5 Basic Configuration and Administration

5.1.1 Using the Oracle Portal Administer Tab

The Oracle Portal framework provides administrative services, such as access to monitoring and configuration tools, single sign-on, directory integration, caching, and security. A lot of the features needed to manage users and groups, to set up security and search features, and to administer the portal and database are incorporated into a series of dialog boxes accessed through portlets on a portal page.

After you have installed Oracle Portal, you need to log in as an administrator (The default username is orcladmin), to perform various administrative functions. After you have logged in to Oracle Portal, the Portal Builder page is displayed.

Click the Administer tab to view all the subtabs and portlets that help you administer the portal. The Administer tab is shown in Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1 The Administer Tab on the Portal Builder Page

Description of "Figure 5-1 The Administer Tab on the Portal Builder Page"

You will see the following subtabs in the Administer tab screen:

• Portal - This subtab enables you to create users and groups, administer the OracleAS Single Sign-On (SSO) server, and administer other services including Oracle Internet Directory, Secure Enterprise Search, Web Cache, proxy settings, and so on.

• Portlets - This subtab enables you to view the Portlet Repository and its refresh log, and register remote providers and provider groups.

• Database - This subtab enables you to create and edit database schemas, create and edit database roles, and monitor database information like database parameters, memory consumption, and database storage details.

Portal

This subtab under the Administer tab in the Portal Builder page contains the portlets shown in Table 5-1. This subtab is displayed by default when you click the Administer tab.

Portlets

This subtab under the Administer tab in the Portal Builder page contains the portlets shown in Table 5-2.

Database

This subtab under the Administer tab in the Portal Builder page contains the portlets shown in Table 5-3.

5.1.2 Using Additional Administrative Tools

For some administrative tasks that cannot be performed through the Oracle Portal Administer tab, you may need to use one of the following tools:

• Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control

• WebLogic ScriptingTool (WLST) Command-line Utility

• Portal Installation and Configuration Scripts

5.2.1 Accessing Oracle Portal in Your Browser

After Oracle Portal is installed, access it by entering the following URL in your browser:

http://<host>:<port>/portal/pls/<dad>

See Table 3-2, "Portal URL Descriptions" for an explanation of the URL components.

For backward compatibility, the old URL syntax is supported in this release. For example, http://<host>:<port>/pls/<dad>.

5.2.2 Finding Your Oracle Portal Version Number

To find your portal version number:

1. Log in as a portal administrator.

2. In the Portal Builder, click the Administer tab.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

3. Click the Portal tab.

4. In the Services portlet, click the Global Settings link.

   The version number for your Oracle Portal is shown at the bottom of the page.

5.3.1 Setting a Default Home Page

The home page is the first page that is displayed to a user after logging in to Oracle Portal. Here's how the logic works:

• If the user has specified a personal home page, that page is displayed when the user logs on.

• If the user has not selected a personal home page, but the portal administrator has set one for him or her, the default home page specified for that user is displayed.

• If the user has not selected a personal home page, but belongs to a default group, the default home page specified for that group is displayed.

• If there is no default home page for the user's default group, or if the user has no default group, then the system default home page is displayed.

5.3.2 Setting the System Default Style

If you are the portal administrator, you are responsible for selecting a style to serve as the system default.

When a style is deleted, all pages and item regions that used the style revert to the page group default style. If the page group default style is <None>, all pages and regions revert to the system default style.

To set the system default style:

1. In the Portal Builder, click the Administer tab.

2. Click the Portal subtab.

3. In the Services portlet, click the Global Settings link.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

4. In the Default Style section, choose a style from the Display Name list.

   Note:

   The list includes all public styles in the Shared Objects page group.

5. Click OK to return to the Portal Builder.

5.3.3 Creating Personal Pages

A personal page provides an area within Oracle Portal where authorized users can store and share their own content. Personal pages are located under the Shared Objects page group, and are organized alphabetically by user name.

This section covers the following topics:

• Automatically Creating a Personal Page for New Users

• Creating a Personal Page for an Existing User

5.3.4 Setting the Total Space Allocated for Uploaded Files

You can limit the amount of space provided in your database to store documents uploaded to page groups. See Section 5.3.6, "Changing the Page Group Quota" if you want to limit the amount of space provided for a single page group.

You can also limit the size of individual files that content contributors can upload to page groups. See Section 5.3.5, "Setting the Maximum File Size for Uploaded Files" for more information.

When a user uploads a file to the portal, the upload is monitored in the middle tier to detect whether the total space or maximum file size is exceeded. If either of these limits is exceeded, the upload is terminated and an error message is displayed.

To set the total space allocated for uploaded files:

1. In the Services portlet, click Global Settings.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

2. Make sure you are on the Main tab.

3. In the Total Space Allocated radio group, select Limit To to limit the amount of space provided to store files uploaded to the page groups in this portal.

4. In the field, enter the maximum amount of megabytes provided for uploaded files across the whole portal. When this limit is reached, users will no longer be able to upload files to page groups in the portal.

   Notes:

   • Select No Limit if you do not want to impose a limit for uploaded files.

   • The Used Space field displays the amount of space currently used by documents uploaded to page groups in this portal provided that a limit has been set. If no limit has been set you can still find out how much space is being used by clicking Calculate. Note that the calculation may take some time.

5. Click OK.

5.3.5 Setting the Maximum File Size for Uploaded Files

You can limit the size of individual files that users can upload to the page groups in your portal.

You can also limit the total amount of space provided in your database to store documents uploaded to page groups. See Section 5.3.4, "Setting the Total Space Allocated for Uploaded Files" for more information.

When a user uploads a file to the portal, the upload is monitored in the middle tier to detect if the maximum file size or portal file quota is exceeded. If either of these limits is exceeded, the upload is terminated and an error message is displayed.

To set the maximum file size for uploaded files:

1. In the Services portlet, click Global Settings.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

2. Make sure you are on the Main tab.

3. In the Maximum File Size radio group, select Limit To to specify the maximum size allowed for individual files uploaded to the portal.

4. In the field, enter the maximum size (in MB) for each individual file uploaded to the portal. If a content contributor attempts to upload a file larger than this size, an error is displayed.

   Note:

   Select No Limit if you do not want to impose a maximum file size.

5. Click OK.

5.3.6 Changing the Page Group Quota

You can limit the amount of space provided in your page group to store uploaded documents.

To change the page group quota:

1. In the Portal Navigator page, click the Page Groups tab.

2. Click Properties next to the page group with which you want to work.

3. In the Page Group Quota section, select Limit to to limit the amount of space provided to store uploaded documents.

4. In the field provided, enter the size limit (in MB) for uploaded documents in the page group. When this limit is reached, users will no longer be able to upload documents to the page group.

   Note:

   Select No limit if you do not want to impose a limit for uploaded documents.

5. Click OK.

5.3.7 Specifying E-mail (SMTP) Host

Enter the Host Name and Port of your e-mail server so that self-registered users can be informed by e-mail when their accounts are accepted or rejected. The default port for SMTP is usually 25. If you enable self-registered users to log on immediately, this information is not needed.

5.3.8 Specifying an Error Message Page

Oracle Portal enables you to choose the error message page that you want to display to users. You can choose the default system error page, or you can specify your own customized error page.

Oracle Portal includes an error message page (called Sample Error Page) that you can edit to match the look and feel of the other pages in your portal. The Sample Error Page is available under the Portal Design-Time page group and includes a portlet that displays all the diagnostic information. Alternatively, you can create your own error message page in any of your page groups. To do this, you must include the Error Message Portlet on the page and turn caching off.

To specify an error message page:

1. In the Services portlet, click Global Settings.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

2. In the Error Page section, select one of the following:

   • System Error Page to use the system error page to display full-page error messages to users. The system error page automatically includes all the diagnostic information.

   • Error Page to use your own page to display full-page error messages to users. Click the Browse Pages icon to select the error message page that you want to use.

3. Click OK.

5.3.9 Specifying an Error Reporting Style

Oracle Portal enables you to choose the error reporting style that you want to display to users. If you enable Secure Error Reporting, it prints only the toplevel error message. This option could be selected to avoid exposing error codes, cause and actions to the end users.

5.3.10 Setting the Default Page for Non-Authenticated Users

You can specify the default page that is displayed to users after they have logged out, or when they initially access the portal site, by setting the default home page for the PUBLIC (that is, non-authenticated) user.

To set the default page users see when they log out, or when they initially access the site, perform the following steps:

1. In the Portal User Profile portlet, in the Name field, enter PUBLIC.

   By default, the Portal User Profile portlet is on the Administer tab of the Portal Builder page.

2. Click Edit.

3. Next to the Default Home Page field, click the Browse Pages icon to see a list of pages from which to choose.

   Note:

   You cannot enter a value in this field; you must select one from the list.

4. Click Return Object next to the page you want to be displayed when users log out.

5. Click OK.

   Note:

   Click Reset to remove this setting.

5.3.11 Specifying the Default DOCTYPE for Pages

You can specify a global default doctype that identifies which version of HTML or XHTML it is using for all pages within your portal. Specifying the global doctype setting lets your browser display pages faster.

You identify the version of HTML or XHTML by including a doctype declaration in the code at the begining of the page, such as:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

Some examples of doctypes include:

• HTML 4.01 Compatibility mode

• HTML 4.01 Transitional

• HTML 4.01 Strict

• XHTML 1.0 Transitional

• XHTML 1.0 Strict

If you select a strict doctype (for example HTML Strict) some portlet refresh features will be affected due to HTML that is prohibited when using a Strict doctype. Specifically:

• The page assembly timeout option is not shown when editing pages.

• Portlet refresh does not use partial page refresh, instead the whole page is refreshed.

In addition, if you choose the middle image alignment option, your HTML will not validate as Strict. This is because an align attribute has to be used in this case, rather than a CSS attribute and the align attribute does not conform to Strict guidelines.

To specify the doctype for pages in a page group:

1. In the Services portlet, click Global Settings.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

2. In the Page DOCTYPE section, select the DOCTYPE to be used as a default for all page groups.

3. Check Allow Page Groups to use a different DOCTYPE to let users override this setting at the page group level, specifying a different doctype for the pages within a specific page group.

4. Click OK.

5.3.12 Removing the Context-Sensitive Help Link

If you have access to SQL*Plus, you can suppress the Context-sensitive Help link that appears in the banner in Oracle Portal wizards, dialog boxes, alerts, and so on. Note that you cannot suppress the "?" icon that appears in the blue bar of wizards, dialog boxes, and alerts.

You cannot perform this task through the user interface; it must be done programmatically through SQL*Plus.

To remove the context-sensitive help link:

1. Access SQL*Plus.

2. Enter:

   exec wwui_api_body.set_display_help (wwui_api_body.DISPLAY_HELP_OFF);
   commit;
   

To reinstate the context-sensitive help link:

1. Access SQL*Plus.

2. Enter:

   exec wwui_api_body.set_display_help (wwui_api_body.DISPLAY_HELP_ON);
   commit;
   

5.5.1 Synchronizing BPEL Workflow with Portal Workflow

Oracle BPEL workflow can work alongside Portal's default workflow. However, the workflow status as it changes at the BPEL end must be reflected back to the Portal workflow tables. To achieve this, a WebService is called back from BPEL which updates the Portal tables. The credentials needed to establish the connection to the Portal approval schema must be defined in datasource.xml.

5.5.2 Securing your Portal for BPEL Business Process

Oracle Portal uses secure socket layer (SSL) to secure communication with the BPEL business process which is the human workflow composite deployed on the SOA Server. Perform the following task to secure the end to end Portal BPEL communication:

• Configuring Outbond SSL to BPEL Server

• BPEL Server Callback to Portal

For more information on Portal security, see Chapter 7, "Securing Oracle Portal".

cd $ORACLE_HOME/portal/admin/plsql/wwc sqlplus <portal_schema/<portal_pwd>@connectstring sql> @secwc.sql <wallet_location>, <wallet_pwd>sql> @secwc.sql 'file:/u01/app/oracle/product/1021_prodee/dbwallet', 'welcome1'

5.5.3 Creating a New BPEL Process Definition

Before page group administrators and page owners can use Oracle BPEL workflow processes for approvals, you first need to create a process definition that points to those workflow processes.

1. In the Services portlet, click BPEL Process Definition Settings.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

2. Click Create New BPEL Process Definition.

3. In the Process Name field, enter the name of the Oracle BPEL process.

   Page group administrators and page designers use this name to identify the process when selecting which process to use for their page group or page. The name should be the same as the name used to identify the process in Oracle BPEL and should not contain any spaces or special characters.

4. In the Description field, enter a description of the behavior of the Oracle BPEL process.

   While this field is optional, providing a description will greatly aid page group administrators and page designers when they are selecting a process to use for their page group or page. The description can contain up to 4000 characters and can include spaces but not special characters.

5. In the Process Deployment Location field, enter the URL where the Oracle BPEL process is deployed. This is also known as the endpoint. You can obtain this endpoint from the process deployed in the SOA server.

   If this URL is not accessible directly from Oracle Portal, make sure you have set up the global proxy definition. See Section 6.5, "Configuring Oracle Portal to Use a Proxy Server."

6. In the Process WSDL Location field, enter the URL to the Oracle BPEL process's description document, or .wsdl file. Oracle Portal must have read permissions on this .wsdl file.

   If this URL is not accessible directly from Oracle Portal, make sure you have set up the global proxy definition. See Section 6.5, "Configuring Oracle Portal to Use a Proxy Server."

7. In the Process Operation field, enter the name of the operation that Oracle Portal should trigger when this Oracle BPEL process definition is called. The WSDL document should describe this operation.

8. Click OK to create the Oracle BPEL Process Definition.

9. A confirmation screen lets you know whether the definition was created successfully. If the definition was not created successfully, check the settings and try again.

   If your BPEL process definition was created successfully, click Close.

5.5.4 Editing an Existing BPEL Process Definition

You can edit an existing BPEL process definition if there are no items involved in the workflow. The business process will be locked if there any items in it.

1. In the Services portlet, click BPEL Process Definition Settings.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

2. Click the name of the BPEL process definition that you want to edit.

3. Edit the fields as required. For information about these fields, see Section 5.5.3, "Creating a New BPEL Process Definition."

   Note:

   You cannot edit the Process Name field.

4. Click OK to save your changes.

5. A confirmation screen lets you know whether the changes you made were successful. If the changes were not successful, check the settings and try again.

   If your changes were successful, click Close.

5.5.5 Deleting an Existing BPEL Process Definition

You can delete an existing BPEL process definition if required.

1. In the Services portlet, click BPEL Process Definition Settings.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

2. In the table, click the delete icon next to the BPEL process definition that you want to delete.

3. Check the details to make sure that this is the BPEL process definition that you want to delete.

4. Click Delete to continue with the operation, or Cancel if you have changed your mind.

5. Click Close.

5.5.6 Oracle Portal Message Schema

Oracle Portal initiates any Oracle BPEL workflow process through a SOAP message over HTTP. It also sends payload information including the URL of the item so that approvers can view it.

Example 5-2 shows a sample Oracle Portal message schema to illustrate the kind of information included in the message payload. The designer of the Oracle BPEL workflow process should use this information when creating the process (.XSD) file.

<complexType>
          <sequence>
              <element name="title" type="string"/>
              <element name="payload">
                <complexType>
                  <sequence>
                   <element name="itemType" type="string"/>
                   <element name="url" type="string"/>
                   <element name="status" type="string"/>
                   <element name="date" type="string"/>
                   <element name="Originator" type="string"/>
                   <element name="description" type="string"/>
                   <element name="pageName" type="string"/>
                   <element name="pageDisplayName" type="string"/>
                   <element name="pageGroupName" type="string"/>
                   <element name="subject" type="string"/>                       
                   <element name="itemVersion" type="string"/>
                   <element name="itemExpiry" type="string"/>
                   <element name="itemDisplayOption" type="string"/>                                                          
                   <element name="author" type="string"/>
                   <element name="defaultLanguage" type="string"/>
                  </sequence>
                </complexType>
              </element>
              <element name="itemId" type="integer"/>
              <element name="pageId" type="integer"/>
              <element name="siteId" type="integer"/>
              <element name="submitter" type="string"/>
              <element name="approvalId" type="integer"/>
              <element name="instanceId" type="integer"/>
              <element name="portalWSUrl" type="string"/>
              <element name="content_manager">
               <complexType>
                <sequence>
                 <element name="userCount" type="integer"/>
                 <element name="users" type="string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="10"/>
                </sequence>
               </complexType>
              </element>
              <element name="page_manager">
               <complexType>
                <sequence>
                 <element name="userCount" type="integer"/>
                 <element name="users" type="string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="10"/>
                </sequence>
               </complexType>
              </element>     
              <element name="page_group_manager">
               <complexType>
                <sequence>
                 <element name="userCount" type="integer"/>
                 <element name="users" type="string"/>
                 <element name="groupCount" type="integer"/>
                 <element name="groups" type="string"/>
                </sequence>
               </complexType>
              </element>           
          </sequence>
        </complexType>

Table 5-4 describes the different elements in the message payload.

5.5.7 BPEL Callback Webservice Proxy

Oracle Portal requires any Oracle BPEL workflow process to add a callback service before you deploy the business process.

Example 5-3 and Example 5-4, shows a sample callback proxy service to illustrate a Reject or Approval step. The designer of the Oracle BPEL workflow process can use this information when creating the process.

try                 
{                 
    portalwsproxy.proxy.WSPortalApprovalSoapHttpPortClient client =                    
    new portalwsproxy.proxy.WSPortalApprovalSoapHttpPortClient();       
                  
    oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement elm ;       
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:portalWSUrl");
    org.w3c.dom.Node node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
    String portalWSUrl = node.getNodeValue();       
    System.out.println("portalWSUrl = " + portalWSUrl);       
    client.setEndpoint(portalWSUrl);       
 
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:itemId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
       
    System.out.println("Itemid = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal itemId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:pageId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
       
    System.out.println("Pageid = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal pageId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:siteId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
       
    System.out.println("Siteid = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal siteId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:approvalId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
       
    System.out.println("approvalId = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal approvalId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:instanceId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
       
    System.out.println("instanceId = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal instanceId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    client.reject(itemId,pageId,siteId,instanceId,approvalId);     
}       
catch(java.rmi.RemoteException remoteException)            
{            
    System.out.println("REJECT  "+remoteException); 
    System.out.println("An exception occured while trying " +                  
        " connect to portal");                 
    remoteException.printStackTrace();            
}            
catch(Exception exception)                 
{                 
    System.out.println("REJECT_OTHERS "+ exception);       
    exception.printStackTrace();           
}

try                 
{                 
    portalwsproxy.proxy.WSPortalApprovalSoapHttpPortClient client =                    
    new portalwsproxy.proxy.WSPortalApprovalSoapHttpPortClient();                      
                   
    System.out.println("INSIDE THE APPROVE section");  
    oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement elm ;       
      
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:portalWSUrl");       
    org.w3c.dom.Node node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
    String portalWSUrl = node.getNodeValue();       
    System.out.println("portalWSUrl = " + portalWSUrl);       
    client.setEndpoint(portalWSUrl);       
      
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:submitter");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
    System.out.println("submitter = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    String submitter = new String(node.getNodeValue());       
      
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:itemId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
 
    System.out.println("Itemid = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal itemId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:pageId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
    System.out.println("pageid = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal pageId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:siteId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
    System.out.println("Siteid = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal siteId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:approvalId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
    System.out.println("approvalid = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal approvalId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    elm = (oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement)getVariableData("inputVariable","payload","/client:process/client:instanceId");       
    node = (org.w3c.dom.Node) elm.getFirstChild();       
    System.out.println("instanceid = " + node.getNodeValue());       
    java.math.BigDecimal instanceId = new java.math.BigDecimal(node.getNodeValue());       
       
    client.approve(itemId,pageId,siteId,submitter,instanceId,approvalId);       
}       
catch(java.rmi.RemoteException remoteException)            
{            
    System.out.println("INSIDE APPROVE  " + remoteException);         
    System.out.println("An exception occured while trying " +                  
        " connect to portal");                 
    remoteException.printStackTrace();            
}            
        catch(Exception exception)                 
{                 
    System.out.println("INSIDE APPROVE WHEN_OTHERS " + exception);         
    exception.printStackTrace();           
}

5.6.1 Simplifying the Full URL of an Oracle Portal Instance

You can simplify the full URL created by the Oracle Portal installation to a more memorable or meaningful URL using the Redirect directive. In this way, end users can access Oracle Portal by entering a simple URL.

By default, the URL for a new Oracle Portal installation requires you to enter:

http://<host>:<port>/portal/pls/<dad>

You can simplify this URL to:

http://<host>/<redirectpath>

1. Open the Oracle HTTP Server configuration file, httpd.conf, which is located in the following directory:

   ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\OHS\ohs1
   

2. Enter the redirect path as follows:

   Redirect /<redirectpath> http://<host>:<port>/portal/pls/<dad>
   

   For example:

   Redirect /portalhome http://mysite.oracle.com/portal/pls/portal
   

   In this example, end users can enter:

   http://mysite.oracle.com/portalhome
   

   to access the full URL, which is:

   http://mysite.oracle.com/portal/pls/portal
   

   Notes:

   • The example http://mysite.oracle.com/portalhome assumes that the default port is being used. If the default port is not being used, then the user would have to enter the URL with the port number, http://mysite.oracle.com:<port>/portalhome.

   • You can also edit the httpd.conf file using the Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control. After you edit the httpd.conf file you can restart the Oracle HTTP Server using the Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control.

3. Restart the HTTP server by executing the following command from ORACLE_INSTANCE\bin\opmnctl:

   opmnctl restartproc type=ohs
   

   You can also restart HTTP server by using the Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control.

5.6.2 Configuring Oracle HTTP Server to Use the Oracle Portal Home Page

To set the Oracle Portal home page as the Oracle HTTP Server's default home page:

1. In the directory ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\OHS\ohs1\htdocs, make a backup copy of the files welcome-index.html and welcome-index.html.<lang>, where <lang> is the language code. For example, welcome-index.html.en is the index HTML file for English.

2. Edit welcome-index.html.<lang> by replacing the entire contents of the file with the following HTML redirection code:

   <HTML>
   <SCRIPT LANGUAGE=JavaScript>
   document.location="http://<host>.<domain>:<port>/portal/pls/<dad>"
   </SCRIPT>
   </HTML>
   

   Notes:

   • Do not specify a port number if you are running Oracle Portal on port 80 or 443.You will need to specify a port number if you are running Oracle Portal on port 8090.

   • If you plan to support other languages, you need to have the language-specific index HTML files with the redirection code, for these languages.

5.6.3 Stopping and Starting Portal Components Using Fusion Middleware Control

Portal components typically need to be restarted following a configuration change.

Follow the steps below to stop, start, or restart a component using Fusion Middleware Control:

1. Navigate to the Fusion Middleware Control instance for the appropriate farm.

   See "Accessing Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control" for more information.

2. Navigate to the home page for your Oracle Portal instance.

   See Section 8.2, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to Monitor and Administer Oracle Portal" for more information.

3. Locate the Related Components portlet.

4. In the Name column of the Related Components portlet, click on the component to start or stop.

5. From the component menu, select Control.

6. Do one of the following:

   • Click Stop to stop the component.

   • Click Start to start the component.

5.6.4 Configuring a Portal DAD Using Fusion Middleware Control

A Database Access Descriptor (DAD) is a set of values that specify how an application connects to an Oracle Database to fulfill an HTTP request. The information in the DAD includes the user name (which also specifies the schema and the privileges), password, connect-string, and Globalization Support language of the database.

There are two types of DADs: general DADs and portal DADs. An Oracle Portal middle tier uses a portal DAD to access the Oracle Metadata Repository, and this section describes how you can create, edit, or delete a Portal DAD. For information on general DADs, refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle HTTP Server.

Creating a Portal DAD

A Portal DAD is automatically created when Oracle Portal is installed. However, should it be necessary, you can create a DAD manually using Fusion Middleware Control.

Follow the steps below to create a new Portal DAD :

1. Navigate to the Fusion Middleware Control instance for the appropriate farm.

   See Section 8.1, "Using Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control" for more information.

2. Navigate to the home page for your Oracle Portal instance.

   See Section 8.2, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to Monitor and Administer Oracle Portal" for more information.

3. From the Portal menu, select Settings > Database Access Descriptor.

4. Click Add and complete the parameters for the new Portal DAD. Refer to Table 8-1, "DAD Settings" for a description of all the options on this page.

5. Click OK.

6. Restart the Oracle HTTP Server and the managed server (WLS_PORTAL).

   Refer to Section 5.6.3, "Stopping and Starting Portal Components Using Fusion Middleware Control" for information on restarting the Oracle HTTP Server and WLS_Portal components.

Editing a Portal DAD

Follow the steps below to edit a Portal DAD using Fusion Middleware Control:

1. Navigate to the Fusion Middleware Control instance for the appropriate farm.

   See Section 8.1, "Using Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control" for more information.

2. Navigate to the home page for your Oracle Portal instance.

   See Section 8.2, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to Monitor and Administer Oracle Portal" for more information.

3. From the Portal menu, select Settings > Database Access Descriptor.

4. Select the DAD and click Edit. Edit the DAD parameters for this Oracle Portal instance as required. Refer to Table 8-1, "DAD Settings" for a description of all the options on this page.

5. Click OK.

6. Restart the Oracle HTTP Server and the managed server (WLS_PORTAL).

   Refer to Section 5.6.3, "Stopping and Starting Portal Components Using Fusion Middleware Control" for information on restarting the Oracle HTTP Server and WLS_Portal components.

Deleting a Portal DAD

Follow the steps below to delete a Portal DAD using Fusion Middleware Control:

1. Navigate to the Fusion Middleware Control instance for the appropriate farm.

   See Section 8.1, "Using Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control" for more information.

2. Navigate to the home page for your Oracle Portal instance.

   See Section 8.2, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to Monitor and Administer Oracle Portal" for more information.

3. From the Portal menu, select Settings > Database Access Descriptor.

4. Select the DAD and click Delete.

5. Click OK.

6. Restart the Oracle HTTP Server and the managed server (WLS_PORTAL).

   Refer to Section 5.6.3, "Stopping and Starting Portal Components Using Fusion Middleware Control" for information on restarting the Oracle HTTP Server and WLS_Portal components.

5.6.5 Configuring a Portal DAD Using WLST

Follow the instructions below to create, list, update, or delete a Portal DAD from the WLST command-line scripting interface. Refer to Section 5.1.2.2, "WebLogic ScriptingTool (WLST) Command-line Utility" for more information about using the WLST.

Use the Database Access Descriptor commands listed in Table 5-5 to create, list, update, or delete a Portal DAD from the WLST command-line scripting interface. Based on your actions, the portal_dads.conf file located at DOMAIN_HOME\config\fmwconfig\servers\WLS_PORTAL\applications\portal\configuration is updated.

createPortalDad (name, schema, password, [connect_string], nls_language)

name

schema

password

connect_string

nls_language

createPortalDad(name='portal1',schema='schema',password='welcome1',connect_string='foo.oracle.com:1521:orcl',nls_language='AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8')

updatePortalDad (name, [schema], [password], [connect_string], [nls_language])

name

schema

password

connect_string

nls_language

updatePortalDad(name='portal1',schema='user1',password='welcome2',connect_string='foo.oracle.com:1521:orcl',nls_language='AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8')

deletePortalDad(name)

name

deletePortalDad(name='portal1')

listDads ()

listDads()
------------
/pls/portal1
Schema: h1user
Connect String: foo.oracle.com:1521:orcl
NLS Language: "AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8"

5.6.6 Configuring the Portal Cache Using Fusion Middleware Control

Portal cache is a file system-based cache for Oracle Portal pages and portlets. See Section 1.3.2, "Understanding Portal Cache" for more information.

Follow the steps below to configure the Portal cache using Fusion Middleware Control:

1. Navigate to the Fusion Middleware Control instance for the appropriate farm.

   See Section 8.1, "Using Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control" for more information.

2. Navigate to the home page for your Oracle Portal instance.

   See Section 8.2, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to Monitor and Administer Oracle Portal" for more information.

3. From the Portal menu, select Settings > Portal Cache.

4. Ensure that the Caching option is set to On.

5. Edit the cache settings for the Oracle Portal instance as required. Table 8-2, "Portal Cache Settings" has a description of all the options on this page.

6. Click Apply.

7. Restart the managed server (WLS_PORTAL).

   Refer to Section 5.6.3, "Stopping and Starting Portal Components Using Fusion Middleware Control" for information on restarting the WLS_Portal components.

5.6.7 Configuring the Portal Cache Using WLST

The WLST(online) command update the attributes of the Portal cache.

TheSE configuration details are maintained in the DOMAIN_HOME\config\fmwconfig\servers\WLS_PORTAL\applications\portal\configuration\portal_cache.conf file.

To update the attributes of the Portal Cache, use:

configurePortalCache(enable, directory, total_size, max_size, cleanup_time, max_age)

enable

directory

total_size

max_size

cleanup_time

max_age

configurePortalCache(enable=true,directory='/scratch/user/installs/Inst_1/cache/PortalComponent/portal',total_size=10101010,max_size=12300033,cleanup_time='Everyday 11:00',max_age=20)

5.6.8 Clearing the Portal Cache

Sometimes you must clear the entire portal cache (the Oracle Portal file system-based cache). For example, when you change the character set of the Oracle Metadata Repository, you will need to clear the entire portal cache as the existing content will use the older character set.

To clear the portal cache:

1. Navigate to the portal cache directory. The default path is ORACLE_INSTANCE\portal\cache.

2. Perform a recursive delete of all the files under this directory. For example, on UNIX platforms, issue the following command:

   rm -rf * 
   

   Notes:

   • Whenever you clear the portal cache, you may need to clear the Oracle Web Cache content as well. Refer to Section 6.7.3, "Configuring Portal Web Cache Settings Using WLST" for information about clearing the Oracle Web Cache content.

   • You must clear the portal cache on all middle tiers.

   WARNING:

   Ensure that you are in the correct directory before issuing this command. Do not delete the cache directory.

5.6.9 Configuring the Portal Parallel Page Engine

The Oracle Portal architecture is designed around a three-tier architecture that allows any browser to connect to it. This flexible architecture allows each component (browser, Oracle HTTP Server listener, Oracle Database 11g, and Oracle Portal) to be upgraded individually as required.

A part of the Oracle Portal middle tier, the Parallel Page Engine (PPE) is a servlet that runs under Oracle WebLogic Server and services page requests. The PPE reads page metadata, calls providers for portlet content, accepts provider responses, and assembles the requested page in the specified page layout.

DOMAIN_HOME\config\fmwconfig\servers\WLS_PORTAL\applications\portal\configuration

DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_PORTAL\tmp\_WL_user\portal\uh04o6\war\WEB-INF

<x509certfile>c:\certificates\trustedcerts.txt</x509certfile>

<versionOnSplashScreen>false</versionOnSplashScreen>

<useScheme>http</useScheme>

<usePort>8888</usePort>

<useDeviceNameCacheKeys>false</useDeviceNameCacheKeys>

<urlDebugUsers>fred,bill,ben</urlDebugUsers>

<urlDebugMode>1</urlDebugMode>

<stall>65</stall>

<showPageDebug>false</showPageDebug>

<showError>true</showError>

<resourceUrlKey>KEY</resourceUrlKey>

<requestTime>30</requestTime>

<queueTimeout>10</queueTimeout>

<proxyHost>ph.comp.com</proxyHost>
<proxyPort>8888</proxyPort>

<poolSize>25</poolSize>

<offlinePath>/path/offline.html</offlinePath>
<offlinePathMxml>/path/offline.xml</offlinePathMxml>

<minTimeout>5</minTimeout>

<maxParallelPortlets>20</maxParallelPortlets>

<maxParallelPagePortlets>10</maxParallelPagePortlets>

<jspSrcAlias>/internal_jsp/</jspSrcAlias>

<jspRoot>internal_jsp</jspRoot>

<httpsPorts>433:444</httpsPorts>

<enableWebCacheStaticRules>false</enableWebCacheStaticRules>

<dmsLogging>false</dmsLogging>

<cacheEncryptionKey>KEY</cacheEncryptionKey>

<fileUploadLimit>65536</fileUploadLimit>

<disableUploadRequestChunking>false</disableUploadRequestChunking>

<wsrpFullPageDecoration>false</wsrpFullPageDecoration>

<wsrpCouldNotGetMarkupMsg>This is my personalized error message</wsrpCouldNotGetMarkupMsg>

     ...
     <init-param>
       <param-name>providerHeaders</param-name>
       <param-value>true</param-value>
     </init-param>
     <init-param>
       <param-name>headersFor: http://my.provider.com/jpdk/providers</param-name>
       <param-value>Date:Pragma:X-Oracle-Header</param-value>
     </init-param>
     <init-param>
       <param-name>headersFor: http://some.provider.com/jpdk/providers urn:charts</param-name>
       <param-value>Via:X-Custom-Header</param-value>
     </init-param>
     <init-param>
       <param-name>headersFor: http://other.provider.com/jpdk/clipping</param-name>
<param-value>Cookie/ORA_UCM_INFO;sandiaCookie:Via:X-Custom-Header</param-value>
     </init-param>
     ...

configurePortalPageEngine(encrypt_key, resource_url_key, use_port, use_scheme, x509certfile)

encrypt_key

resource_url_key

use_port

use_scheme

x509certfile

configurePortalPageEngine(encrypt_key='encryption key',resource_url_key='foo.oracle.com',use_port=9999,use_scheme='http',x509certfile='file')

5.6.10 Retrieving the Portal Schema Password

The Oracle Portal schema password is required for some operations where you need to log in to the Portal schema. This section describes how to retrieve the Oracle Portal schema password. For information about changing schema passwords for both default and nondefault Oracle Portals, refer to Section 6.12, "Changing the Oracle Portal Schema Password". To retrieve the Portal schema password, you can use one the following:

• Using the Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control

• Using the WLST Command

Using the Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control

To retrieve the Oracle Portal schema password, using the Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control, do the following:

1. Login to the Enterprise Manager.

2. Expand WebLogic Domain, and then select ClasssicDomain.

3. Right click ClasssicDomain, select Security, and then Credentials.

   The Credentials page is displayed.

4. Under Credential, expand oracle.portal.dads, to see the mapname and keyname. The default mapname is oracle.portal.dads and the keyname is /pls/portal.

Using the WLST Command

The Oracle Portal schema password is stored in the configured credential store, and can be retrieved by an administrator using the WLST listCred command. This command returns the list of attribute values of a credential in the domain credential store with given map name and key name and lists the data encapsulated in credentials of type password only. To retrieve the Portal schema password, perform the following:

1. Run wlst, located at ORACLE_HOME\common\bin in windows (For Unix it is wlst.sh).

2. Enter connect()" -> wls:\offline>connect().

3. Enter your username, password, and server URL.

4. Run listCred(map="mapName", key="keyName"). For example, wls:/ClassicDomain/serverConfig> listCred(map="oracle.portal.dads", key="/pls/portal")

5. The output will be as shown in the following example:

    {map=oracle.portal.dads, key=/pls/portal} 
    Location changed to domainRuntime tree. This is a read-only tree with DomainMBean as the root. 
    For more help, use help(domainRuntime) 
    
    [Name : DEV_PORTAL, Description : null, expiry Date : null] 
    PASSWORD:manager1 
   

5.6.11 Using a Custom Image Directory

To avoid losing custom images stored in the Oracle Portal images directory (which is ORACLE_HOME\portal\images by default) during a future upgrade, it is recommended that you create your own images directory and set up an appropriate Oracle HTTP Server alias for this directory.

For example, add an entry, similar to the one shown next, to the file ORACLE_HOME\portal\conf\portal.conf. It is recommended that you use the local Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control instance to make this change. For more information, refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle HTTP Server or the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Web Cache.

Alias /myimages/ "/opt/app/myportal/images/"
<Directory "/opt/app/myportal/images/">
     AllowOverride None
     Order allow,deny
     Allow from all
     ExpiresActive on
     ExpiresDefault A2592000
  <Files *>
     Header set Surrogate-Control 'max-age=2592000'
  </Files>
</Directory>

You do not need to perform any specific Oracle Web Cache configuration as Oracle Web Cache is already configured to globally cache .bmp, .gif, .png, .jpg, and .jpeg files.

5.7.1 Installing Oracle Application Server Wireless

OracleAS Wireless is no longer installed by default, and OracleAS Wireless 10g must now be installed separately.

To install wireless:

1. Download the Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 distribution available from OTN:

   http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/ias/downloads/101202-095224.html

2. Follow the onscreen instructions to install the OracleAS Wireless 10g distribution.

   After completing the OracleAS Wireless 10g installation on a separate server, continue by configuring Oracle Portal and OracleAS Wireless as shown in Section 5.7.4, "Configuring Mobile Access".

   Note:

   Oracle Portal 11g Release 1(11.1.1.4) uses OracleAS Wireless 10g for mobile support.

3. You need to install the following OracleAS Wireless 10g patch to the Wireless instance:

   • If you are using OracleAS Wireless 10g (10.1.2.0.2), you can download the patch ID 8567297 from https://support.oracle.com/.

   • If you are using OracleAS Wireless 10g (10.1.2.3), you can download the patch ID 8567297 from https://support.oracle.com/.

   This patch is required to fix an issue on cookie handling for mobile devices.

5.7.2 Patching OracleAS Single Sign-On for Oracle Portal Mobile Access

To fix issues on the mobile login form, you must download and install the patch ID 8564509 from https://support.oracle.com/.

5.7.3 Configuring Mobile Settings in Oracle Portal

To configure mobile settings in Oracle Portal:

1. In the Services portlet, click Global Settings.

   By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal subtab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page.

2. Click the Mobile tab.

Most mobile-related settings for Oracle Portal are found here. For more detail, see:

• Enabling Mobile Access

• Configuring Mobile Home Pages

• Displaying Page Titles in Mobile Banner Links

• Displaying Enhanced Page Layouts on PDAs

• Logging Mobile Responses

• Configuring the OracleAS Wireless Portal Service URL Reference

5.7.3.4 Displaying Enhanced Page Layouts on PDAs

The Enhance Display for PDAs option allows enhanced page layouts to be displayed on PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). PDAs have better display capabilities than other, more simple mobile devices; therefore it is possible to enhance portal page display for PDAs.

If you select this option, default font and color settings on the PDA are used for the text, link text, the page list background, the banner background, and so on. By setting additional PDA Display Options you can override the default PDA display settings and include an image in the PDA page banner if you wish. See Figure 5-2, "Sample PDA Page Layout".

Figure 5-2 Sample PDA Page Layout

Description of "Figure 5-2 Sample PDA Page Layout"

If you do not select this option, the same page layout is used for all mobile devices.

To display enhanced page layouts on PDAs and (optionally) customize PDA display options:

1. In the Services portlet, click Global Settings.

2. Click the Mobile tab.

3. Select the Enhance Display for PDAs option.

4. Click Apply.

   When you click Apply, a new section called PDA Display Options is displayed at the bottom of the page.

5. (Optional) Set PDA Display Options to control how portal pages are displayed on PDAs. Ensure that you use valid markup when specifying your font and color preferences.

   For more detail, see Table 5-8, "PDA Display Options".

6. Click OK.

Table 5-8 PDA Display Options

Option	Description
General Options	Override the default font and color for: Background Color - Specify a background color for portal pages; for example, enter #FF0000 or red. Font Name - Specify the font used to display text on portal pages; for example, enter arial. Font Size - Specify the font size used to display text on portal pages; for example, enter -1. Font Color - Specify the font color used to display text on portal pages; for example, enter #0000FF or blue. To use the default font or color selected by the PDA, leave the appropriate field blank.
Basic Link Options	Override the default colors: Unvisited Link Color - Specify a color for unvisited links on portal pages; for example, enter #00FFFF or lightblue. Selected Link Color - Specify a color for selected links on portal pages; for example, enter #FFFFFF or white. Visited Link Color - Specify a color for visited links on portal pages; for example, enter #FF00FF or magenta. To use the default link color selected by the PDA, leave the appropriate field blank.
Banner Image Options	Use these options to specify an image (.GIF) for the PDA banner: Banner Image (File name or URL) - If the image is located in the portal's default image directory, enter the name of the .GIF file only; for example, enter mylogo. Alternatively, enter the full URL to the image; for example, enter http://www.mycompany/images/mylogo. In Default Image Directory? - Select this check box if the banner image you want to use is located in the portal's default image directory. Clear this check box if the image is accBanner Background Color - Specify a background banner color for portal pages; for example, enter #00FFFF or lightblue. Leave the field blank to use the default color selected by the PDA.essible from a URL. Banner Background Color - Specify a background banner color for portal pages; for example, enter #00FFFF or lightblue. Leave the field blank to use the default color selected by the PDA.
Page List (Breadcrumbs) Options	Override the default colors: Foreground Color - Specify a foreground color for portal page breadcrumbs; for example, enter #00FFFF or lightblue. Background Color - Specify a background color for portal page breadcrumbs; for example, enter #0000FF or blue. Link Color - Specify a color for link text in portal page breadcrumbs; for example, enter #000000 or black. To use the default color selected by the PDA, leave the appropriate field blank.
Login / Logout Link	Specify a color for the Login/Logout link displayed on portal pages; for example, enter #000000 or black.

5.7.4 Configuring Mobile Access

After the initial mobile access configuration, or any subsequent Oracle Application Server reconfiguration that results in a change to the Oracle Application Server Wireless service URL or Oracle Portal home page URL, you must manually configure OracleAS Wireless and Oracle Portal to reflect their respective URLs. For more information, see:

• Configuring the Oracle Portal Home Page URL References

• Configuring the OracleAS Wireless Portal Service URL Reference

ORACLE_HOME/assistants/opca/

perl cfgiasw.pl -s portal -c portal_db -h "http://my_portal_server.com/portal/pls/portal/portal.home"

ORACLE_HOME\assistants\opca\

perl cfgiasw.pl -s portal -c portal_db -w "http://my_iasw_server.com/ptg/rm?PAoid=12345"

5.7.5 Changing the Mobile Device Component of the Cache Key

OracleAS Wireless is integrated with Oracle Web Cache to improve page rendering performance and scalability. The cache is used as a repository for post-transformed content; the wireless runtime determines what content needs to be inserted into the cache and when to expire content in the cache. The cache key used by Oracle Portal is composed of numerous components. One of these components is based on the OracleAS Wireless header, X-Oracle-Device.Class. This component allows portlet content to be cached based on the class of the mobile device used.

You can enable portlet content to be cached based on the name of a specific device rather than the device class. Refer to Section B.8, "Using the cfgxodnc.pl Script to Change the Mobile Device Component of the Cache Key" for more information.

5.10.1 Installing Languages After Installing Oracle Portal

To install languages after you have installed Oracle Portal, run ptllang. You must run ptllang for each language that you want Oracle Portal to support.

Environment

The ptllang tool is available in the ORACLE_HOME/assistants/opca directory. Set the ORACLE_HOME environment variable to the Oracle home that contains the binaries for Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports and Discoverer.

Assumptions

The Oracle Metadata Repository is already installed, and the respective databases are up.

Usage

On Windows:

ptllang.bat  -lang lang_code [ -s portal_schema] [-sp portal_schema_password] [-c portal_db_connect_string] [-log log_file_directory] 

On UNIX:

ptllang.sh  -lang lang_code [ -s portal_schema] [-sp portal_schema_password] [-c portal_db_connect_string] [-log log_file_directory] 

Table 5-10 lists and describes the parameters supported by ptllang.

Usage example

The following examples pass in the input provided on the command line. The examples load the Dutch language strings into the portal schema in the Oracle Metadata Repository.

On Windows:

ptllang.bat -s portal -sp portal -c myDBhost.domain.com:1521:dbServiceName -lang nl -log c:\temp 

On UNIX:

ptllang.sh -s portal -sp portal -c myDBhost.domain.com:1521:dbServiceName -lang nl  -log /oracle/log

5.10.2 Enabling the Use of Territories

Once a language is installed into Oracle Portal, the end user can select the language to be used from the languages displayed in the Set Language portlet. For a given language, portal users may also select their geographic location (territory) so that localization settings such as date, currency, and decimal formats are displayed correctly. For example, if the portal language is set to English, portal users may select from territories such as, America, Australia, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, and so on.

Territory selection is not available on the Set Language portlet by default. If you want portal users to be able to specify their geographical location (territory), you must edit the Set Language portlet.

The Set Language portlet is not displayed by default. However, you can add it to the Portal Builder page or any other Oracle Portal page.

Adding the Set Language Portlet to a Portal Page

To add the Set Language portlet to a portal page:

1. Log in to Oracle Portal as the portal schema owner.

2. Display the page where you want to display the Set Language portlet. For example, you might want to add the Set Language portlet to the Administrator tab on the Portal Builder Page.

3. Click Edit on top of the page.

4. Click the Add Portlet icon in the region where you want to add the portlet.

5. In the Portlet Repository, click Portal Content Tools.

6. Click Set Language in the Available Portlets area, and click OK.

   The Set Language portlet is now available on the portal page.

   Note:

   If you add the Set Language portlet to a page and subsequently install another language, the new language is not displayed when you view the page. As a workaround, remove the portlet and add it to the page again.

Enabling the Use of Territories and Locales

To enable the use of territories and locales:

1. Log in to Oracle Portal as the portal schema owner.

2. Click the Edit Defaults icon for the Set Language portlet.

3. In the Edit Set Language Portlet Settings screen shown, select the Enable Territory Selection option.

4. Click OK.

By selecting the Enable Territory Selection option, the appropriate locales for each registered language are displayed. The locales are listed after the languages in the Set Language portlet, as shown in Figure 5-3.

Figure 5-3 The Set Language Portlet

Description of "Figure 5-3 The Set Language Portlet"

5.11.1 Performing Basic WebDAV Configuration

After Oracle Portal has been installed as part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware installation, the mod_oradav.conf file should be populated with a <Location> directive that points to the portal schema. In Example 5-11, the location /dav_portal/portal will be OraDAV-enabled and will (once populated with the correct values) connect to the portal schema so that users can use WebDAV clients to access portal data.

<Location /dav_portal/portal>
   DAV Oracle
   DAVDepthInfinity On
   DAVParam ORACONNECTSN
   <dbhost:dbport:dbservicename>
   DAVParam ORAUSER <portal schema name>
   DAVParam ORACRYPTPASSWORD <portal schema crypted password>
   DAVParam ORACONTAINERNAME wwdav
   DAVParam ORAPACKAGENAME
   <portal_schema>.wwdav_api_driver   DAVParam ORAException RAISE
   DAVParam ORATraceLevel 0   DAVParam ORACookieMaxAge 28800   Options Indexes
</Location>

http://<host>:<port>/dav_portal/portal/

http://mysite.oracle.com:8090/dav_portal/portal

The dav_portal part of the URL is the default name of a virtual directory used to differentiate between portal access through a WebDAV client and portal access that uses the pls virtual directory. portal is the DAD of the portal installation. You can also configure virtual hosts to provide a different, simpler, or easier to remember URL for WebDAV access, if need be.

Users connect to a portal in WebDAV clients using the same user name and password that they use to log in to the portal itself. If the portal is in a hosted environment, users also need to add their company information to their user name, as follows:

<username>@<company>

Authentication

Due to the way some WebDAV clients behave, users might experience authentication requests multiple times. To avoid this, the portal administrator can enable the cookie option by adding the following line to the oradav.conf file:

DAVParam ORACookieMaxAge <seconds>

where seconds is the amount of time in seconds before the cookie expires.

For example a value of 28800 is 8 hours and means that once a user has logged on through a WebDAV client, the client tool will not send the user name and password again until 8 hours has passed. Many WebDAV clients (For example: Oracle Drive, WebFolders and Cadaver) do not prompt the user for a user name and password after that time as they retain the values entered when the user first connected and use them to create a new cookie.

If you are using the SQL*Net Advanced Security Option (ASO), the ORACONNECT parameter in the mod_oradav.conf file must be replaced with ORASERVICE dbhost as shown next:

<Location /dav_portal/portal>
  DAV Oracle
  DAVParam ORASERVICE dbhost
  DAVParam ORAUSER portal_schema
  DAVParam ORAPASSWORD portal_schema_password
  DAVParam ORAPACKAGENAME portal_schema.wwdav_api_driver
  Options Indexes
</Location>

This allows the database alias to be resolved by the tnsnames.ora file.

Default Time Limit for File Locks

The new DEFAULTLOCKTIMEOUT parameter provides information about the amount of time for which any single lock created by a DAV client will endure if the client does not actively maintain the lock. This is an optional parameter. By modifying this value, you can define the default amount of time beyond which the locks will expire.

The DEFAULTLOCKTIMEOUT parameter is available in the following format in the mod_oradav.conf file:

DAVParam DEFAULTLOCKTIMEOUT 86400

The unit of measurement for this parameter is seconds. If the parameter is not specified in the configuration file, then Oracle Portal will create locks that will expire in one day, that is, 86400 seconds.

If the time specified for a lock expires, then any temporary document related to that lock is removed. This is expected behavior, for example:

• If Microsoft Word crashes while you are updating a document, you will lose changes to the document if the lock time has expired.

• If you perform operations such as LOCK, PUT, PUT and then close a client without specifying UNLOCK, all data that was PUT will be lost if the lock time has expired.

5.11.2 Setting Up a WebDAV Client

The steps required to set up a WebDAV client to connect to Oracle Portal varies depending on the client. All clients will eventually request a URL. The Portal DAV URL is very similar to the URL you use to access the portal itself in your Web browser, and uses the following format:

http://<host>:<port>/<dav_location>

5.11.3 WebDAV Clients and SSL

Although OraDAV does support Secure Socket Layer (SSL), some WebDAV clients do not. Refer to the WebDAV client's documentation for details.

5.11.4 Checking the Version of OraDAV Drivers

You can check the version of the OraDAV drivers from any Web browser, as shown in the following example:

http://<computer>:<port>/<dav location>/~OraDAV-Version

The output will be like the following example:

Version 1.0.3.2.3-0030 
Using Container Version 1.5

5.11.5 Checking version of oraDAV

You can check the version of oraDAV by going to dav_portal at http://host:portal/dav_portal/portal. In the Dav portal url, the version will be displayed as oraDav Portal Driver (Version Number).

5.11.6 Viewing Errors

Any errors that occur when a user performs actions on a portal using a WebDAV client are recorded in an error log that is created in that user's personal page (as an item titled My Error Log) the first time an Oracle Portal-related WebDAV error occurs. This can be very helpful for interpreting the error messages reported in WebDAV clients, such as the message 'An error has occurred while trying to complete this operation' that is often displayed in Web Folders, or HTTP error numbers reported in Cadaver.

All errors are also recorded in the Apache error log file (ORACLE_INSTANCE\diagnostics\logs\OHS\ohs1), so if the user does not have a personal page, or is a public user, the errors can still be examined.

The OraTraceEvents parameter in the mod_oradav.conf file ensures that certain information about an error, such as Agent, User, ECID, URL, and Method, is logged in the Apache error log file. This information is helpful to portal administrators and Oracle Support Services in resolving the error. The OraTraceEvents parameter is available in the following format in the mod_oradav.conf file:

DAVParam OraTraceEvents agent

The information logged in the Apache error log file will be in a format similar to the following example:

[Wed Sep 22 10:38:46 2004] [notice] OraDAV: Agent [Secret-Agent-Man] User
[Hanckel] ECID [Viscous] URI [/orddav_var2/images/var2] Method [MKCOL].

For more verbose error reporting in the Apache error log file, add the following parameter to the oradav.conf file:

DAVParam ORATraceLevel 1