Hosting two portals on a single instance of enterprise portal server

Question

Hi,
We have a requirement to host two different portals on a single instance of enterprise portal server. The URLs to the portals would be different. Also for logging into the portal, one portal would have only User ID and Password and
the other may have Retailer ID, User ID and Password for logging.
I am trying to understand what kind of an approach needs to be followed. There
is a single instance of Oracle server where PCD is stored.
How will authentication/authorization happen and how would the user data be stored for both the portals in a single instance of Oracle database.
Thanking you in advance,
Regards,
Veena

Answer 1

Hi,
in general,  could do that by using a distinct role concept. With the "Collection of base rules" you can assign different portal desktops with different layouts to everyone based on criterias like groups, roles or users.
We have 4 very different portals running inside one instance. Every portal has its own standardized structure and is selected by logon groups, that points to roles, which points to desktops.
What will not work is a logon concept other than "userid, password". SAP, by default. only allows standard authentication with userid and password or ticket. Even if you use an LDAP that would have that distinction, you cannot query that property without modifying the system
If you want to use anything different, you have to write a new logon handler for the logon stack (using JAAS). This is tricky, but not outrageous difficult. We have implemented three different new steps in the logion stack, each handles a different case, from ip-based logon, ticket or LDAP query. It is possibly, all of them don't have more than 20 lines of java. 
But, still tricky.
It is a broad theme and you can try it out with showcasing two different desktop themes belonging to two different roles. Than you can work your way through tge problems.
In terms of database, it makes no distinction. You work solely with the PCD, and that is stored in the database. We are using DB2 and I've never touched the DB at all.
HTH
hs