Oracle® Application Server Portal Configuration Guide
10g Release 2 (10.1.4) B19305-03 |
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Components of Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 (10.1.3) are, by default, only aware of a OracleAS Portal schema in the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository. The portal schema, in which Oracle Application Server Portal metadata is stored, is an indivisible component of the OracleAS Metadata Repository in a default installation of Oracle Application Server, or in a customer database installation performed by using the Oracle Application Server Repository Creation Assistant (OracleAS RepCA).
However, if you have a portal schema that has been upgraded from an earlier release and is not located in an OracleAS Metadata Repository, you will not be able to take advantage of some of the new management services for Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 (10.1.3). Instead, you must perform some manual configuration steps. These limitations, however, do not affect the run time of the portal, they only affect the manner in which you administer and change the configuration of the portal. This appendix discusses how to configure such a portal.
The following illustration shows a typical deployment topology in which an Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 (10.1.3) middle tier uses the services of a portal schema, which is in turn configured to use the services of Oracle Identity Management.
The database on the left contains the OracleAS Metadata Repository, which contains an empty default portal schema. The database on the right contains another portal schema, which is not contained in an OracleAS Metadata Repository. It is the management of the latter schema that is discussed in this appendix.This situation is typically the result of either upgrading a Portal 3.0.9 to Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 (10.1.3), or the upgrade of Oracle9iAS Portal (9.0.2) that has been installed in a customer database and then upgraded to Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 (10.1.3). In many cases the Database Access Descriptor (DAD) name of the portal is not "portal", which is the default DAD name for OracleAS Portal installed in an OracleAS Metadata Repository.
The following sections detail the additional steps that are required to manage your OracleAS Portal instance when its schema resides outside the OracleAS Metadata Repository. The areas where additional configuration is required are:
WARNING: Before you perform any of the configuration tasks in the preceding list, you must update the Portal Dependency Settings file |
Updating iasconfig.xml
To enable the use of the ptlconfig
tool and the Application Server Control for managing an OracleAS Portal instance, you have to create an entry for the upgraded portal in Portal Dependency Settings file iasconfig.xml
. To do this, perform the following steps:
Normally, configuring the OracleAS Single Sign-On data using the ptlconfig
tool, to get the OracleAS Single Sign-On information, involves the use of OracleAS Metadata Repository . This works well for portals that are installed out-of-the-box. However, upgraded portals are not registered with the OracleAS Metadata Repository. In such a case, the OracleAS Single Sign-On information will have to be obtained from the OracleAS Single Sign-On server by querying the LDAP directory. To do this, the Oracle Internet Directory SSL port is required to make a connection to the LDAP store.
Perform the following steps to update the iasconfig.xml
file with the Port information:
Run the ptlconfig
tool as follows:
ptlconfig -load -schema <schema username> -pw <schema password> -conn <connect string> [-lp ldap_ssl_port]
For a description of the parameters used in the preceding script, refer to Table B-1.
Table B-1 ptlconfig Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
-load |
Creates and updates entries in |
-schema |
Name of the portal schema. |
-pw |
Portal schema password. |
-conn |
Connect string to the portal schema. |
The iasconfig.xml
file has an optional property named LDAPSSLPort for the OIDDependency element, as shown in Example B-1. This property contains the LDAP SSL port value, which is used to configure OracleAS Single Sign-On details for upgraded OracleAS Portal instances.
Example B-1 Example LDAPSSLPort Entry
<PortalInstance DADLocation="/pls/portal30" SchemaUsername="portal30" SchemaPassword="welcome1" connectString="dbserver.company.com:1521:orcl"> <WebCacheDependency ContainerType="IASInstance" Name="midtier.abc.company.com"/> <OIDDependency ContainerType="IASInstance" LDAPSSLPort="4339" Name="infra.xyz.company.com"/> <EMDependency ContainerType="IASInstance" Name="midtier.abc.company.com"/> </PortalInstance> ... <IASConfig>
Open the iasconfig.xml
file located by default in ORACLE_HOME
/portal/conf
, where ORACLE_HOME
is the OracleAS Portal and Oracle Application Server Portal and Wireless middle-tier home.
Update the LDAPSSLPort
property with the correct Oracle Internet Directory SSL port information.
Typically, you use Application Server Control to change the OracleAS Portal schema password, but in the case of the portal instance whose schema resides outside the OracleAS Metadata Repository, you have to change the portal schema password using SQL*Plus.
Follow these steps to change schema passwords directly in the database:
Connect to the database as a user with SYSDBA privileges.
Enter the following command:
SQL> ALTER USER <schema> IDENTIFIED BY <new_password>;
For example, to change the PORTAL30 schema password to "abc123":
SQL> ALTER USER PORTAL30 IDENTIFIED BY abc123;
Next, update the schema password in the Portal Dependency Settings file, iasconfig.xml
as follows:
Locate the file iasconfig.xml
. By default, it is located in the following directory:
MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/portal/conf
Edit the iasconfig.xml
file, by changing the value specified for the SchemaPassword
attribute to your new password. The following example shows the changes made to the PortalInstance
element in bold text:
<PortalInstance DADLocation="/pls/portal"
SchemaUsername="portal" SchemaPassword="abc123"
connectString="dbserver.company.com:1521:orcl">
<WebCacheDependency ContainerType="IASInstance"
Name="midtier.abc.company.com"/>
<OIDDependency ContainerType="IASInstance"
Name="infra.xyz.company.com"/>
<EMDependency ContainerType="IASInstance"
Name="midtier.abc.company.com"/>
</PortalInstance>
Encrypt the plain text password that you added in iasconfig.xml
by running the following command:
ptlconfig -encrypt
After this, you have to update the Database Access Descriptor (DAD) with the new password. Perform the following steps to update the DAD:
Display the OracleAS Portal home page in Application Server Control Console. See Section 7.3, "Using Application Server Control Console to Monitor and Administer OracleAS Portal" for more information.
Navigate to the Application Server instance in which you want to update the DAD.
Select HTTP Server from the System Components table.
Click Administration.
Click PL/SQL Properties.
In the DADs section, select the DAD you want to update.
In the Database Connectivity Information section, change the password in the Password field.
Click OK.
Restart the Oracle HTTP Server.
Restart the OC4J_Portal instance.
To do this, navigate to the Application Server instance, select the OC4J_Portal check box, and click Restart.
This will update the dads.conf
, oradav.conf
, and targets.xml
files.
In addition, for a portal schema that resides outside Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository, you must also update the password change in the targets.xml
file. This file is used by the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g monitoring technology to effectively monitor the OracleAS Portal target.
To update the password change in the targets.xml
file, perform the following steps:
Back up the ORACLE_HOME
/sysman/emd/targets.xml
file.
Open the ORACLE_HOME
/sysman/emd/targets.xml
file using a text editor.
Search for the OracleAS Portal target for which TYPE="oracle_portal"
, and the portal_DAD value corresponds to the OracleAS Portal instance for which the password is being updated.
Update the portalDatabaseSchemaPassword
property as shown in the following example:
<Property NAME="portalDatabaseSchemaPassword" VALUE="abc123" ENCRYPTED="False"/>
Note: If the password is updated, then you must enter the updated value in plain text and setENCRYPTED to FALSE . These properties will be encrypted again on reloading the targets file.
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Save the targets.xml
file, and then reload the targets file by using the following command:
ORACLE_HOME
/bin/emctl reload
If OracleAS Portal is monitored using an Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control Central Agent also, then these steps must also be performed in the Grid Control Central Agent Oracle home.
For Grid Control, the targets.xml
file is located in the Oracle home containing the Grid Control Central Agent:
ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml
If your portal is using the Oracle Identity Management services from the Oracle Application Server Infrastructure that is registered with the Oracle Application Server middle tier, then additional steps need to be performed whenever changes are made to the Oracle Identity Management services.
You may, for example, need to change the configuration if the administrative password of Oracle Internet Directory changes.
Normally, you make these changes using the Application Server Control, but in this case, you have to modify iasconfig.xml
manually.
Perform the following steps to update iasconfig.xml
with a new Oracle Internet Directory host name or port number:
Locate the file iasconfig.xml
. By default it is located in the following directory:
MIDDLE_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/portal/conf
Edit the iasconfig.xml
file, by changing the values specified for the OIDComponent
attributes in the IASInstance element. The following example shows the changes made to the IASInstance
element in bold text:
<IASInstance Name="infra.xyz.company.com" Host="xyz.company.com" Version="10.1.2"> <OIDComponent AdminPassword="welcome9" PortSSLEnabled="false" LDAPPort="3002" AdminDN="cn=orcladmin"/> <EMComponent ConsoleHTTPPort="1814" SSLEnabled="false"/> </IASInstance>
Encrypt any plain text passwords in iasconfig.xml
by running the following command:
ptlconfig -encypt
Update the portal schema with the new configuration settings in iasconfig.xml
, by running the following command:
ptlconfig -dad <portal_dad_name> -site -oid
Where portal_dad_name
is your portal DAD name.
For example:
ptlconfig -dad portal30 -site -oid
OracleAS Portal can be monitored using either the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control or the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control.
The Application Server Control is included when you install Oracle Application Server. From the OracleAS Portal perspective, this is an administration console for Oracle Application Server.
The Grid Control provides full enterprise management and extensive notification and alerting services.
You need to update the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g targets.xml
file for the following reasons:
To enable monitoring of OracleAS Portal using Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g
Application Server Control and Grid Control each use information stored in their own targets.xml
file to manage and monitor their targets. To manage and monitor your portal instance, you must edit the targets.xml
file manually.
To update any database connection changes in a nondefault portal
If you have a nondefault portal instance whose schema resides outside OracleAS Metadata Repository, every time there is a change in the database connection information you must update the relevant properties in the targets.xml
file.
To edit the targets.xml
file, perform the following steps for the Application Server Control and then repeat these steps for the Grid Control if you have installed it.
Locate the targets.xml
file.
For the Application Server Control, it is located in the Oracle home of the Oracle Application Server middle tier:
MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml
For the Grid Control, it is located in the Oracle home containing the Grid Control Central Agent:
ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml
Make a backup copy of the targets.xml
file before you modify it.
Copy and paste the following template for the new target entry in the targets.xml
file:
<Target TYPE="oracle_portal" NAME="%Name%" DISPLAY_NAME="%DisplayName%" VERSION="1.0"> <Property NAME="version" VALUE="%Version%" /> <Property NAME="OracleHome" VALUE="%OracleHome%" /> <Property NAME="PortalListeningHostPort" VALUE="%PortalListeningHostPort%" /> <Property NAME="HTTPMachine" VALUE="%HTTPMachine%" /> <Property NAME="HTTPPort" VALUE="%HTTPPort%" /> <Property NAME='HTTPProtocol' VALUE="%protocol%" /> <Property NAME="portal_DAD" VALUE="%portal_DAD%" /> <Property NAME="portalDatabaseMachineName" VALUE="%Database Host%" /> <Property NAME="portalDatabasePort" VALUE="%Database Port%" /> <Property NAME="portalDatabaseSchemaPassword" VALUE="%password%" ENCRYPTED="FALSE" /> <Property NAME="portalDatabaseSchemaUsername" VALUE="%portal schema name%" /> <Property NAME="OidRepSchemaName" VALUE="SIDFormat/ServiceNameFormat" /> <!-- If OidRepSchemaName is set to SIDFormat: --> <Property NAME="portalDatabaseSID" VALUE="mySID" /> <!-- If OidRepSchemaName is set to ServiceNameFormat: --> <Property NAME="portalDatabaseServiceName" VALUE="myServiceName" /> <Property NAME="startComponent" VALUE="%iasName%.%machine%_OC4J_Portal"/> <Property NAME='PPESuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold' VALUE='80' /> <Property NAME='PPESuccessfulResponsesWarningThreshold' VALUE='90' /> <Property NAME='modplsqlSuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold' VALUE='80' /> <Property NAME='modplsqlSuccessfulResponsesWarningThreshold' VALUE='90' /> <Property NAME='portletResponseCriticalThreshold' VALUE='4500' /> <Property NAME='portletResponseWarningThreshold' VALUE='4000' /> <CompositeMembership> <MemberOf TYPE="oracle_ias" NAME="%iasName%.%machine%.%domain%"/> </CompositeMembership> </Target>
Edit the properties in the portal target and add your instance-specific property values. Table B-2 and Table B-4 list the relevant targets.xml
properties and their descriptions.
Table B-2 Relevant targets.xml Properties for Monitoring OracleAS Portal
Attribute | Description | Examples |
---|---|---|
|
The target name, using the following format:
|
|
|
The target display name visible in the user interface. Format:
|
|
|
The portal version number. Ensure that you update the version number to reflect the middle-tier version number, so the correct version of the portal middle tier is monitored. See Table B-3 for more information. |
|
|
The Oracle home path. |
|
|
The entry point to the portal excluding the DAD information. |
|
|
The computer name of the middle-tier computer running Oracle HTTP Server. |
|
|
Oracle HTTP Server port. |
|
|
Oracle HTTP Server protocol. |
|
|
The portal DAD. |
|
Table B-3 shows the values that you must use for the version
attribute described in Table B-2, depending on the version of the OracleAS Portal middle tier on which the targets reside.
Table B-3 Version Number Mapping for the version Attribute
Version Number of the OracleAS Portal Middle Tier | Value to Enter for the version Attribute |
---|---|
9.0.2.x |
|
9.0.4 and 9.0.4.x, except 9.0.4.1 |
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9.0.4.1 and 9.0.4.1.x |
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10.1.2.0.0 and 10.1.2.0.1 |
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10.1.2.0.2 |
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Versions later than 10.1.2.0.2 |
The exact version number |
Table B-4 Relevant targets.xml Properties for Updating Database Connection Changes
Attribute | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
|
Host name of the computer running the database in which OracleAS Portal is installed. |
|
|
Port Number. |
|
|
The OracleAS Portal database account password. The password is typically set at installation but you can change it by specifying a new password. Note: If the password is updated, then you must enter the updated value in plain text and set |
|
|
The OracleAS Portal database account username. |
|
|
The connect string format. The following two connect string formats are supported:
In the case of a nondefault portal repository, this property is not used for the portal schema name. It is used to indicate the type of connection to the portal repository. For example, |
|
|
The SID of the database running the nondefault portal schema. Set this property only if myhost.oracle.com:1521:mydb |
|
|
The Service Name of the database running the nondefault portal schema. Set this property only if www.abc.com:1521:www.xyz.com |
|
Suppose you have an existing target portal and you now want to add a portal called portal30, which uses a SIDFormat
connect string, you must add the template and then make the changes shown in bold text:
<Target TYPE="oracle_portal" NAME="my1012PW.machine1.abc.com_Portal:portal30" DISPLAY_NAME="Portal:portal30" VERSION="1.0"> <Property NAME="version" VALUE="10.1.2.0.2"/> <Property NAME="OracleHome" VALUE="/u01/app/oracle/product/my1012PW"/> <Property NAME="PortalListeningHostPort" VALUE="http://machine1.abc.com:7778"/> <Property NAME="HTTPMachine" VALUE="machine1.abc.com"/> <Property NAME="HTTPPort" VALUE="7778"/> <Property NAME="HTTPProtocol" VALUE="http"/> <Property NAME="portal_DAD" VALUE="portal30"/> <Property NAME="portalDatabaseMachineName" VALUE="www.abc.com" /> <Property NAME="portalDatabasePort" VALUE="1521" /> <Property NAME="portalDatabaseSchemaPassword" VALUE="4c958c5c661cabd683d42b2e663da358" ENCRYPTED="TRUE" /> <Property NAME="portalDatabaseSchemaUsername" VALUE="portal30" /> <Property NAME="OidRepSchemaName" VALUE="SIDFormat" /> <Property NAME="portalDatabaseSID" VALUE="mySID"/> <Property NAME="startComponent" VALUE="my1012PW.machine1.abc.com_OC4J_Portal"/> <Property NAME="PPESuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold" VALUE="80"/> <Property NAME="PPESuccessfulResponsesWarningThreshold" VALUE="90"/> <Property NAME="portletResponseCriticalThreshold" VALUE="4500"/> <Property NAME="portletResponseWarningThreshold" VALUE="4000"/> <Property NAME="modplsqlSuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold" VALUE="80"/> <Property NAME="modplsqlSuccessfulResponsesWarningThreshold" VALUE="90"/> <CompositeMembership> <MemberOf TYPE="oracle_ias" NAME="my1012PW.machine1.abc.com"/> </CompositeMembership> </Target>
Navigate to the ORACLE_HOME
/bin
directory of the Application Server Control or the Grid Control of which you have just edited the targets.xml
file and run the following command:
emctl reload
Using a Web browser, navigate to the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Console (or Grid Control) to verify your new target.
For details, see Section 7.2.1, "Accessing the Application Server Control Console" (or Section 7.1, "Using the Grid Control Console").
The new portal instance should appear in the list of System Components.
If you have reconfigured the database containing the portal schema such that the connection details for the database (for example, the server location, TNS port, or SID) have changed then you will need to edit the entry for the reconfigured portal in Portal Dependency Settings file iasconfig.xml
. To do this, perform the following steps:
Locate the targets.xml
file.
For the Application Server Control, it is located in the Oracle home of the Application Server middle tier:
MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml
For the Grid Control, it is located in the Oracle home containing the Grid Control Central Agent:
ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml
Note: You cannot use the Target Creation user interface in Grid Control to create a portal target. |
Edit the iasconfig.xml
file and change the connectString
for the portal instance to be reconfigured. The following example shows an updated entry:
<PortalInstance DADLocation="/pls/portal30"
SchemaUsername="portal30" SchemaPassword="welcome1"
connectString="abc.company.com:1521:db901dev">
<WebCacheDependency ContainerType="IASInstance"
Name="midtier.abc.company.com"/>
<OIDDependency ContainerType="IASInstance"
Name="infra.xyz.company.com"/>
<EMDependency ContainerType="IASInstance"
Name="midtier.abc.company.com"/>
</PortalInstance>
Update the OracleAS Metadata Repository with the new configuration settings in iasconfig.xml
, by running the following command:
ptlconfig -dad <dad_name> -wc -oid -em -site
Where dad_name
is the name of the portal DAD.
Note: You cannot use the instructions for changing the Metadata Repository used by a middle-tier instance described in the Oracle Application Server Administrator's Guide, because the portal schema is not contained in an OracleAS Metadata Repository. |
When making advanced configuration changes by using the ptlconfig
command the documentation examples in this guide often use the default DAD name portal. For example, you may be instructed to run the ptlconfig
tool as follows:
ptlconfig -dad portal
Remember to always substitute your actual DAD name if it is not "portal" (For example, portal30).
Upgraded OracleAS Portal instances whose schema resides outside of an OracleAS Metadata Repository require manual steps to perform a few configuration changes that an OracleAS Metadata Repository contained portal instance is able to complete by using the graphical user interface of Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g. The additional steps outlined in this appendix can be performed with a minimum of additional effort to achieve the same configuration and management operations.