A Portal to a Portal

Just going through an assessment of the security options around the IBM WebSphere Portal product, and found these two useful documents: -

IBM WebSphere Portal V5.1 Security Overview

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0511_buehler/0511_buehler.html

IBM WebSphere Portal V6.0 Security Overview

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0611_buehler/0611_buehler.html

Do you want to empower your portal users with productive and advanced search capabilities such as suggested links or faceted search navigation? You can do this easily by leveraging seven new sample portlets available for use with the Portal Search and Indexing API (SIAPI) now available for IBM WebSphere Portal 6.0.

Download the sample portlets from the Portal Search Toolkit and run them as-is, or modify the sample source code as needed. Use these sample portlets on a portal page to see how you can provide a richer search experience for your portal.

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0701_konopnicki/0701_konopnicki.html

Lotus Connections

It's all about .... Social Networking

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product3.nsf/wdocs/connections

Lotus Notes and Domino 8

It's all about .... World class collaboration gets even better with new features and capabilities.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product4.nsf/wdocs/notesdomino8

Lotus Quickr ( fka Lotus QuickPlace )

It's all about .... The fastest way to share everyday content across connected teams

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product3.nsf/wdocs/quickr

Lotus Sametime 7.5.1

It's all about .... More than a product; a platform for unified communications and collaboration

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product3.nsf/wdocs/st751

IBM WebSphere Portal Express Version 6.0

It's all about .... Productivity for small & medium business

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/info1/websphere/index.jsp?tab=landings/portalexpressbuzz

Lotus Component Designer ( fka Workplace Designer )

It's all about .... Lotus software for composite application development

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product3.nsf/wdocs/componentdesigner

Lotus ActiveInsight ( fka Workplace for Business Strategy Execution )

It's all about .... Sharpen business focus for better performance

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/workplace/products/product5.nsf/wdocs/activeinsight

Lotus Workforce Management

It's all about .... Help employees, managers and human resources be more productive

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product3.nsf/wdocs/workforcemgmt

Enjoy !

"... It got but a scant few minutes in yesterday's keynote, but it's become a fair bit of buzz. The WebSphere Portal Express 6.0 announcement has captured a bunch of attention, including a sold out breakout session earlier today. ..."

http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/biggest-surprise-to-me-so-far----websphere-portal-express-6.0

Not too much of a surprise, but definitely welcome.

IBM WebSphere Portal Express capabilities include:

* Integrated portal content management: Gives business users the ability to create and manage portal content without IT intervention or support.
* Contextual collaboration: Enables users to share information and collaborate within the context of an application (e.g. within a Customer Relationship Management application) in which they are working. Provides access to collaboration tools including instant messaging, Web conferencing and team workspaces.
* Single sign-on (SSO): The basis for seamless, secure digital-identity based access to multiple enterprise applications, systems and networks.
* Roles-based access: Offers advanced control over access to information, content and applications based on users' roles and responsibilities in the organization.
* Search: Facilitates searching, indexing and displaying information from multiple portal sites and document libraries.
* Composite applications support: Uses select components and logic from two or more applications to build a completely new application. Composite applications are built on a services oriented architecture (SOA) so they can be optimized and dynamically changed.
* Workspace customization tools: Allow users to customize their work environments and navigate to the information they want and need.

WebSphere Portal Express Version 6.0 features and enhancements:

* Intranet and extranet example sites that install in under an hour.
* Portal interface includes new themes, drag & drop customization, and fly-out menus.
* Web content management capability reduces implementation time and costs by placing content creation and management firmly in the hands of content experts for "author once, publish everywhere" control. The end result is that web content can be kept more accurate and updated more frequently.
* Improved document management tools enable users to easily share, view, and organize files of all types in a central location.
* Support for access to a wide variety of applications including Lotus Notes, Microsoft® Office and Microsoft Windows® applications, lets your employees work with the applications they know.
* Improved instant messaging and presence awareness based on proven Lotus Sametime technology.
* Designed for an out of the box experience, with intranet and extranet sites that can easily be tailored to a customer's specific needs included.
* Includes Lotus Component Designer, an innovative, easy-to-use, standards-based development tool that allows application designers to easily create components for IBM WebSphere Portal Express.
* Based on the latest version of WebSphere Portal and provides extended capabilities with support of WebSphere Portlet Factory, Workplace Forms, Workplace for Business Strategy Execution, and the Workplace Dashboard Framework.
* Enhanced administration, including the ability to delegate select administration actions to end users to reduce administrative overhead.
* Improved search capabilities.
* Better performance.
* Additional improvements include list portlets with workflow and alerts, enhanced themes and skins, and improved mail and calendar portlets.

Source: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/genservers/portalexpress/features/?S_CMP=rnav

The purpose of this document is to show how HATS and Portal can be used together to achieve Single Sign-On ( SSO ) for an i5/OS application running on a System i server ( aka iSeries or AS/400 )

In my environment, I was using HATS v7 beta 3 and WebSphere Portal 6.0.0.1. However, the steps should work for earlier versions of both products.

http://www.davehay.f2s.com/HATS_and_Portal_Together_v2.zip *UPDATED 23/01/2007*

Comments gratefully received :-)

As with all things, this worked for me - that doesn't mean that it'll work for you. If in doubt, please follow the Information Centre resources at: -

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wpdoc/v6r0/topic/com.ibm.wp.ent.doc/wpf/pui_install6001.html

Caveat emptor

Preparation

- Ensure that Portal server is stopped
- Download the latest Portal Update Installer, and expand it into the /QIBM/ProdData/PortalServer/V6/update directory
- Place WP_PTF_6001.jar within the /QIBM/ProdData/PortalServer/V6/update/fixes subdirectory
- Set PortalAdminPwd property in /QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V6/Base/profiles/wp_profile1/PortalServer/config/wpconfig.properties

Notes

Installation

- Start QSHell
- Export the WAS_PROD_HOME directory: -

export WAS_PROD_HOME=/QIBM/ProdData/WebSphere/AppServer/V6/Base

- Change to /QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V6/Base/profiles/wp_profile1/PortalServer/update
- Run the following command: -

updatePortal.sh -installDir /QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V6/Base/profiles/wp_profile1/PortalServer -fixpack -install -fixpackDir /QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V6/Base/profiles/wp_profile1/PortalServer/update/fixes -fixpackID WP_PTF_6001

- If you see "Result: BUILD SUCCESSFUL" then job done - took 153 minutes 43 seconds on an i520 with 12 GB memory !!

- Check and, if needed, follow steps for post-fix pack installation here: -

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wpdoc/v6r0/topic/com.ibm.wp.ent.doc/wpf/pui_postinstall6001.html

Enjoy !

Caveat

This represents my own experiences with this fixpack - your experiences may vary. Please use caution, especially when working in a production environment.

Please see: -

6.0.0.1: WebSphere Portal version 6.0 fix pack 1

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24014281

and: -

WebSphere Portal Version 6.0.0.1

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wpdoc/v6r0/topic/com.ibm.wp.ent.doc/wpf/pui_intro.html

for the formal IBM documentation.

Caveat

Right, here goes.

Firstly, download the fixes from here: -

https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/iwm/web/reg/download.do?source=swgwp-fixpacks&S_PKG=6001&lang=en_US&cp=UTF-8&dlmethod=http

In my environment ( a clean installation of WebSphere Portal 6.0.0 installed on WebSphere Application Server ND 6.0.2.9 and WebSphere Process Server 6.0.1.1 ), I only needed to download: -

WebSphere Portal version 6.0 fix pack 1 (6.0.0.1 ZIP archive)
6.0.0-WP-Multi-FP001.zip (418MB)

PK31711 - Full production-capable support of composite application workflow.
6.0.0.1-WP-Multi-IFPK31711.zip (4.1MB)

PK35227 - Creation or edit of composite application/template fails using DB2 on z/OS.
6.0.0.1-WP-Multi-IFPK35227.zip (9.9KB)

PK35520 - My Tasks portlet is unavailable.
6.0.0.1-WP-Multi-IFPK35520.zip (3.7KB)

plus: -

Required WebSphere Application Server V6.0.2.13 fixes
6.0.0.1-WP-WSASv6.0.2.13-IFPackage.zip (7MB)

However, your mileage may vary.

There are other fixes for various versions of WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Process Server.

Check your versions and choose as appropriate

Ialso downloaded the latest version of the Portal Update Installer: -

WebSphere Portal Update Installer for version 6
PortalUpdateInstaller.zip (9.6MB)

In my testing, I found that I had to use a version of this later than October 24, 2006.

I then performed the installation as follows: -

a) Install 6.0.2-WS-WAS-IFPK29636.pak by simply double-clicking on .PAK file; the association with WebSphere is already set up

b) Using WinZIP, expand the Portal Update Installer to \WP6\WebSphere\PortalServer\updates

c) Using WinZIP, expand the three other PKxxxxx fixes to \WP6\WebSphere\PortalServer\updates\fixes ( note that you will need to create this subdirectory )

d) Using WinZIP, expand 6.0.0-WP-Multi-FP001.zip to \WP6\WebSphere\PortalServer\updates\fixes

e) Edit \WP6\WebSphere\PortalServer\config\wpconfig.properties and set a value for the property PortalAdminPwd

f) Open a command prompt

g) Change directory to \WP6\WebSphere\PortalServer\updates

h) Run \WP6\WebSphere\AppServer\bin\setupCmdLine.bat

i) Run \WP6\WebSphere\PortalServer\updates\updatePortalWizard.bat

j) Choose "Install Fixpacks

k) Select WP_PTF_6001 from \WP6\WebSphere\PortalServer\updates\fixes as the source

l) Choose to install the fix pack - and wait

m) Assuming that installation is successful, shut down servers - ***OTHERWISE YOU CANNOT INSTALL THE REMAINING FIXES***

n) Re-run updatePortalWizard.bat and choose "Install fixes"

o) Select \WP6\WebSphere\PortalServer\updates\fixes as the source

p) Select PK31711.jar, PK35227.jar and PK35520.jar

q) Choose to install the fixes - and wait

r) Assuming that installation is successful, you're good to go :)

On completion of this process, \WP6\WebSphere\AppServer\bin\versionInfo.bat should return: -

IBM WebSphere Application Server - ND 6.0.2.9
IBM WebSphere Process Server 6.0.1.1

and \WP6\WebSphere\PortalServer\bin\WPVersionInfo.bat should return: -

IBM WebSphere Portal MultiPlatform 6.0.0.1

I've now done this three times; with success in each case :-)

Information Center (updated for 6.0.0.1):

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wpdoc/v6r0/index.jsp

6.0.0.1: WebSphere Portal version 6.0 fix pack 1:

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=688&uid=swg24014281

Fix list for WebSphere Portal Version 6.0.

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=688&uid=swg27008899

Required WebSphere interim fixes for WebSphere Portal version 6.0.0.1

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=688&uid=swg24014295

Separate upgrade of Remote Document Conversion Services server is required.

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=688&uid=swg24014059

PK31711 - enable full support for composite application workflow component.

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=688&uid=swg24013767

PK35227 - Creation or edit of composite application/template fails using DB2 on z/OS.

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=688&uid=swg24014319

PK35520 - My Tasks portlet is unavailable.

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=688&uid=swg24014318

Recommended fixes and updates for WebSphere Portal

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=688&uid=swg27007603

This weekend, I spent a wee while getting used to the new RAD7 product. To be honest, I'd downloaded this before Christmas, but hadn't had time to do anything with it until now.

The first, and most positive sign, is that it was a simple matter to hook it up to a previously installed copy of WebSphere Portal v6.

I made the usual user error of getting the Portal administrative user ID or password wrong - which meant that I couldn't start/stop the server from within RAD. Once I resolved that issue, all was well.

The reason behind this was that I wanted to use the beta of WebSphere HATS v7 to generate a portlet for use within Portal.

Thus far, all is well.

:)

In a word ... software

In my job, I work with a lot of IBM software - occasionally, I find a new ( or new to me ) way to do things, or find some information from another source that I'd like to share.

This blog will provide a way to do that.

I've no intention of posting information that is not easily available in other places - I'm not going to reveal anything that isn't public domain ( I like my job, thanks very much ).

However, I'd hope that this may be a place to go if you're looking for something specific.

Much of the software that I use comes from IBM Lotus, or relates to IBM's portal platform - WebSphere Portal.

Therefore, most of my posts will cover this.

Again, please don't assume that you can avoid ever reading an IBM manual or redbook again - this is more "How I did it" than "How you should do it"

Welcome to my world ... this represents my first step into this medium or, at least, my first blog.

I've been hosting material on websites for about 8-9 years now, since I first put up an internal OS/2 server at my place of work, which I used to share information that I thought might be useful to my colleagues around the world.

Since then, I've used other means to share information with people inside and outside my company, but never quite in this format.

Caveat

This is my own personal site - anything I post here represents my own personal opinions, findings, observations etc. rather than those of my employer. If you don't like what I've written, please feel free to comment or, if worse comes to worse, choose another site.

Furthermore, please use caution if you choose to follow any of my tips - your mileage may vary.