Walter Hardy's Blog

In this article I detail how I install the Sun Java System Portal Server, Version 7.1, Update 1, on a Solaris 10 x86 Sun server. Although I run into a couple of snags, I’d like to point out how simple this process is. One of the advantages of Sun’s portal server over competitive products is that the installation process completely automates the integration of the Portal Server, Application Server, Directory Server, Access Manager and other required components. Additional information can be found in the Sun Developers Network (SDN) article: Installing Sun Java Portal Server 7.1. My article details some issues in following the above-referenced article, as it does not describe the latest release. The article above does cover the installation of Application Server 8.1 (which I do not cover here) and is a good reference for any additional information you may need during your installation process.

Contents

• Minimal Installation
• Install on a Clean System!
• Download the Software and Start the Installation
• The Installation Process
• Start the Portal Server
• Confirm that the System is Running
• Access the Sample Portal
• In the Next Article
• References

Minimal Installation

The minimal installation of the Portal Server requires the following:

• Operating System-Solaris 10. Other operating systems are supported including Solaris 9, Windows (for development only) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
• Application Server-Portal Server runs inside of an application server container. Both the Sun Java System Web Server 7 and Sun Java System Application Server 8.2 are supported. I will install Portal Server on the Sun Web Server 7.
• Sun Java System Directory Server 6. Directory Server provides for the user database.
• Sun Java System Access Manager 7. Access Manager handles authentication and user privileges.
• Java DB-Java DB is built on the opens-source Apache Derby database.

All of these components are include with the install package, including both application server options.

Install on a Clean System!

I first attempted to install the portal server on a system on which I had already installed collaboration software, including Sun’s Directory Server and Access Manager. I ran into difficulty integrating Portal Server with the existing software and finally had to contact a Sun engineer for assistance. Although doable he said, he strongly suggested that I install Portal Server on a clean (new) Solaris 10 installation. That way the portal server installation program would also install the other components needed and automate the configuration necessary for them to work together. I will take his advice and start with a clean Solaris 10 installation, as I will demonstrate below. Note that it is important to fully patch the operating system before installation. I suggest downloading the latest patch cluster for Solaris 10 at Sun’s BigAdmin website.

Download the Software and Start the Installation

It is a big plus to be able to go to developers.sun.com, log in with my SDN (Sun Developers Network) credentials and be able to download the complete portal installation with all required components in ONE download. That’s just what I did.

I find the easiest place to obtain the latest Portal Server downloads is to visit the SDN Portal Server website and click on the Downloads tab. I then clicked on the Portal Server 7.1, Update 1 link which then allows me to download one or more of the various options. Note a free Sun Developers Network (SDN) username and password is required to launch the download.

I downloaded the Sun Java System Portal Serve R 7.1 Update 1 for Solaris 10 and the x86 Platform. The file is 583MB and in zip format.

Now that I have downloaded the installation package to my server, I need to first log in as root on my system. I then create a directory for the installation program and then unzip it. A subdirectory is created: Solaris_x86 (Solaris_sparc or Linux_x86 for Sparc and Linux systems, respectively). I move into this directory and run this command from my Solaris terminal: ./installer

Then in a few moments, the Portal Server installer opens on my Solaris desktop.

Choose Software Component

First I click on Next to the Welcome screen, and accept the Server License Agreement. I then come to the “Choose Software Components” menu.

Figure 1: Software Installation Choices

This menu displays a lengthy list of the components included in the installation program, including the Portal Server itself, two Application Servers, Directory Server and Access manager. I select the following three items:

• Portal Server 7.1
• Web Server 7.0
• All Shared Components

This causes a number of items to automatically select, and I leave all of them selected. See Figure 1 for all the selections I make based on my three choices.

Note that I could have also chosen to install the Portal Server along with Sun’s Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.2 instead of the Sun Web server 7. I chose Web Server 7 because I don’t need all the additional functionality that Application Server EE 8.2 provides, such as the ability to deploy enterprise JavaBeans. The server I want to configure is a dedicated Portal Server machine, so either application server will work fine. Information about the installation screens that are associated with the Application Server EE 8.2 are located in this article: Installing Sun Java Portal Server 7.1.

Java SE SDK Upgrade

When I click on Next I am provided with an option to upgrade the Java SE SDK and I chose to allow the installation program to automatically upgrade it as suggested (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Java SE SDK Upgrade

Shared Component Upgrade

Since I earlier choose to install shared components (a good idea), I am now presented with a summary of the components to be upgraded (Figure 3). It is good to see that JavaMail, Ant and more will also be upgraded without having to go through the manual process later. There are no options for me to change here.

Figure 3: Shared Component Upgrade

Specify Installation Directories

I click on Next and move on to Specify Installation Directories as shown in Figure 4. I chose all of the defaults here.

Note: it’s a good idea to write down the directory choices made as I’ll come back to them often in starting and stopping various components. It is important to leave the installation directories as “/opt” for Access Manager, Web Server, Service Registry and Portal Server (unless you want to change them to /var/opt/ as an example). The installation program will create the required directories underneath the “/opt” directory, such as /opt/SUNWam, /opt/SUNwbsvr7, /opt/SUNWsr and /opt/SUNWps respectively.

Figure 4:Specify Installation Directories

System Requirements

Next, the program verifies that my system as ready for the installation, including disk space, memory, swap space, patches and resources (Figure 5). If Solaris 10 wasn’t fully patched, I wouldn’t be able to continue on. As I suggested in the beginning of this article, download the latest patch cluster from the BigAdmin site and install it before installing Portal Server. The patch cluster makes it easy to upgrade all required patches in one step (see the section: Install On a Clean System!, above).

Note that if my system had not met the system requirements, buttons to View Report and Check Again would have appeared on this screen.

Figure 5: Verify System Requirements

Choose a Configuration Type

The next dialog box allows me to choose to configure the bulk of components now, or do so latter. I again chose the default option that will let me configure now (figure 6).

Figure 6: Choose a Configuration Type

Custom Configuration Required

After Clicking on Next, I am told that the Java DB and Service Registry will need to be configured after installation (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Custom Configuration Required

Specify Administrator Account Preferences

The next 14 screens are all about configuring the Portal Server and the various components that work with it. For most screens, I will choose default options, with one important exception that I will explain later. You can follow along.

I click on Next, and I am then allowed to choose the Administration User ID and Password that will be used for “all administrative accounts”. However, I find that the credentials I enter here only have an effect on the Web Server administrative account. If I choose “configure each software component separately” I will be allowed to enter this same information in the screen shown in Figure 11: Specify Administration Server Settings.

Figure 8: Specify Administrator Account Preferences

Specify Common Server Settings

After clicking on Next, I need to enter DNS and IP information for this server. Note that the installation program will query DNS servers to verify correct settings before allowing me to continue on. I’ll leave system user and system group as “root” (for Solaris 9, other is the default group ID).

Figure 9: Specify Common Server Settings

Web Server: Choose Configuration Type

The next set of screens allow me to further configure the Web Server. As shown in Figure 10, I choose the default to configure administration instance as a server. I find it easier to work with the Web Server 7 with the Portal Server configured as a server instance.

Although I’m leaving Start servers after system startup checked, I find that I do need to restart the Web Server in a particular sequence as I’ll explain later under Starting Portal Server.

Figure 10: Web Server: Choose Configuration Type

Web Server: Specify Administration Server Settings

I click on Next to specify the Web Server administration server settings, and choose the defaults provided (Figure 11). The port 8800 is where I will be able to log into my Web Server Administrator later, in my case portal.whardy.com:8800.

Figure 11: Web Server: Specify Administration Server Settings

Web Server: Specify Instance Settings

The next screen allows me to specify details for the Web Server instance settings. This is where I ran into problems during my initial installation. The default Runtime UNIX User ID provided is webservd, however this must be changed to root. Otherwise the Portal Server will not start.

Figure 12: Web Server: Specify Instance Settings

Directory Server: Specify Instance Creation Information

As shown in Figure 13, I am now provided with options to configure Directory Server. The default values I’m provided work fine, so I will leave them as is, and enter the Directory Manager password. Be sure to save this in the event you need to query the database manually!

Figure 13: Directory Server: Specify Instance Creation Information

Access Manager: Specify Configuration Information

Portal Server requires that Access Manager be installed in Legacy Mode, so it is important to leave this option as provided by default, as shown in Figure 14. The amAdmin password will allow me to log into the Access Manager administration program which will be located at portal.whardy.com/amconsole under my configuration. Save this password as well!

Note that the amAdmin and LDAP passwords cannot be the same. However, for simplicity, the Directory Manager password I entered in the previous screen can be the same as the amAdmin password. These two passwords, and the Web Server administration password are the three I will encounter later.

Figure 14: Access Manager: Specify Configuration Information

Access Manager: Choose Deployment Container

As shown in Figure 15, I will choose the default Web Server container for the Portal Server.

Figure 15: Access Manager: Choose Deployment Container

Access Manager: Specify Web Container for Running Access Manager Services

In configuring Access Manager, I will choose all the defaults provided as show in Figure 16.

For more information on these values see the Access Manager documentation, or the Installing Sun Java System Portal 7.1 documentation which provides a brief summary on each item.

Figure 16: Access Manager: Specify Web Container for Running Access Manager Services

Access Manager: Choose Access Manager Console

At some point in the future, I will probably want to log into the Access Manager administrator. This program allows me to search for users, change passwords, user rights and policies. The options I choose in Figure 17 specify where this console is located. I’ll accept the defaults, which means that access manager will be located at http://portal.whardy.com/amconsole under my configuration.

Note that I will accept the default deploy on a new console as this is an initial installation of Access Manager.

Figure 17: Access Manager, Choose Access Manager Console

Access Manager: Choose Directory Server Instance

Since I am installing a new edition of Directory Server, I will also choose to use the directory server instance I just created, as shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18: Access Manager, Choose Directory Server Instance

Access Manager: Specify Directory Server Data

The new instance of directory server is not provisioned yet with user data, so I will choose the default as shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19: Access Manager, Specify Directory Server Data

Portal Server: Specify Web Container Deployment Information

The next screen (Figure 20) allows me to configure the Web container for Portal Server. I will also choose defaults here. In a latter article, I will be creating a new instance of Portal Server so that I have two instances running on my system. For the instance I am creating here, I do want the samples included as those provide me with powerful community tools that I will put to use later.

Figure 20: Portal Server, Specify Web Container Deployment Information

Ready to Install

I click on next, and finally, I am provided with an installation summary as shown in Figure 21.

Clicking on Install begins the installation process. The next screen warned me that the installation could take up to one hour; it actually took significantly less time. After the installation completes, I am able to view a summary of the installation, and an install log before exiting the installation program.

Figure 21: Ready to Install

Starting Portal Server

Now that Portal Server, Access Manager, Directory Server and Web Server are all installed on my system, I am ready to start it up. First I will reboot my system.

As I reboot my Solaris system, I find that several components required by Portal Server are not running. I need to manually start Directory Server, the Java DB and cacao. In addition, the Web Server is running, but it needs to be restarted in a particular sequence to get the whole system working together. So after a reboot, here is the sequence I run to get my Portal Server operating (in this order):

1. Start Directory Server
   Run: /opt/SUNWdsee/ds6/bin/dsadm start /var/opt/SUNWdsee/dsins1

2. Start the JavaDB
   Run: /usr/sfw/bin/ant -DPS_CONFIG=/etc/opt/SUNWportal/PSConfig.properties -buildfile /opt/SUNWportal/lib/derby.xml start-instance

3. Restart the Web Server (since it already starts with a reboot, I need to restart it)
   Run: /var/opt/SUNWwbsvr7/https-portal.whardy.com/bin/stopserv
   /var/opt/SUNWwbsvr7/https-portal.whardy.com/bin/startserv

4. Restart the Cacao Process
   Run: /usr/lib/cacao/bin/cacaoadm restart

Note: I used the default installation directories during my install.

Confirm that the System is Running

There are several steps to confirm that the system is running as it is comprised of several components:

• Verify that JavaDB is running on port 1527:
  netstat -an |grep 1527
  (note the JavaDB is not required to run the Portal Server)

• Verify that Directory Server is running on port 389:
  netstat -an | grep 389

• Verify that the Web Server is running on port 80:
  netstat -an | grep 80

Access the Sample Portal

Now that I know that Directory Server and the Web Server are running, I can access the sample portal Website at this address: Host-Name:port/portal-URI

For the installation that I just ran, it is at http://portal.whardy.com/portal

From there I can click on the links to the three samples to try out various community tools and the Portal Server itself.

There are three other administrative areas that I can access as well:

• Web Server Administrator at: Host-Name:Web-Server-Port/
• Access Manager Administration at: Host-Name:port/amserver/
• Portal Server Administration at: Host-Name:port/psconsole/

For the configuration that I established in this article, they are located at:

Web Server Administrator: http://portal.whardy.com:8800/
Access Manager Administrator: http://portal.whardy.com/amserver/
Portal Server Administrator: http://portal.whardy.com/psconsole/

Note that to log into the Web Server Administrator, I use the admin user ID and password that I created as shown in Figure 8. To log into the Access Manager and Portal Server Administrator, I use the amAdmin userID and password I created as shown in Figure 14.

In the Next Article

In the next article I will explore using the community samples and configuring a new portal instance.

References

» Installing Sun Java Portal Server 7.1
» Sun System Administrator Resources and Community
» Sun Developer Network
» Sun Developer Network-Portal Server

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Sun Java Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.