8 Preparing Back-End Components for WebCenter Portal Tools and Services

Portal developers can integrate Oracle WebCenter Portal tools and services into a portal. Certain tools and services rely on back-end components; for example, the mail tool relies on a mail server like Microsoft Exchange Server.

8.1 Introduction to Tools and Services

Oracle WebCenter Portal provides a set of tools and services that expose social networking and personal productivity features. To provide for tools and service integration into portals , you must install and configure the required back-end components.

All tools and services rely on a database for their functionality. To integrate any tool or service into a portal built with WebCenter Portal, you must ensure that a supported database is available with the MDS schema.

For information about:

In addition to a database, certain tools and services rely on back-end components. To enable portal developers or users to integrate such tools and services into portals, you must perform the following tasks:

  • Install the back-end component.

  • Configure the back-end component, if required.

  • Set up a connection to the back-end component.

The following table describes Oracle WebCenter Portal tools and services and lists the back-end component, if any, required for them.

Table 8-1 Back-End Requirements for Tools and Services

Tool/Service Description Back-End Component Required in Addition to a Supported Database with MDS Schema Connection Configuration

Activity Stream

Provides a streaming view of the activities of user’s connections, actions taken in portals, and business activities.

None.

No separate connection required.

Analytics

Displays usage and performance metrics

Oracle WebCenter Portal's Analytics Collector, and a supported database containing the Activities schema

Connection required. See Working with Oracle WebCenter Portal's Analytics Collector.

Announcements

Enables users to post, personalize, and manage announcements.

Oracle WebCenter Portal's Discussion Server, and a supported database containing the Discussions schema

Connection required.

Connection automatically configured for WebCenter Portal if conditions are met. For information, see Working with Oracle WebCenter Portal's Discussions Server.

Discussions

Provides the ability to create and participate in threaded discussions.

Oracle WebCenter Portal's Discussion Server, and a supported database containing the Discussions schema

Connection required.

Connection automatically configured for WebCenter Portal if conditions are met. For information, see Working with Oracle WebCenter Portal's Discussions Server

Documents

Provides content management and storage capabilities, including content upload, file, folder, wiki and blog creation and management, file check out, file versioning, and so on.

Content Server content repository

Connection required.

Connection automatically configured for WebCenter Portal if conditions are met.

See Back-End Requirements for Documents.

Events

Provides personal and portal-specific calendars that users can use to schedule meetings, appointments, or any other type of team get-together.

A supported database containing the WEBCENTER schema

For personal events, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

Connection required for personal calendars, but not for portal calendars. See Back-End Requirements for Calendar Events.

Instant Messaging and Presence (IMP)

Provides the ability to observe the online presence status of other authenticated users (whether online, offline, busy, or idle), and to contact them instantly.

A supported communication server like Microsoft Live Communication Server 2005

Connection must be created manually. See Back-End Requirements for Instant Messaging and Presence (IMP).

Links

Provides the ability to view, access, and associate related information; for example, you can link to a solution document from a discussion thread.

A supported database containing the WEBCENTER schema

No separate connection required.

Lists

Enables users to create, publish, and manage lists.

A supported database containing the WEBCENTER schema

No separate connection required.

Mail

Provides easy integration with IMAP and SMTP mail servers to enable users to perform simple mail functions such as viewing, reading, creating, and deleting messages, creating messages with attachments, and replying to or forwarding existing messages.

A mail server based on IMAP4 and SMTP, such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2003

Connection must be created manually. See Back-End Requirements for Mail.

Notes

Provides the ability to "jot down" and retain quick bits of personally relevant information.

Note: This feature is available only in WebCenter Portal.

A supported database containing the WEBCENTER schema

No separate connection required.

People Connections

Provides online social networking tools for creating, interacting with, and tracking the activities of one's enterprise connections.

A supported database containing the WEBCENTER schema

No separate connection required.

RSS

Provides the ability to publish content from other WebCenter Portal tools and services and external sources as news feeds in the RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 formats.

None

No separate connection required.

Search

Provides the ability to search documents, and pages using Oracle Secure Enterprise Search (SES) adapter.

No separate back-end component required for searching Oracle WebCenter Portal objects.

To search external repositories outside of Oracle WebCenter Portal, Oracle SES 11.2.2.2 updated with latest patches is required.

Connection required for Oracle SES. See Back-End Requirements for Search.

Tags

Provides the ability to assign one or more personally relevant keywords to a given page or document, making those items more easily discoverable in search results.

A supported database containing the WEBCENTER schema

No separate connection required.

Workflows

Provides a personal, at-a-glance view of business processes that require attention. These can include a request for document review and other types of business process that come directly from enterprise applications.

Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) server

SOA connection required. See Back-End Requirements for WebCenter Portal Workflows.

8.2 Back-End Requirements for Calendar Events

The Events tool provides portal calendars for users to schedule meetings, appointments, and any other type of team, project, or group occasion. Events also enables users to access their personal Microsoft Exchange calendar to schedule events that are not related to a particular portal.

Personal calendars are available through a Microsoft Exchange Server; therefore, a connection to that server is required. You can register the Microsoft Exchange Server connection through the Fusion Middleware Control Console or using WLST. To view personal events in WebCenter Portal, users must have an account on the Microsoft Exchange Server. For information about Microsoft Exchange Server installation, refer to its product documentation.

You must configure Microsoft Exchange Server and create a connection to the mail server. For information, see Managing Calendar Events in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

8.3 Back-End Requirements for Documents

Oracle WebCenter Portal supports content management and storage capabilities, including file upload, file and folder creation and management, file check out, and versioning.

To provide content integration in WebCenter Portal, you must configure at least one WebCenter Content Server connection and mark it as the default connection (sometimes referred to as the active or primary connection).

8.3.1 Oracle WebCenter Content Server Requirements

This section discusses installation, configuration, and integration for Oracle WebCenter Content Server.

Content Server - Installation

Oracle WebCenter Portal supports Oracle WebCenter Content Server 12.2.1 or later as an external content repository.

Content Server is installed as a part of Oracle WebCenter Content, which is an Oracle Fusion Middleware component.

While installing Content Server, it is recommended that you also install Oracle WebCenter Content: Inbound Refinery. Inbound Refinery is a conversion server that manages file conversions. It also provides thumbnail functionality for documents and images and storyboarding for video. You can use Inbound Refinery to convert content items stored in Content Server. If Inbound Refinery is not installed, thumbnails or renditions do not display in portals and applications.

For information about how to install Content Server and Inbound Refinery, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Installing and Configuring Oracle WebCenter Content.

(Optional) Use sections to add and organize related content if another section heading is needed.

Note:

Content Server and Inbound Refinery must be installed in the same domain. Oracle recommends that you install Content Server and Inbound Refinery in the same domain as Oracle WebCenter Portal. When they are installed in the same domain, no additional configuration is required to use an external LDAP authentication provider.

Content Server - Configuration

To use Content Server as an external content repository, you must configure it to work with Oracle WebCenter Portal. For information about the mandatory and optional tasks involved in configuring Content Server, see For more information, see Managing Connections to Oracle WebCenter Content Server in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal. To get an overview of the tasks required to get Content Server working for WebCenter Portal, refer to the flowchart given in Configuration Roadmap for Oracle WebCenter Content Server of Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

FrameworkFolders Support

Oracle WebCenter Content offers two folder solutions: Folders_g and FrameworkFolders. For new installations of Oracle WebCenter Portal, it is recommended that you enable the FrameworkFolders component on Content Server. For an Oracle WebCenter Portal instance patched from an earlier release that used the Folders_g component, you can continue to use Folders_g or choose to migrate to the FrameworkFolders interface. For information, see Enabling Mandatory Components in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Note:

By default, Oracle WebCenter Content uses Oracle WebLogic Server's embedded Lightweight Directory Application Protocol (LDAP) server. In a production system, Oracle WebCenter Content applications must use an external LDAP authentication provider rather than the default embedded LDAP server. Therefore, you must reassociate your Content Server's identity store with an external LDAP-based identity store.

If Oracle WebCenter Portal and Content Server are installed in the same domain, no additional configuration is required for using an external LDAP authentication provider. Authentication provider configuration is applicable to an entire domain.

If Oracle WebCenter Portal and Content Server are installed in separate domains, they must be configured to use the same external LDAP authentication provider. Hence, ensure that you reassociate Content Server with the same identity store LDAP server as Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Content Server - Integration

To use Content Server as a content repository, you must create a repository connection. For WebCenter Portal, a repository connection is automatically configured and set as the default connection, if it does not already exist. The connection is configured at application startup if the general conditions specified in Working with WebCenter Portal are met. However, the connection is not configured if the Server Socket port or the user granted the administrator role cannot be found.

For information about how to register content repositories and manage repository connections, see Registering the Default Oracle WebCenter Content Server Repository in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

8.4 Back-End Requirements for Instant Messaging and Presence (IMP)

Instant messaging and presence (IMP) relies on a back-end communication server.

You can configure Microsoft Lync 2010 as the communication server for IMP:

  • Communication Server - Installation

    For information about installing Microsoft Lync 2010, refer to the relevant Microsoft documentation.

  • Communication Server - Configuration and Integration

    For information about configuring Microsoft Lync, see Microsft Lync — Configuration in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

After installing and configuring your communication server, you must set up connections to the communication server to enable integration of IMP with WebCenter Portal. For information about setting up IMP connections, see Registering Instant Messaging and Presence Servers in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Ensure that Oracle WebCenter Portal and your communication server are configured to use the same external LDAP-based identity store. If not, you must manually synchronize user entries between Oracle WebCenter Portal and communication server environments.

8.5 Back-End Requirements for Mail

To enable users to access mail within Oracle WebCenter Portal, you must install a mail server, such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, 2010, or 2013, that supports IMAP4 and SMTP protocols.

To install a mail server, refer to the documentation of the mail server you wish to use. The users created on the mail server must correspond with the users created in the identity store used by Oracle WebCenter Portal.

To integrate mail in WebCenter Portal, you must configure a connection to your mail server. For information, see Managing Mail in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal

8.6 Back-End Requirements for Search

Oracle WebCenter Portal provides the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search (SES) adapter for searching a portal.

Oracle SES provides a crawler-based service that can search a multitude of sources, structured and unstructured, in a variety of file formats, indexed or real-time. This section describes what requirements should be met before search is enabled for users.

8.6.1 Installing Oracle SES 11.2.2.2

In 12c, the only supported Oracle Secure Enterprise Search (SES) is 11.2.2.2.

Complete the following prerequisites before installing and configuring Oracle SES 11.2.2.2:

After installing Oracle SES release 11.2.2.2, perform the following steps to prepare Oracle SES to work with Oracle WebCenter Portal:

  1. Install the new version of Oracle WebCenter Portal's Document Service Manager on Oracle SES:
    1. Get webcenter_doc_pipeline_plugin.zip from the WCP_ORACLE_HOME/ses directory on the Oracle WebCenter Portal instance, where WCP_ORACLE_HOME is the Oracle WebCenter Portal home directory. Copy the file to the Oracle SES home directory on the Oracle SES instance.
    2. Navigate to the Oracle SES home directory.
    3. Delete the file ./search/lib/plugins/webcenter/search-crawl-ucm.jar.
    4. Unzip the webcenter_doc_pipeline_plugin.zip file.
      This adds the following Oracle WebCenter Portal JAR file to an Oracle SES installation: SES_ORACLE_HOME/search/lib/plugins/doc/search-crawl-ucm.jar
    5. Restart the Oracle SES server. For information, see Starting and Stopping Oracle SES Instance in Oracle Secure Enterprise Search Administrator's Guide in the Secure Enterprise Search Online Documentation Library 11g Release 2 (11.2.2.2) on OTN.
  2. Configure Oracle SES facets and sorting attributes for Oracle WebCenter Portal:
    1. Get webcenter_portal_ses_admin.zip from the WCP_ORACLE_HOME/ses directory on the Oracle WebCenter Portal instance, and copy it to the Oracle SES home directory.
    2. Navigate to the Oracle SES home directory.
    3. Unzip the webcenter_portal_ses_admin.zip file and follow the instructions in the readme.txt file.

8.6.2 Configuring Oracle SES 11.2.2.2

For information about configuring Oracle SES for Oracle WebCenter Portal, see Managing Oracle Secure Enterprise Search in WebCenter Portal in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

8.7 Back-End Requirements for WebCenter Portal Workflows

WebCenter Portal provides several prebuilt workflows that handle portal membership notifications, portal subscription requests, and so on. WebCenter Portal workflows rely on the BPEL server, which is a component of Oracle SOA Suite.

Table 8-2 describes the tasks that you must perform to enable the WebCenter Portal workflow functionality in WebCenter Portal.

Table 8-2 Tasks for Enabling WebCenter Portal Workflows

Task Mandatory/Optional Documentation

1. Install Oracle SOA Suite

Mandatory

See Oracle SOA Suite - Installation.

2. Install WebCenter Portal SOA Composites

Mandatory

See Oracle WebCenter Portal SOA Composites - Installation.

3. Extend the SOA server domain

Mandatory

See Oracle SOA Server - Extending the Domain.

3. Configure WS-Security to secure Web service calls between Oracle SOA Suite and WebCenter Portal

Mandatory

See Oracle SOA and WebCenter Portal - WS-Security Configuration.

4. Register a connection with the BPEL server

Mandatory, if not automatically configured

See Oracle WebCenter Portal - Configuring the BPEL Server Connection.

Note:

For WebCenter Portal users to be able store and retrieve tasks from a BPEL server, it is essential that their user names exist in the identity stores used by WebCenter Portal and Oracle SOA Suite. You can achieve this by creating identical user names in both the identity stores or by using a shared LDAP-based identity store for Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication. For information about setting up an external shared LDAP-based server, see Setting Up an External LDAP-Based Identity Store.

8.7.1 Oracle SOA Suite - Installation

To support workflows, WebCenter Portal relies on the BPEL server, which is included with Oracle SOA Suite.

For information about installing Oracle SOA Suite, see About Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Installation in Oracle Fusion Middleware Installing and Configuring Oracle SOA Suite and Business Process Management.

8.7.2 Oracle WebCenter Portal SOA Composites - Installation

To use workflows in WebCenter Portal, you must install WebCenter Portal SOA Composites in the SOA Oracle home.

To install WebCenter Portal SOA Composites:
  1. During WebCenter Portal installation (see Starting the Installation Program), select an Installation Type of WebCenter Portal SOA Composites.
  2. Verify that the wcportal folder was created in the SOA Oracle home.

8.7.3 Oracle SOA Server - Extending the Domain

WebCenter Portal workflows are deployed to an Oracle SOA server.

To prepare a SOA server for workflows, you must extend the domain in which Oracle SOA is installed by using the template oracle.wc_composite_template.jar.

Prerequisite: WebCenter Portal must be installed in the SOA Oracle home with the installation type WebCenter Portal SOA Composites.

To extend the SOA server domain:

  1. Run ORACLE_HOME/oracle_common/common/bin/config.sh.

  2. Select Update an existing domain, then select SOA Domain.

  3. On the Templates screen, select the template in either of the following ways:

    • Select Update Domain Using Product Templates, then select Oracle Webcenter Portal Composites - 12.2.1.2.0 [wcportal].

    • Or, select Update Domain Using Custom Template, and specify the following path in the Template location field: ORACLE_HOME/wcportal/common/templates/wls/oracle.wc_composite_template.jar

    The oracle.wc_composite_template.jar template automatically deploys:

    • WebCenterWorklistDetailApp.ear, the ADF application that displays invitations and messages.

    • sca_CommunityWorkflows.jar, the BPEL composite that manages the WebCenter Portal membership mechanism.  

  4. Restart the Oracle SOA server.

  5. Verify that WebCenterWorklistDetailApp.ear and sca_CommunityWorkflows.jar deployed successfully. If one or both did not deploy, you can manually deploy them using Enterprise Manager:

    • WebCenterWorklistDetailApp.ear is located at ORACLE_HOME/wcportal/webcenter/applications when WebCenter Portal is installed in the SOA Oracle home with the installation type WebCenter Portal SOA Composites.

    • sca_CommunityWorkflows.jar is located at ORACLE_HOME/wcportal/common/soa-composite/wcp/sca_CommunityWorkflows.jar .

See Also:

8.7.4 Oracle SOA and WebCenter Portal - WS-Security Configuration

WebCenter Portal Web services, deployed to Oracle WebCenter Portal, facilitate communication between WebCenter Portal and the SOA server.

To secure these Web service calls, you must set up WS-Security on the SOA server and WebCenter Portal.

To ensure a secure Web service connection between the Oracle SOA server and WebCenter Portal:

  1. Check the alias in the keystore file on the Oracle SOA server.

    For example, use the following command to list the content of the keystore file on the Oracle SOA server:

    keytool -list -v -keystore bpel.jks -storepass password

    There should be an entry with:

    Alias name: webcenter_spaces_ws

  2. Verify that the credential stores for both WebCenter Portal and Oracle SOA server are configured correctly.
    For information, see Updating the Credential Store in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.
  3. Check that keystores exist at both ends of the connection, for example:

    - webcenter.jks (copied to WebCenter Portal server end)

    - bpel.jks (copied to Oracle SOA server end)

    For information, see Creating the SOA Domain Keystore in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

  4. Configure role members for the BPMWorkflowAdmin application role on Oracle SOA server (soa-infra).
    When associating the domain with an identity store that does not contain the user weblogic, you must assign some other valid user to the application role BPMWorkflowAdmin. Use WLST commands to do this from the SOA Oracle home. For example, to assign a user named monty that exists in LDAP: 
    cd $SOA_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/
wlst.sh
 
connect('<admin username>','<admin password>', 'mysoahost.xmlns.oracle.com:7001')
revokeAppRole(appStripe="soa-infra", appRoleName="BPMWorkflowAdmin", principalClass="oracle.security.jps.service.policystore.ApplicationRole", principalName="SOAAdmin")
grantAppRole(appStripe="soa-infra", appRoleName="BPMWorkflowAdmin", principalClass="weblogic.security.principal.WLSUserImpl", principalName="monty")
    For information, see Security Commands in Oracle Fusion Middleware WLST Command Reference for WebLogic Server.
For more information, see Configuring Web Services Security in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.

8.7.5 Oracle WebCenter Portal - Configuring the BPEL Server Connection

The WebCenterPortal-Worklist BPEL connection is configured to be shared by worklists and WebCenter Portal workflows. This enables users to see the assigned membership-related workflow items and notification subscriptions in their worklist component.

When you start WebCenter Portal, a BPEL server connection named WebCenterPortal-Worklist is automatically configured, if it does not already exist. However, automatic configuration takes place only if the conditions specified in Working with WebCenter Portal are fulfilled.

If a BPEL connection is not configured automatically, you must create it manually. As a best practice, for WebCenter Portal workflows, you must use the same BPEL connection that has been set as the active connection for worklists.

To configure a BPEL server connection for WebCenter Portal workflows, see Configuration Roadmap for WebCenter Portal Workflows in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Portal.