and Oracle Portal

    • Presence adapters: Microsoft Live Communications Server, Microsoft Office Communications Server, and Microsoft Lync

  • Back-end systems represented by a unified connection architecture

  • User interface to services presented through rich task flow components

1.2.6 Discussion Server

A discussion server is provided with Oracle WebCenter Portal so you can integrate discussion forums and announcements into your applications.

1.2.7 Analytics

WebCenter Portal's analytics capability enables users to view various user activity reports, for example:

  • Login data

  • Page views

  • Portlet views

  • Document views

  • Search metrics

  • Page response data

  • Portal usage

1.2.8 Activity Graph

Activity graph enables users to analyze various statistics collected by WebCenter Portal analytics. Various similarity scores for objects and users are collected, and used to give recommendations. The scores are stored in an activity graph database.

1.2.9 Personalization Server

WebCenter Portal's personalization server enables you to deliver application content to targeted users based on selected criteria.

1.2.10 Portals

Portals provide a common interface (a Web page) to a personalized, single point of interaction with web-based applications and information relevant to individual users or class of users. For information about creating portals using the WebCenter Portal Framework application template in JDeveloper, see Developing Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal and Oracle JDeveloper.

Alternatively, create portals using the out-of-the-box application WebCenter Portal. For details, see Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal.

1.2.11 Composite Applications

A composite application is an assembly of services, service components, wires, and references designed and deployed as a single application. For more information about composite applications, see Administrator's Guide for Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite.

1.3 Oracle WebCenter Portal Topology

This section describes Oracle WebCenter Portal topology and configuration in the following topics:

1.3.1 Oracle WebCenter Portal Topology Out-of-the-Box

Oracle WebCenter Portal installation creates a WebCenter Portal Oracle Home (WCP_ORACLE_HOME) under the Oracle Middleware Home directory and an Oracle Common Home directory (ORACLE_COMMON_HOME), which contains WebCenter Portal binaries and supporting files (Figure 1-2).

Figure 1-2 Directory Structure of an Oracle WebCenter Portal Installation

Description of Figure 1-2 follows
Description of ''Figure 1-2 Directory Structure of an Oracle WebCenter Portal Installation''

The installation also creates a WebCenter Portal domain (base_domain), containing the administration server and several managed servers to host various WebCenter Portal components. In Figure 1-3, applications are shown in yellow, while the managed servers they run on are shown in brown.

Figure 1-3 Oracle WebCenter Portal Topology Out-of-the-Box

Description of Figure 1-3 follows
Description of ''Figure 1-3 Oracle WebCenter Portal Topology Out-of-the-Box''

Out-of-the-box managed servers host the following Oracle WebCenter Portal components:

  • WC_Spaces - Hosts WebCenter Portal, Oracle's out-of-the-box portal application

  • WC_Portlet - Hosts out-of-the-box portlets, the pagelet producer, and the WebCenter Portal services producer

  • WC_Collaboration - Hosts the discussions server and any additional services that you choose to integrate

  • WC_Utilities - Hosts activity graph, analytics, and personalization services

An optional fifth managed server (an applications server) can be used to run applications built by developers using the WebCenter Portal Framework application template in JDeveloper—such applications are referred to as Portal Framework applications. When you create additional managed servers, they are provisioned with the appropriate libraries to enable them to draw upon the same external resources as WebCenter Portal. For more information about managed servers, see the "Understanding Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts" section in Administrator's Guide.

1.3.2 Oracle WebCenter Portal Managed Servers

During Oracle WebCenter Portal installation, the managed servers are provisioned with system libraries and Oracle ADF libraries. Table 1-2 lists the managed servers and the applications that run on them.

Table 1-2 Oracle WebCenter Portal Managed Servers and Applications

Managed Server Installed Applications Application Name

WC_Spaces

WebCenter Portal

WebCenter Portal online help

webcenter

webcenter-help

WC_Portlet

OmniPortlet and Web clipping

WSRP tools

Pagelet producer

Services producer

portalTools

wsrp-tools

pagelet-producer

services-producer

WC_Collaboration

Discussions Server

owc_discussions

WC_Utilities

Analytics collector

Activity graph engines

Personalization services

analytics-collector

activitygraph-engines

wcps-services

1.3.3 Oracle WebCenter Portal Startup Order

When a managed server starts up, applications and libraries are started in the following order:

  1. Oracle system libraries, known as the JRF libraries.

  2. Oracle ADF libraries.

  3. Instrumentation applications, such as Oracle DMS, and the Oracle Web Services Manager (wsm-pm) application.

  4. Oracle WebCenter Portal applications shown in Table 1-2.

The startup order is also the order of dependency. If a dependent component does not deploy successfully, a later component may not function correctly.

Application startup is not dependent on the availability of external services such as the discussions server, or other back-end servers. For details, see Section 1.3.4, "Oracle WebCenter Portal Dependencies."

1.3.4 Oracle WebCenter Portal Dependencies

WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications use several external servers, tools, and services (Table 1-3). The Configuration column lists the type of information provided to WebCenter Portal to configure or initialize the connection. The Access column lists the protocol used in run-time access of the service.

Table 1-3 Dependent Resources - Access Types

External Server, Tool or Service Configuration Access

Analytics

UDP access to the analytics collector

UDP

Activity graph

HTTP access to activity graph administration

HTTP

Discussions server

HTTP access to discussions server administration

SOAP/HTTP

Content Server (Documents)

Socket connection to the Administration Server. HTTP access is required only if the Content Server must be accessed outside WebCenter Portal.

JCR 1.0 over socket or HTTP

Instant messaging and presence server

HTTP access to instant messaging and presence server administration

SOAP/HTTP

Mail server

IMAP/SMTP server

IMAP/SMTP

Personal events server

HTTP access to calendar services

SOAP/HTTP

Personalization server

JDBC access to the personalization server

JDBC REST

Portlets

HTTP location of provider WSDLs

SOAP/HTTP

Search server

HTTP access to search server

HTTP

Worklist

HTTP access to BPEL server

SOAP/HTTP

MDS and schemas

JDBC

JDBC

Server/service unavailability does not prevent WebCenter Portal or Portal Framework applications from starting up, although errors may display while the application is running. The only exception is the Oracle Metadata Services Repository (MDS), as WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications do not work without it.

WebCenter Portal partially works without a repository but only if it is a different physical database from the MDS repository. The WebCenter Portal repository stores information for several services, including events, links, lists, people connections, polls, and tags, and these services do not work if the repository is not available.

1.3.5 Oracle WebCenter Portal Configuration Considerations

The main configuration files for WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications are listed and described in Table 1-4. Both these files are supplied within the application deployment .EAR file.

Table 1-4 WebCenter Portal Configuration Files

Artifact Purpose

adf-config.xml

Stores basic configuration for Application Development Framework (ADF) and application settings, such as which discussions server or mail server WebCenter Portal or the Portal Framework application is currently using.

connections.xml

Stores basic configuration for connections to external services.

WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications use the Oracle Metadata Services (MDS) repository to store their configuration data; both access the MDS repository as a JDBC data source within the Oracle WebLogic framework.

The MDS repository stores post deployment configuration changes for WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications as application customizations. MDS uses the original deployed versions of adf-config.xml and connections.xml as base documents and stores all subsequent application customizations separately into MDS using a single customization layer.

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

For applications that are deployed to a server cluster, all members of a cluster read from the same location in the MDS repository.

Typically, there is no need for administrators to examine or manually change the content of base documents (or MDS customization data) for files such as adf-config.xml and connections.xml, as Oracle provides several administration tools for post deployment configuration. If you must locate the base documents or review the information in MDS, read Appendix A, "Oracle WebCenter Portal Configuration."

To find out more about the configuration tools available, see Section 1.13, "Oracle WebCenter Portal Administration Tools."

Note:

Oracle does not recommend that you edit adf-config.xml or connections.xml by hand as this can lead to misconfiguration.

While WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications store post deployment configuration information in MDS, configuration information for portlet producers and the discussion server is stored in the file system or the database (Table 1-5).

Table 1-5 WebCenter Portal Configuration Location

Application Configuration Stored in
MDS		 Configuration Stored in
File System		 Configuration Stored in
Database

WebCenter Portal

Yes

No

No

Portal Framework applications

Yes

No

No

Portlet producers

No

Yes

No

Discussions server

No

Yes

Yes

Discussions Server

Oracle WebCenter Portal's discussions server stores configuration information in its database. Additionally, it stores startup configuration information in DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/WC_COLLABORATION/owc_discussions. This directory contains jive_startup.xml, jive.license files, and a logs directory containing log files for the discussions server instance.

1.3.6 Oracle WebCenter Portal State and Configuration Persistence

WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications run as J2EE applications with application state and configuration persisted to the MDS repository. User session information within the application is held locally in memory. In a cluster environment, this state is replicated to other members of the cluster.

Application customizations within a portlet or service environment are persisted by that service. Out-of-the-box, Oracle portlets, any custom portlets you build, and the discussions server, all have their own database persistence mechanisms.

Analytics

WebCenter Portal's analytics capability is stateless. Requests received by analytics collectors are executed immediately. Any in-transit state, such as a request initiated by WebCenter Portal or a request processed by the analytics collector, is not guaranteed.

Activity Graph

WebCenter Portal's activity graph consists of two components:

  • Activity Graph - does not maintain any in-memory state. The activity graph task flows query the activity graph database and display results as a list of recommendations. State is updated by the following:

    • Task flow configuration parameters

    • Personalization settings

    • "Not-interested" feature

    The first two are built on the standard Oracle Composer/Oracle ADF/MDS framework, which manages the state. The last is a feature where the user can indicate that they are not interested in a particular recommendation. This input is persisted synchronously in the database.

  • Activity Graph Engine - runs a batch data analysis process that updates tables in the database transactionally. Although the engine does not support clustering or failover, it can recover from failure.

Administrators use the Activity Graph Scheduler to set up and monitor the nightly schedule. The results of the analysis (the recommendations) are presented through the activity graph task flows.

The Activity Graph Engine is a singleton application that has a background thread that wakes up periodically to check if it is time to run the nightly job, which can last several hours. The schedule is persisted in the database. If the managed server fails, the job continues when the managed server next starts up.

Personalization Server

WebCenter Portal's personalization server is a stateless RESTful application. All state is managed in the client requests.

1.3.7 Oracle WebCenter Portal Log File Locations

Operations performed by WebCenter Portal, Portal Framework applications, portlet producers, discussion servers, and so on, are logged directly to the WebLogic managed server where the application is running:

base_domain/servers/Server_Name/logs/Server_Name-diagnostic.log

For example, diagnostics for WebCenter Portal are logged to: /base_domain/servers/WC_Spaces/logs/WC_Spaces-diagnostic.log

You can view the log files for each WebLogic managed server from the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console. To view the logs, access the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console http://<admin_server_host>:<port>/console, and click Diagnostics-Log Files.

You can also view and configure diagnostic logs through Fusion Middleware Control, see Section 28.2, "Viewing and Configuring Log Information."

1.4 WebCenter Portal

WebCenter Portal is a web-based application that offers the very latest technology for social networking, communication, collaboration, and personal productivity. Through a robust set of services and applications, WebCenter Portal brings together everything you need to exchange ideas with others, keep track of your personal and work-related tasks, interact with your critical applications, and zero in on your own projects and interests—all within a single, integrated environment.

Automatic Configuration for Tools and Services

Some tools and services are automatically configured for WebCenter Portal during the installation process. For details, see the Installation Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Default connection names are listed in Table 1-6.

Table 1-6 Connections Automatically Configured for WebCenter Portal

Tool / Service Default Connection Name

Discussions and announcements

WebCenterSpaces-Discussions

Documents

WebCenterSpaces-ucm

Pagelet producer

WebCenterSpaces-PageletProducer

Personalization

Conductor-WCPSSpaces and Properties-WCPSSpaces

Preconfigured portlet producers

wc-OmniPortlet

wc-WebClipping

wc-WSRPTools

Worklists

Portal workflows

WebCenterSpaces-Worklist

Configuring WebCenter Portal PostInstallation

To help you get started, see Chapter 2, "Getting WebCenter Portal Up and Running."

For information about administering WebCenter Portal, see Section 47.2, "Accessing the Portal Builder Administration Page."

1.5 Portal Framework Applications

You can develop your own portal applications using the WebCenter Portal Framework application template in JDeveloper, and deploy them to a custom WebLogic Managed Server. Portal applications built using JDeveloper are referred to as Portal Framework applications.

For information about developing your own portal applications, see Developing Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal and Oracle JDeveloper.

To help you get started, see:

1.6 Planning Oracle WebCenter Portal Installations

Installing WebCenter Portal or your Portal Framework application requires a little bit of planning. Some of the questions to consider are:

  • What Oracle WebCenter Portal components will be used?

  • How many users will access this deployment?

  • How can I provide high availability for my enterprise deployment?

  • How can I secure WebCenter Portal?

For more information about planning an Oracle WebCenter Portal installation, see Installation Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal, Enterprise Deployment Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal, and High Availability Guide.

1.7 Understanding the Oracle WebCenter Portal 11g Installation

The out-of-the-box topology is briefly described in Section 1.3, "Oracle WebCenter Portal Topology." Specific areas of the topology are described in the corresponding chapters, for example, security-related aspects are described in Chapter 30, "Managing Oracle WebCenter Portal Security."

For more information about Oracle WebCenter Portal installation and postinstallation administration tasks, see Installation Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Note:

If you want to verify which Oracle WebCenter Portal version you have installed, refer to Appendix G, "How Do I Find Out Which Oracle WebCenter Portal Version Is Installed?"

For postinstallation enterprise configuration, see Enterprise Deployment Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal.

For postinstallation high availability configuration, see High Availability Guide.

For postinstallation security configuration, see Chapter 30, "Post-deployment Security Configuration Tasks."

1.8 Understanding Administrative Operations, Roles, and Tools

Oracle WebCenter Portal provides several different tools with which to deploy, configure, start and stop, and maintain WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications. All these tools are described in Section 1.13, "Oracle WebCenter Portal Administration Tools."

Your ability to perform administration tasks depends on which Oracle WebLogic Server role you are assigned—Admin, Operator, or Monitor. Table 1-7 lists the Oracle WebLogic Server roles needed for common operations. These roles apply whether the operations are performed through Fusion Middleware Control, WLST commands, or the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

Table 1-7 WebCenter Portal Operations and Oracle WebLogic Server Roles

Operation Admin
Role		 Operator
Role		 Monitor
Role

WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications

      

Start and stop

Yes

Yes

No

View performance metrics

Yes

Yes

Yes

View log information

Yes

Yes

Yes

Configure log files

Yes

Yes

Yes

View configuration

Yes

Yes

Yes

Configure new connections

Yes

Yes

No

Edit connections

Yes

Yes

No

Delete connections

Yes

Yes

No

Deploy applications

Yes

No

No

Configure security

Yes

No

No

View security (application roles/policies)

Yes

Yes

Yes

WebCenter Portal only

      

Export entire application

Yes

No

No

Import entire application

Yes

No

No

Table 1-8 summarizes which tools you can use to perform various administrative operations relating to WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications.

Table 1-8 WebCenter Portal Operations and Administration Tools

Operation Fusion Middleware Control
 WLST Commands
 WebLogic Server Admin Console WebCenter Portal Admin /
Portal Framework Application Admin

WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications

        

Start and stop

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

View performance metrics

Yes

No

No

No

View log information

Yes

No

No

No

Configure log files

Yes

No

No

No

View configuration

Yes

Yes

No

No

Configure new connections

Yes

Yes

No

No

Edit connections

Yes

Yes

No

No

Delete connections

Yes

Yes

No

No

Manage portlet producers

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Manage external applications

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Deploy applications

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Configure security

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

WebCenter Portal only

        

Configure workflows

Yes

Yes

No

No

Export entire application

Yes

Yes

No

No

Import entire application

Yes

Yes

No

No

Customize WebCenter Portal

No

No

No

Yes

Manage application users and roles

No

No

No

Yes

Manage pages

No

No

No

Yes

Manage portals

No

No

No

Yes

Export portals

No

No

No

Yes

Import portals

No

No

No

Yes

1.9 Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics

Performance monitoring helps administrators identify issues and performance bottlenecks in their environment. Chapter 27, "Monitoring Oracle WebCenter Portal Performance" describes the range of performance metrics available for WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework applications and how to monitor them using Fusion Middleware Control. It also describes how to troubleshoot issues by analyzing information that is recorded in diagnostic log files.

1.10 Understanding Security

The recommended security model for Oracle WebCenter Portal is based on Oracle ADF Security, which implements the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) model. The following chapters describe security configuration for WebCenter Portal applications:

1.11 WebCenter Portal Application Deployment

Chapter 42, "Deploying Portal Framework Applications" provides instructions for deploying, redeploying, and undeploying Portal Framework applications from an .EAR file created with Oracle JDeveloper.

Section 21.11, "Deploying Portlet Producer Applications" provides instructions for deploying WSRP and PDK-Java portlet producer applications.

Note:

WebCenter Portal is deployed during installation. (It cannot be deployed as an .EAR file). See the "Installing Oracle WebCenter Portal" section in Installation Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal.

1.12 Data Migration, Backup, and Recovery

Oracle WebCenter Portal stores data related to its configuration and content for the various feature areas in several locations. To facilitate disaster recovery and the full production lifecycle from development through staging and production, Oracle WebCenter Portal provides a set of utilities that enable you to back up this data, and move the data between staging and production environments.

Chapter 41, "Managing WebCenter Portal Backup, Recovery, and Cloning" describes the backup, import, and export capabilities and tools available for these tasks.

1.13 Oracle WebCenter Portal Administration Tools

Oracle offers the following tools for managing Oracle WebCenter Portal:

These administration tools apply to all applications, including WebCenter Portal, and administrators should use these tools, rather than edit configuration files, to perform administrative tasks. For help to decide which tool is best for you, see Appendix A, "Configuration Tools."

In addition to system administrative tools, individual applications also offer some runtime administration pages:

1.13.1 Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control Console

Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control Console is a browser-based management application that is deployed when you install Oracle WebCenter Portal. From Fusion Middleware Control Console, you can monitor and administer a farm (such as one containing Oracle WebCenter Portal, WebCenter Portal, and Portal Framework applications).

Fusion Middleware Control organizes a wide variety of performance data and administrative functions into distinct, web-based home pages. These home pages make it easy to locate the most important monitoring data and the most commonly used administrative functions for any WebCenter Portal component—all from your web browser. For general information about the Fusion Middleware Control Console, see the "Getting Started Using Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control" section in Administrator's Guide.

Fusion Middleware Control is the primary management tool for Oracle WebCenter Portal and can be used to:

  • Deploy, undeploy, and re-deploy Portal Framework applications

  • Configure back-end services and tools

  • Configure security management

  • Control process lifecycle

  • Access log files and manage log configuration

  • Manage data migration

  • Monitor performance

  • Diagnose run-time problems

  • Manage related components, such as the parent Managed Server, MDS, portlet producers, and so on

1.13.1.1 Displaying Fusion Middleware Control Console

For information about starting Fusion Middleware Control, see Section 6.1, "Displaying Fusion Middleware Control Console."

1.13.2 Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console

The Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console is a browser-based, graphical user interface that you use to manage a WebLogic Server domain.

The Administration Server hosts the Administration Console, which is a Web application accessible from any supported Web browser with network access to the Administration Server Managed Servers host applications.

Use the Administration Console to:

  • Configure, start, and stop WebLogic Server instances

  • Configure WebLogic Server clusters

  • Configure WebLogic Server services, such as database connectivity (JDBC) and messaging (JMS)

  • Configure security parameters, including creating and managing users, groups, and roles

  • Configure and deploy your applications

  • Monitor server and application performance

  • View server and domain log files

  • View application deployment descriptors

  • Edit selected run-time application deployment descriptor elements

For more information about the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console, see the "Displaying the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console" section in Administrator's Guide.

Locking Domain Configuration

You must lock configuration settings for a domain before making any configuration changes. Navigate to the Administration Console's Change Center (Figure 1-4), and click Lock & Edit.

Once configuration updates are complete, release the changes by clicking Release Configuration.

Figure 1-4 Change Center in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console

Lock and Edit Change Center

1.13.3 Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST)

Oracle provides the WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) to manage Oracle Fusion Middleware components, such as Oracle WebCenter Portal, from the command line.

WLST is a complete, command-line scripting environment for managing Oracle WebLogic Server domains, based on the Java scripting interpreter, Jython. In addition to supporting standard Jython features such as local variables, conditional variables, and flow control statements, WLST provides a set of scripting functions (commands) that are specific to Oracle WebLogic Server. You can extend the WebLogic scripting language to suit your needs by following the Jython language syntax.

Oracle provides WLST commands for managing connections (to content repositories, portlet producers, external applications, and other back-end services), and application migration. All Oracle WebCenter Portal WLST commands are described in the "WebCenter Portal Custom WLST Commands" chapter in WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

Note:

If you using a third-party application server provided by a vendor other than Oracle, refer to the Third-Party Application Server Guide for information about third party command line tools, such as IBM WebSphere's WSADM.

1.13.3.1 Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands

You must run all Oracle WebCenter Portal WLST commands from your WebCenter Portal Oracle home directory (WCP_ORACLE_HOME).

Note:

If you attempt to run Oracle WebCenter Portal WLST commands from the wrong directory you will see a NameError. To avoid this error, always run the WLST commands from WebCenter Portal's Oracle home (WCP_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin) as directed below.

See also, Appendix G, "Troubleshooting Oracle WebCenter Portal."

To run WLST from the command line:

  1. Navigate to your WebCenter Portal Oracle home directory and invoke the WLST script:

    (UNIX) WCP_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh

    (Windows) WCP_ORACLE_HOME\common\bin\wlst.cmd

  2. At the WLST command prompt, enter the following command to connect to the Administration Server for Oracle WebCenter Portal:

    wls:/offline>connect('user_name','password', 'host_name:port_number')

    where

    • user_name is the username of the operator who is connecting to the Administration Server

    • password is the password of the operator who is connecting to the Administration Server

    • host_name is the host name of the Administration Server

    • port_number is the port number of the Administration Server

    For example:

    connect(username='weblogic', password='mypassword', url='myhost.example.com:7001')

    If preferred, you can connect to the Administration Server in interactive mode without parameters:

    wls:/offline> connect()
Please enter your username :weblogic
Please enter your password :
Please enter your server URL [t3://localhost:7001]:t3://myhost.example.com:7001
Connecting to t3://myhost.example.com:7001 with userid weblogic ...
Successfully connected to Admin Server 'AdminServer' that belongs to domain 'wc_domain'.

    For help with this command, type help('connect') at the WLST command prompt.

    Note:

    If SSL is enabled, you must edit the wlst.sh or wlst.cmd file and append the following to JVM_ARGS: 
    -Dweblogic.security.SSL.ignoreHostnameVerification=true
-Dweblogic.security.TrustKeyStore=DemoTrust

    or setenv CONFIG_JVM_ARGS

    -Dweblogic.security.SSL.ignoreHostnameVerification=true
-Dweblogic.security.TrustKeyStore=DemoTrust

  3. Once connected to the Administration Server you can run Oracle WebCenter Portal WLST commands, and any other generic WLST command.

Hints and Tips Running for Oracle WebCenter Portal WLST Commands

  • To list Oracle WebCenter Portal WLST commands, type: help('webcenter') at the WLST command prompt.

    If the message No help for webcenter found... displays, you are probably running the WLST script from the wrong directory, for example, you might be running wlst.sh or wlst.cmd from the oracle_common directory instead of WCP_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin.

  • For help on a particular command, type: help('WLST_command_name') at the WLST command prompt.

  • Include argument names when running commands and especially when writing WLST scripts. For example, it is good practice to enter:

    createExtAppConnection(appName='webcenter', name='myXApp'...

    rather than:

    createExtAppConnection('webcenter', 'myXApp'...

    Either syntax is valid but when you include the argument names, errors and misconfiguration is less likely. Also, if arguments are added in the future, the command does not fail or configure the wrong property.

  • In a clustered environment, remember to specify the "server" argument when running commands. All Oracle WebCenter Portal WLST commands include a server argument which becomes mandatory when WebCenter Portal or Portal Framework applications are deployed to cluster. See also, the "WebCenter Portal Custom WLST Commands" chapter in WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

  • Online documentation for Oracle WebCenter Portal WLST commands is available from the "WebCenter Portal Custom WLST Commands" chapter in WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

1.13.4 System MBean Browser

Fusion Middleware Control provides a set of MBean browsers that allow to you browse the MBeans for an Oracle WebLogic Server or for a selected application.

Note:

While you can monitor and configure WebCenter Portal and Portal Framework application MBeans from the System MBean browser, it is not the preferred tool for configuration. Oracle recommends that you configure applications using WLST commands or through the WebCenter Portal Settings menu options in Fusion Middleware Control (available from the application's home page).

To access application MBeans:

  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control and navigate to the home page for WebCenter Portal or your Portal Framework application. For more information, see:

  2. Do one of the following:

    • For WebCenter Portal - From the WebCenter Portal menu, select System MBean Browser.

    • For Portal Framework applications - From the Application Deployment menu, select System MBean Browser.

  3. Expand Application Defined MBeans.

  4. Navigate to the MBean you want to view or configure.

    For example, for a Portal Framework applications, you might want to navigate to MBeans for adf-config.xml and connections.xml as follows (Figure 1-5):

    • adf-config - Click oracle.adf.share.config >Server: name >Application: name >ADFConfig >ADFConfig >ADFConfig

    • connections - Click oracle.adf.share.connections >Server: name >Application: name >ADFConnnections >ADFConnections

  5. To view an MBean's attributes, select the Attributes tab. Some attributes allow you to change their values. To do so, enter the value in the Value column.

    Figure 1-5 Systems MBean Browser

    Description of Figure 1-5 follows
    Description of ''Figure 1-5 Systems MBean Browser''

  6. Click Apply to update attribute values.

  7. Navigate to the parent MBean (for example, ADFConfig or ADFConnections), select the Operations tab, and click save to save the changes.

  8. Restart the managed server on which WebCenter Portal or the Portal Framework application is deployed. For more information, see Section 7.2, "Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Portal Application Deployments."

1.13.5 WebCenter Portal - Portal Builder Administration Pages

WebCenter Portal provides several administration pages of its own. The Portal Builder administration pages appear only to users who have logged in to the application using an administrator user name and password.

Portal Builder administration pages allow you to:

  • Customize WebCenter Portal

  • Manage users and roles

  • Manage tool and service settings

  • Manage portlet producers and external applications

  • Manage individual portals and portal templates

  • Create and manage business role pages

  • Manage personal pages

  • Export and import individual portals and portal templates

For more details, see Section 47.2, "Accessing the Portal Builder Administration Page."

1.13.6 Portal Framework Applications - Administration Console

Portal applications built using the WebCenter Portal Framework application template in JDeveloper can also include administration pages that enable administrators to perform common administrative duties at runtime. For more information, see Chapter 1, "Introduction to Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal."