Sun Java System Portal Server 6.0 FAQs

Question

Sun Java System Portal Server 6.0 FAQs.
Author: Sanjeev Agarwal
Q. How to connect to external URLs from Sun ONE Portal Server? I want to use URL Scrapper for some of external sites/URLs.
Ans:
You can connect to external URLs if you have a Proxy Server running.
If you are using Web Server addition of Sun ONE the Portal Server then
go to /opt/SUNWam/servers/https-hostname.domainname/config/ dir
In the jvm12.conf file, enter the followings:
http.proxyHost=proxyservername.domainname
http.proxyPort=80 (or the appropriate proxy server port number)
https.proxyHost=proxyservername.domainname
https.proxyPort=80 (or the appropriate proxy server port number)
If you are using Sun ONE AppServer addition of Sun ONE Portal Server then
go to /var/opt/SUNWappserver/domains/domain1/<server-instance>/config dir
In the server.xml file, enter the followings:
<jvm-options>-Dhttp.proxyHost=proxyservername.domainname </jvm-options>
<jvm-options>-Dhttp.proxyPort=80 (or the appropriate proxy server port number) </jvm-options>
<jvm-options>-Dhttps.proxyHost=proxyservername.domainname </jvm-options>
<jvm-options>-Dhttps.proxyPort=80 (or the appropriate proxy server port number) </jvm-options>
After this modification restart the server.
Q. Explain all the processes (solaris 8 and S1 Portal Server 6.0) which runs when I start the Sun ONE Portal Server.
Ans.
These are the processes that a running Portal Server installation (Sun ONE WebServer addition, without SRAP) generally has by default.
1. Directory server processes:
- ns-slapd (LDAP server instance)
- uxwdog (admin server process) (parent process)
--- ns-httpd
----- ns-httpd
2. Auth Helper processes:
- doUnix
3. Web-Server/Identity-Server/Portal-Server processes:
As the Portal Server and Identity Server runs as web application on the Web Server, so they share the same JVM and processes.
- uxwdog (web server admin server process) (parent process)
--- ns-httpd
----- ns-httpd
(for each web server instance)
- uxwdog (parent process)
- ns-httpd
- ns-httpd
or (in case of MaxProc=n )
- uxwdog (parent process)
--- ns-httpd
----- ns-httpd
----- ns-httpd
----- n
Q. I have created a custom Provider but getting this error when I access the desktop, what do I do?
> error in the desktop.debug file:
> ERROR: DesktopServlet.handleException()
> java.util.MissingResourceException: Can't find bundle for base name CustomTabContainerProvider,
Ans:
It needs a resource bundle for the custom provider. You need to create a file CustomTabContainerProvider.properties (as mentioned in the error message) and put it into the /etc/opt/desktop/classes directory. If you are not using any properties defined in this resource file then it can be a empty file. Have a look on the properties files that bundled containerProviders uses in dir <portal-install-dir>/SUNWps/web-apps/https-<host.domain>/portal/WEB-INF/classes.
As you are extending JSPTabContainerProvider class, you can just copy the file JSPTabContainerProvider.properties from the above directory after renaming it to the <defined-provider-name>.properties (in your case CustomTabContainerProvider.properties) and move it into /etc/opt/desktop/classes directory.
Q. what is actually multiple instances of Portal Server means?
Ans:
Multiple instance of Portal Server means, you will have more http listeners for the same desktop contents and the same identity profiles stored in a single Directory Server which all the instances share.
In simple words you can have your Portal Server listening on different http ports, but uses same configuration, desktop and identities.
It can help you to share the load for Portal Server http requests. The alternate methods are to create more web server virtual server processes (maxProc=n, but in this case the listening port will be 1 only) or use some hardware load balancer.
You can achieve more from multiple instances if you have a multi level organization, you can change the look and feel of all the instances, images, services, components and can assign each instance to different organization or sub-organization.
Q. How do I check the availability of the Sun ONE Portal Server/Identity Server services.
Ans:
You can check the availability of Sun ONE Identity Server services from following urls.
http://<host.domainname>:<port>/amserver/sessionservice
http://<host.domainname>:<port>/amserver/loggingservice
To know the availability of components of Sun ONE Portal Server like Desktop/providers/Rewriter/Netmail you have to login into desktop. These are not services, but just the programming identities which will work if your Web Server and Identity Server is running.
Just go to URL http://<server>:<port>/portal/dt , if it shows up that means your portal server is fine, and these entities will work for sure.
Q. I am able to add the yahoo channels to existing users. But I am getting the weather for London not for local New Jersey. My language pref is to en|en_US and also the server is the default U.S server and not europe. How do I add the cities I want to see on weather channel?
Ans:
A Portal user himself (after login) can select what cities he want to see in weather channel.
Steps:
- click the edit button of weather channel
- click on the area you belong to from Available Sections
- select the cities from Available Cities select box and add them to Your Choices.
- click finished from select city page and then again click finished from select area page.
It will come back to the Portal Desktop and you will see all the cities you have selected in the weather channel.
Q. How to use getContent() method to use in custom jsp providers (developed by ourselves) so that it can be used to retrieve a jsp page. I have already placed the JSP file in the directory structure /etc/opt/SUNWps/desktop/default/channel_dir. But still the jsp is not being displayed.
Ans:
You don't have to do anything in the custom JSPProvider's getContent method except the call { return super.getContent(request,response); } . If all you want is just to show your jsp, then create a channel from the default JSPProvider, and edit the property contentPage of that channel from samplecontent.jsp to your jsp name, save the changes and login again. You should see your JSP.
Q. I want to remove all the buttons (help/edit etc.) from all the channels/one particular channel in my desktop?
Ans:
You can hide any buttons you want from any channel.
These steps show how to hide all the buttons.
1. Create a channel say "myNetlet" from netlet provider.
2. Set the channel title to "myNetlet"
3. Go to the dir /etc/opt/SUNWps/desktop/default/JSPTableContainerProvider and edit the file providerCommands.jsp, and modify the last line :
from :
<%=minMaximizeCommand%><%=helpCommand%><%=editCommand%><%=detachAtachCommand%><%=removeCommand%>
to:
<% if ( !(title.equals("myNetlet"))){ %><%=minMaximizeCommand%><%=helpCommand%><%=editCommand%><%=detachAtachCommand%><%=removeCommand%><% } %>
4. Clean the dir mentioned below which contains compiled JSPs. /var/opt/SUNWps/https-<host>.<domain>/portal/tmp/_jsps/_etc/_opt/_SUNWps/_desktop/_default_en/_JSPTableContainerProvider/_html and reload the page.
Relogin, and you would not see any buttons on "myNetlet" channel. You can customize this logic as per your needs.
Q. How to change the title of SampleJSP Channel. I tried to change the channel properties title value via iplanet directory Server Access Management GUI. But it is not getting reflected.
Ans:
Through Admin console you can change the channel property "title", and as soon as you refresh the page (Shift reload) of relogin in the portal it get's reflected.
The reason to this problem may be due to the channel property "title" is having "propagate" value as false and you are setting the channel title in the org level display profile not in the user level display profile.
So better you change the channel name in user's display profile also.
For this login into admin console and go to :
- View: "User Management" -> click on organization -> Show: Users
- click on the blue arrow of that user
- click on Edit in section Desktop (this will open a window)
- then change the channel properties same way you do for Organization display profile.
Q. Login Problem with SunOne Portal 6.0.
I was able to download and install sun one portal 6 on Solaris 8. The sample portal page came up after installation. However whenever I try to login to the Login channel with "amadmin" and the passphrase I used during installation, it takes me to another page - iPlanet/LDAP authentication page. Here I tried using the same login, but fails every time (the same login page appears). The url that shows is "http://<hostname>/amserver/login?module=dproadmin&goto=/amconsole/base/AMAdminFrame"
I tried registering myself as a new user as well. This too fails.
Ans:
Make sure you are giving fully qualifying the hostname in the url which invoked the desktop. This in fact is documented in the administration documentation. If the hostname is not fully-qualified, the login page goes into an endless mode. Again, the correct url is "http://<fully-qualified-hostname>/portal". Once you get to the desktop, the login and the new user registration works.
Q. How to send variables/parameters from 1 app to another app deployed on Sun ONE Portal Server? It may be the apps or different JSPs of JSP provider channel.
How to achieve inter channel communication in Sun ONE Portal Server?
Ans:
You can use servlet context object or session, or may be the request object itself to store the information from one channel and use that in another channel. The use of either of these 3 approaches may depend on your requirements. Using session, the information will be available to that user's channels only, using request, the information will be available for that user and that request only and by using ServletContext you can share the information across users and sessions. You can obtain DesktopServlet's ServletContext object inside JSP/JSPProvider.
Q. I am trying to modify the default desktop JSPs in TableContainerProvider and TabCotntainerProvider dirs, but it is not picking my modified JSPs ? what do I do?
Ans:
One easiest way to 100% ensure that it updates all your new jsp pages is to remove all the compiled jsps so that with next request the Sun ONE Portal Server compiles all the jsps and will make sure that your modification will be taken care of in next request.
Go to /var/opt/SUNWps/https-<instance_name>/portal/tmp/_jsp/_etc/_opt/_SUNWps/_desktop/_default_<locale>/ and remove everything. and access the Portal server, it will be little slow as it has to compile all the JSPs again. Here you will find directories in the name of Containers and Channels, so if you are modifying any particular Container/Channel you can just delete that only. This approach can help a lot during development time.
Q. What is the location of compiled JSPs in Sun ONE portal Server and what servlet spec does it supports?
Ans: The Portal server 6.0 runs on Sun ONE Web Server 6.0 sp2, which supports only jdk 1.3 and servlet spec 2.2 only. The Sun ONE Portal Server keeps the compiled jsps of desktop and channels in : /var/opt/SUNWps/https-<instance_name>/portal/tmp/_jsp/_etc/_opt/_SUNWps/_desktop/_default_<locale>/ dir as per the channels/container names.
Servlet 2.3 is supported if you run the Portal Server edition that runs on Sun ONE Application Server 7.0.
Q. How do I change jdk for Sun ONE Portal Server to another jdk? I want to change the JDK of only one of my Portal Server instances, is it possible? how?
Ans:
Yes you can achieve both.
A. To change the JDK for all the server instances:
Open <portal-install-dir>/SUNWam/servers/https-admserv/start-jvm file and modify the first line
NSES_JDK=/usr/java_1.3.1_04; export NSES_JDK
to
NSES_JDK=<your-jdk-location> ; export NSES_JDK
then open <portal-install-dir>/SUNWam/servers/https-<instance-name>/config/jvm12.conf file of all the server instances and add a line
jvm.option=-server after the first line
B. To change the JDK for a particular server instances:
Make a another copy of the start-jvm file rename it and modify the jdk location in it as mentioned above.
Open the start script from <portal-install-dir>/SUNWam/servers/https-<instance-name> dir and modify these lines :
if test -r {SERVER_ROOT}/https-admserv/start-*
then
for STARTSCRIPT in {SERVER_ROOT}/https-admserv/start-*
modify this to
if test -r {SERVER_ROOT}/https-admserv/<changed_name_of_start-jvm-file>
then
for STARTSCRIPT in {SERVER_ROOT}/https-admserv/<changed_name_of_start-jvm-file>
Note: As Portal Server 6.0 uses Web server 6.0 sp2, jdk 1.4 is not supported.
Q. How do I create a custom login page or a link, which will just log me into the portal server.
Ans:
You can create a custom page in your jsp page, just add this portion of html into your web page :
<FORM action="http://<server>:<port>/amserver/login?module=<login-module>&page=1" method=post name=login_form2 target=_top>
Login page using <login-module><br>
<P>Enter UserId<BR><INPUT name=TOKEN0 size=22></P>
<P>Enter Password<BR><INPUT name=TOKEN1 size=22 type=password></P>
<P><INPUT name=Submit type=submit value=Submit> </P>
</FORM>
The <login-module> can be LDAP or Unix or Membership which ever you have enabled. Or instead of this you can create a link. For example for LDAP auth module :
"<a href="http://<server>:<port>/amserver/login?module=LDAP&page=1&TOKEN0=user&TOKEN1=password" target=_top> Login into Portal </a>"
where user and password are the user credential for the portal server.
Q. Can I install a portal server pointing to another Identity server? I want to install few postal servers (on different machines) pointing to same identity server, is it possible?
Ans:
No, right now the Sun ONE Portal Server is tightly integrated with Sun ONE Identity Server so you can't just install only Sun ONE Portal Server and point it to another Sun ONE Identity Server. You can have a common Directory server if you want.
Q. I have an application which takes input in from anonymous user and then to complete the request the user than has to login. I am having problem in passing the taken input from anonymous page to logged in user. all the request parameters are lost when I log in. How do i get the request parameters after I log in
Ans:
You can create a custom login page and submit the form to "/amserver/login" with a hidden parameter "goto" through which you basically specify which url to go after you log in. So you can use this mechanism to create a query string with all your request parameters you want to pass after login. For example:
You can create a jsp which take few inputs from user and to complete the request you have to login so it posts the input form to a login jsp and stores the parameters taken from user in a hidden field (goto) :
<FORM action="/amserver/login?module=LDAP&page=1" method=post name=login_form2 target=_top>
Login page using LDAP<br>
<P>Enter UserId<BR><INPUT name=TOKEN0 size=22></P>
<P>Enter Password<BR><INPUT name=TOKEN1 size=22 type=password></P>
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="goto" VALUE="/portal/dt?param1=<%=request.getParameter("param1")%>&param2=<%=request.getParameter("param2")%>">
<P><INPUT name=Submit type=submit value=Submit> </P>
</FORM>
After you login through this page both the param1 and param 2 will be available in the request object after you login and you can retrieve them in your application or jsp.
Q. I have few System.out.println in my jsp which i am using in my JSP provider channel, but when I look at the portal server's /var/opt/SUNWam/debug/desktop.debug file, none are there. I looked at the web server's access and error logs too, but it is not there also. Can somebody tell me how do it get those ? Do we have any other mechanism to put debug logs ?
Ans
By default the binary which web server runs is uxwdog which eats up System.out.println output. If you want to see the System.out.println then you need to change the product binary from the start script of the portal server instance.
- Go to <portal-install-dir>/SUNWam/servers/https-<instance-name> and open the start script
- Change the PRODUCT_BIN=uxwdog to PRODUCT_BIN=ns-httpd , save the file
- Run the script ./start to start the portal server
Note : with ns-httpd ON the server will not leave that shell, and in the same window/shell you will be able to see all your System.out.println statements. To close the server you have to kill the server process with "kill -9 pids" command
Alternate way is to use api inside your application or jsp:
<%@page import="com.sun.portal.providers.jsp.JSPProvider, com.sun.portal.providers.*, com.sun.portal.providers.containers.*, com.sun.portal.providers.context.*" %>
<% JSPProvider p=(JSPProvider)pageContext.getAttribute("JSPProvider");
ProviderContext pc = p.getProviderContext(); %>
<%-- after that you can use these lines any where in your jsp --%>
<%
pc.debugError("your error msg");
pc.debugMessage("your msg");
pc.debugWarning("your warning msg");
%>
The particular mgs will be shwon in /var/opt/SUNWam/debug/desktop.debug file as per your "debugLevel" parameter setting in /etc/opt/SUNWps/desktop/desktopconfig.properties file. By default the debugLevel is set to error so only pc.debugError("error msg") will be shown.
Q. Multipart form (file upload) processing in providers? Is it supported
Ans:
The Sun ONE Portal Server's DesktopServlet does not have the ability to process a request with the content encoding type of multipart/form-data. DesktopServlet does not pass the input stream for the request on to the Provider.
To accomplish handling of multipart/form-data type requests, it is necessary to create a companion servlet or JSP that process the multipart/form-data. This servlet can then pass control back to the Portal channel. The data from the file can be shared between the servlet and the provider by using static Java members or by storing the data in a back-end database and then passing a reference to the data over to the provider.
Q. After installing the Portal Server I am trying to login as admin, but it is failing and coming back to login page every time. How do I login?
Ans:
The Default Admin user is 'amadmin' and the password is the PASSPHRASE you give during Portal Server installation. Try login using these credentials.
Also in the browser give the complete URL for the Portal Server like : Http://<myhost>.<mydomain>:<port>/amserver/login or Http://<myhost>.<mydomain>:<port>/amconsole. You can't login into portal server's IDSAME console by giving IP Address or just the hostname, also your machine should be listed in the DNS server so that it can resolve the name.
Q. I installed Sun ONE Portal Server 6.0 some time back, and now I want to know all the installation parameters and user/passwords for whole portal installation. How do I do that?
Ans:
The Default Admin user is 'amadmin' and the password is the PASSPHRASE you give during Portal Server installation. Also in the browser give the complete URL for the Portal Server like : Http://<myhost>.<mydomain>:<port>/amserver/login or Http://<myhost>.<mydomain>:<port>/amconsole. You can't login into portal server's IDSAME console by giving IP Address or just the hostname, also your machine should be listed in the DNS server so that it can resolve the name.
In case you have forgotten the port numbers and PASSPHRASE that you give during installation, you still can see all the information for each component of your Portal Server Installation. The Portal server and it's components like Directory Server, Web Server and IDSAME are installed as Solaris package so the system has all the information for these packages.
Portal Server : See file /var/sadm/pkg/SUNWps/pkginfo
Directory Server : See files /var/sadm/pkg/SUNWamds/pkginfo and /var/sadm/pkg/SUNWamdsc/pkginfo
Web Server : See file /var/sadm/pkg/SUNWamws/pkginfo
Identity Server : See file /var/sadm/pkg/SUNWamsam/pkginfo
Note: In any case you should never edit/modify these files.
Q. Controlling the display of the help (?) button.
Where are the links/image elements defined for the help/edit/minimize buttons? the leafWrapper.jsp pulls the hashtable out of the HttpRequest, and that hashtable is being used by providerCommands.jsp:
Hashtable commands = (Hashtable)request.getAttribute("provider_cmds");
Any idea where this is being set?
Ans:
- You can remove the help/edit button of any channel by adding the line into the Channel's properties by editing the Xml of display profile in the admin console.
<String name="helpURL" value="" advanced="false" merge="replace" lock="false" propagate="true"/>
<Boolean name="isEditable" value="false" advanced="false" merge="replace" lock="false" propagate="true"/>
The Attribute 'provider_cmds' is set into /etc/opt/SUNWps/desktop/default/JSPTableContainerProvider/tablecolumn.jsp :
<dttable:getProviderCommand id="provider_cmds" scope="request" />, and after that only the leafwrapper.jsp is included, but the Hashtable is generated by a class com.sun.portal.providers.util.ProviderCommands.java and made available through taglib classes. So you can't change the generated contents/string in the Hashtable.
But you can change the default 'alt' text displayed and the images linked to the help/edit icons. As this modification is at Provider level, it will change the icons for all the channels in the desktop.
Please see the file:
/opt/SUNWps/web-apps/https-<host>.<domain>/portal/WEB-INF/classes/JSPTABLEContainerProvider.properties.
Here you will find the mapping. The image location are given from the context root of portal server which is by default : /opt/SUNWps/web-apps/https-<host>.<domain>/portal.
Q. I have a number of web applications needed to integrate to portal server. Any pointers or tips of what my option is?
Ans:
You can very well integrate all your web application with Portal server. Portal Server 6.0 has web container same as Sun ONE web server 6.0 Sp2, which runs on Jdk-1.3.
If your web applications are just Servlets/Jsps then you can very well port them on Portal server's webserver which supports war module deployment. (infect for Web server the Portal server and Identity server is like a war module.)
There can be two possibilities in this case, either you put the whole of your application on portal server and make the link available into the desktop via 'Application Provider Channels' or you can create a client to your web application into portal server.
If your web application is on Sun ONE Application server 7.0 and needs authentication, you can also have SSO. If you just want to show the link of your web application into desktop then you can either use URL Scrapper to show the first page of your web application or use Bookmark channel to provide just the url.
The easiest way to make a client of your web application is to use JSP Channel using JSPProvider and put your logic into the samplecontents.jsp file or you can create your own custom Provider extending JSPProvider. There can be a lot of different configurations, depending on the web application you want to integrate and your needs
Q. I removed few channels from the org level display profile but still they are coming to the desktop of users, I had accessed the desktop before. why?
Ans:
If you still see any channel after you remove it from the display profile at organization lever, that means you have to edit the user's display profile. So go to admin console and select User from Show: menu and click on the blue arrow near the user. In the right frame under the 'Desktop' category click on the Edit link (right side). This will open user's display profile in a window. Now edit it as per your requirements.

Answer 1

Unfortunately Web Server 6.0SP2 is no longer available for download.
If you must use Web Server 6.0, you should use the most current Service Pack. It is backward compatible and contains many performance and security fixes.