Thursday 29 July 2010

IBM Lotus Quickr for WebSphere Portal Restore Utility

New on the Catalog this month

The Quickr Restore Utility (or QRU) is a web app utility aimed at supporting Quickr Library Backup and Restore strategies.

QRU is installed as a standalone J2EE application onto the WAS server1 application server of an existing Quickr server and from there it can be used to Navigate and restore files from Quickr database backups and Quickr serialized backups (output from Quickr backup function through
Manage Places).

Once a backup location is identified and a library selected, the user will be presented with a tree representation of that library and can then select individual documents to download.

https://greenhouse.lotus.com/plugins/plugincatalog.nsf/assetDetails.xsp?action=editDocument&documentId=1E9AB3B029ED897985257761006C7C5F


Friday 23 July 2010

IBM Residency Announcement - Developing Customized Components for Lotus Notes, Sametime, and Symphony, LO-0W01-R01

Do you have experience developing customized components for Lotus Notes, Sametime, and Symphony? Are you interested in showing how to make the most of those powerful add-on capabilities within our Lotus collaboration environment? Would you like to contribute your knowledge to a new wiki deliverable project? If so, we want you to join our virtual team.

By participating in this residency you will gain hands-on, practical experience in working with Lotus Expeditor, Lotus Notes, Lotus Sametime and Lotus Symphony. You will also interact remotely with other highly skilled residents, and members of the Lotus product management and development teams.

The ITSO in conjunction with Lotus is conducting this remote residency to create a new deliverable that uses wiki technology. Wikis are a relatively new Web browser-based technology that allows remote collaboration to create a new form of on-line document. You can be a part of this leading-edge effort for a new way of delivering quality technical documentation. Getting involved in this project will give you an opportunity to learn and share tools and techniques about the Lotus design tools, and as with other ITSO residencies, to pass your knowledge to other IBM employees, business partners, and customers. Working alongside and exchanging knowledge with other highly skilled residents and some of the top experts in the IBM Lotus community, you will develop a competitive edge that will serve you well in developing customized components for Lotus Notes, Sametime, and Symphony. In addition, you will get recognition for being an author of this wiki!

Want to know more ? Click here: -

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/residents.nsf/Residencies/LO-0W01-R01?Open

and/or click here: -

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks.nsf/home?open&page=residencies

for more information on IBM Redbook residencies.

Accessing Quickr Document Libraries using IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory

This article has appeared on the WebSphere Portlet Factory Wiki  in the past week or so, and is something that I'm interested in, specifically because I'd like to create a "plugin" for Lotus Notes 8.5.2 and Lotus Symphony 3 on Linux/Mac to allow me to upload and download files to Quickr Document Libraries and, perhaps, eventually to Lotus Connections Files.

No guarantees that I'll get it working, but I'll give it a try ...

Thursday 22 July 2010

Newport (Ymerodaeth State Of Mind)

Now I'm not normally a YouTube junkie, and spend very little time there, apart from the occasional search for SG1 or BSG-related contact, as well as the absolutely excellent Gir2007 channel.

However, I found this via Twitter yesterday, and couldn't help but (a) laugh and (b) share the clip here - warning, it does contain some Anglo-Saxon expletives, which some viewers MAY find offensive.

The BBC have written it up here: -

"...
The Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind) YouTube sensation of the last 24 hours has today become the UK's most-favourited clip on the video-sharing site, and the second most-favourited in the whole world.
..."

"...
Writer Leo Sloley appeared this morning on the BBC Radio Wales morning show with Jamie Owen and Lisa Rogers. You can listen to the interview here.

With his colleagues in the endeavour, Al and MJ, they've encapsulated some of the characteristics of Newport that even the occasional visitor will recognise. Its clever lyrics and its thematic parallel between the glamour of New York in Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' original and the complete lack of glamour of Newport (not to mention its pin-sharp take-off of the video) have made a wickedly effective combination.
..."


Tuesday 20 July 2010

IBM Content Templates Catalog and the Admin. installation

Following my previous posts, including this one,  I'm rather keen on the IBM Content Templates Catalog (CTC) , but was getting an exception: -

[xmlaccess]     <status element="[web-app 1_CGAH47L000T950I4B4R9CD00U0 uid=FeedReaderPortlet.webmod]" result="failed">
[xmlaccess]         <message id="EJPXA0025E">com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlCommandException: EJPXA0025E: The resource was not found in the portal, either because it does not exist or because you have not specified an identifying attribute in the XML input. [web-app 1_CGAH47L000T950I4B4R9CD00U0 uid=FeedReaderPortlet.webmod]</message>
[xmlaccess]     </status>
[xmlaccess] </request>

[xmlaccess] EJPXB0015E: Server response indicates an error.
[xmlaccess] EJPXB0015E: Server response indicates an error.
Target finished: create-wcm-template-pages

when trying to install it into a newly minted installation of WebSphere Portal / Lotus Web Content Management 6.1.0.4.

Again, I'd performed a slimmed-down administration installation, which proved to be the problem.

The CTC installer was looking for the IBM Feed Reader Portlet, which wasn't installed.

I installed wp.bp.feedreader.war from /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/installableApps/ and was able to successfully install the CTC.

I'm now seeing: -

[xmlaccess]     <status element="[portletinstance 5_LH0ANTS30O0V70I4JD9BIR3KF6]" result="warning">
[xmlaccess]         <message id="EJPXA0202W">com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlCommandException: EJPXA0202W: The user with the userid uid=wp1admin,o=defaultWIMFileBasedRealm could not be found. The resource [portletinstance 5_LH0ANTS30O0V70I4JD9BIR3KF6] will be not created. [portletinstance 5_LH0ANTS30O0V70I4JD9BIR3KF6]</message>
[xmlaccess]     </status>

but that may be a herring rouge ...

"The specified product version is not supported: version=6.1.0.27" seen whilst attempting to upgrade to WebSphere Portal 6.1.0.4

I was seeing these exceptions: -

Failed to perform extraction.

Exception: WUPD0248E: Fix pack update failure: The processing of fix pack WP_PTF_6104, component wp.ptf.preconfig failed.  See the log file /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/version/log/20100719_160024_WP_PTF_6104_wp.ptf.preconfig_install.log for processing details.

and

2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: StdErr:
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: Adding ENTITY for wp.oob.full_cfg
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: StdErr: BUILD FAILED
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: Adding ENTITY for wp.oob.full.fp_cfg
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: StdErr: /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/installer/wp.config/config/includes/preconfig_wp_ptf_6104.xml:24: The following error occurred while executing this line:
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: Adding ENTITY for wp.ap.managewebservices.fp_cfg
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: StdErr: /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/installer/wp.config/config/includes/preconfig_wp_ptf_6104.xml:384: The following error occurred while executing this line:
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: Adding ENTITY for wp.ai.io.impl.catalog_cfg
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: StdErr: /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/installer/wp.config/config/includes/upgrade_health_check.xml:29: The following error occurred while executing this line:
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: Adding ENTITY for wp.bp.exchange2003.fp_cfg
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: StdErr: /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/installer/wp.config/config/includes/upgrade_health_check.xml:118: The specified product version is not supported: version=6.1.0.27
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: Adding ENTITY for dpi-st-portal
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: StdErr:
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: Adding ENTITY for dpi-server-list
2010-07-19T16:06:44+01:00 Result: StdErr: Total time: 11 seconds

whilst trying to install the latest 6.1.0.4 fixpack onto an installation of WebSphere Portal Server / Lotus Web Content Management 6.1.0.3. I'd previously seen the same exception last week, on another VM, but hadn't had a chance to dig into it further.

Sadly, I'd seen the messages but hadn't really read the messages :-)

When I read into it more fully, the significance of "the specified product version is not supported: version=6.1.0.27" became more relevant; WebSphere Portal 6.1.0.3 ships with, and installs by default, WebSphere Application Server 6.1.0.27, whereas 6.1.0.4 requires WebSphere Application Server 6.1.0.29, as per: -

WebSphere Portal Express V6.1.0.4 and V6.1.5.1 hardware and software requirements - Linux on x86

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27018305

Once I installed the .29 fixpacks: -

6.1.0-WS-WAS-LinuxX32-FP0000029.pak
6.1.0-WS-WASSDK-LinuxX32-FP0000029.pak

I was able to successfully install the 6.1.0.4 fixpack.

Can you say "Muppet" ? I bet you can ......

Monday 19 July 2010

One Note Database = OND - This might just save your life one day ( well, kinda )

One of my Hursley chums, John, was trying to open a database file in Lotus Notes 8. The file had been sent to him in the One Note Database (OND) format, which hasn't been core to Lotus Notes for a year or two.

Thankfully, John was able to open it, after a small amount of effort, and wanted to share his pain :-)

1. Detach the OND file (called ENCAP2.OND) to your machine.

2. Switch to the Notes workspace.

3. For the .OND file, add the database icon to the workspace.

      a. Select File - Database - Open.
      b. Choose the ENCAP2.OND file and then click Bookmark.
      c. Add it to a folder tabs on your workspace.

4. Turn the ENCAP2.OND file into a Notes database by adding the .NSF extension.

      a. From the menu, select File - Database - New copy.
      b. Change the extension of the new file from .OND to .NSF.

5. Replace the design of the new file, ENCAP2.NSF, with the mail template. :

      a. From the menu, select File - Database - Replace Design.
      b. Choose Mail  and then click Replace.

6. Open the database and change to the All Documents view.

Easy when you know how .....

PS When I first saw the letters "OND", I thought they read "OMD" and started thinking about that great electropop band from the 1980s ........

Lotus Web Content Management 6.1.5 - Expressing Myself

Following an earlier experience with WebSphere Portal Enable, where I needed to configure the Express WCM content libraries for Intranet and Internet, I tried, and initially, failed to do the same thing on a clean installation of Lotus Web Content Management, as the task: -

./ConfigEngine.sh configure-express -DWasPassword=passw0rd -DPortalAdminPwd=passw0rd

failed with: -

BUILD FAILED
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/installer/wp.oob.content/packager/config/includes/wp.oob.content_cfg.xml:73: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/installer/wp.oob.content/packager/config/includes/wp.oob.content_cfg.xml:213: EJPXB0015E: Server response indicates an error.

When I dug back through the ConfigTrace.log file, I found: -

[xmlaccess]     <status element="[component]" result="warning">
[xmlaccess]         <message id="EJPXA0196W">com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlCommandException: EJPXA0196W: The component cannot be created, because its type is "control", but it does not contain a portlet instance. [component]</message>
[xmlaccess]     </status>
[xmlaccess]     <status element="[component Content.Root.People_Palette.x-1.x100.x100 uniquename=ibm.portal.People Palette Control]" result="warning">
[xmlaccess]         <message id="EJPXA0196W">com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlCommandException: EJPXA0196W: The component cannot be created, because its type is "control", but it does not contain a portlet instance. [component Content.Root.People_Palette.x-1.x100.x100 uniquename=ibm.portal.People Palette Control]</message>
[xmlaccess]     </status>
[xmlaccess]     <status element="[component uniquename=com.ibm.wps.hiddenpage.wcm.control.Authoring_Portlet]" result="warning">
[xmlaccess]         <message id="EJPXA0196W">com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlCommandException: EJPXA0196W: The component cannot be created, because its type is "control", but it does not contain a portlet instance. [component uniquename=com.ibm.wps.hiddenpage.wcm.control.Authoring_Portlet]</message>
[xmlaccess]     </status>
[xmlaccess]     <status element="all" result="ok"/>
[xmlaccess] </request>

[xmlaccess] EJPXB0021W: The request was processed successfully on the server, but warnings were encountered during processing.

Then I used my nous, and remembered that I'd performed an Admin-only installation of WCM, so I needed to run the WCM configuration task: -

./ConfigEngine.sh configure-wcm-authoring -DWasPassword=passw0rd -DPortalAdminPwd=passw0rd

as per this blog post from a week or so back.

Once I ran this task, I was able to successfully re-run the configure-express task, and all is good.

For the record, I installed WCM using these images: -

unzip CZ8G9ML.zip -d /tmp/IL-Setup
mkdir /tmp/IL-1
tar xvzf CZ8H5ML.tgz -C /tmp/IL-1
mkdir /tmp/IL-2
tar xvzf CZ8HDML.tgz -C /tmp/IL-2
unzip CZ8IBML.zip -d /tmp/IL-3
unzip CZ8ICML.zip -d /tmp/IL-4
unzip CZ8IDML.zip -d /tmp/IL-5
unzip CZ8IEML.zip -d /tmp/IL-5a

which results in the following in /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/wps.properties: -

# Product information for IBM WebSphere Portal Server
product=IBM WebSphere Portal Server
version=6.1.0.3
featurepack=6.1.5
fixlevel=0
mode=standard
buildnumber=wp6103_201_01
WPFamilyName=content
WPInstallType=admin

ProfileName=wp_profile
ProfileDirectory=/opt/IBM/WebSphere/wp_profile


OpenNTF.org and Project Wildfire



I must admit that I've had an OpenNTF account for some years, since I had recourse to download Ian Cherill's excellent ACLHelp utility to help me recover a demo Domino domain just prior to running a H*U*G*E client demonstration.

Well, I'm back on the site, as I'm testing out Wildfire, which is a status updater for social networks, that sits nicely in the sidebar of Lotus Notes 8.5.2. This comes from Adam Brown and his ISW mob.

Thus far, I've got WF to work with Lotus Connections on Greenhouse and Twitter, whilst I'm currently struggling to get it to work with Lotus Connections on our own W3 network, as well as MyDeveloperworks, which is another Lotus Connections implementation.

I shall, however, persist, but would recommend that you check out both OpenNTF *AND* Wildfire

Sunday 18 July 2010

Bugging Me - Gnome shortcuts such as [Alt] + [F2] not working in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

Ever since I installed Lucid Lynx on the new Thinkpad W500 a month or so ago, it's been niggling me that my favourite keyboard shortcut - [Alt] + [F2] Run Application was no longer working.

I'm a keyboard junkie and do most of my work without a mouse, although I do love the Trackpoint on the Thinkpad and the Touchpad on the Macbook Pro.

Googling around this morning, I found a solution - it turns out that, by default, everyone's favourite spinny window decorator, Compiz, disables the [Alt] + [F2] keyboard sequence. The solution to restore it, apart getting rid of Compiz which is NOT going to happen in my house, is to navigate to System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager and click General -> Gnome Compatibility.

Once done, [Alt] + [F2] works as it should, along with [Alt] + [F1], which brings up the Gnome menus ( Applications, Places, System etc. ).

In the words of l33t h4x0rs everywhere, w00t B-)

Friday 16 July 2010

IBM Australia Development Lab - Lotus Web Content Management - They're on the loose .....

The IBM Australia Development Lab is pleased to announce that its Lotus Web Content Management team, based in Sydney, has launched the following social networking initiatives:

IBM Australia Development Lab - Lotus Web Content Management Blog

This blog will be used by our Lotus Web Content Management team to directly address the wider WCM community. Team members will blog about their experiences using Lotus Web Content Management, discuss best practices and post information about trends in website development.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/IBM-Australia-Development-Laboratory-Lotus-Web-Content-Management-Page/130086877028257

This Facebook page contains useful information about the IBM Australia Development Lab and Lotus Web Content Management. If you "like" the page, you will also receive news about the IBM Australia Development Lab and Lotus Web Content Management, as well as receive updates from the WebSphere Portal Family Wiki and Lotus Web Content Management forum in your Facebook news feed.

ADLforWCM Twitter Account

Alternately, you can follow this twitter account to receive news about the IBM Australia Development Lab and Lotus Web Content Management, as well as receive updates from the WebSphere Portal Family Wiki and Lotus Web Content Management forum.

The goals of using these social media tools include:

  • raising the profile of the Australia Development Lab as a leading resource for information about the Lotus Web Content Management product, both within IBM and externally
  • expanding and improving how we communicate product knowledge to our customers, business partners and IBMers
  • providing a focal-point for the wider WCM community

More stuff to read :-)

Book Review - "Application Development for IBM WebSphere Process Server 7 and Enterprise Service Bus 7"

At the back end of last year, those nice people at Packt Publishing asked me to review Anthony Chaves' excellent book about WebSphere eXtreme Scale, which was a solution with which I had almost no experience. As per my previous blog posts: -

IBM WebSphere eXtreme Scale 6 - Review to come

IBM WebSphere eXtreme Scale 6 by Anthony Chaves - my thoughts thus far

IBM WebSphere eXtreme Scale 6 by Anthony Chaves, my closing comments

Well, they're at it again, with a subject with which I have a leetle more experience - WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus and WebSphere Process Server.

I'm waiting for the book to arrive, via snail mail, but there's a sample chapter available as a PDF here which I'll download and read on the train tonight.

In the meantime, here's the book: -

Application Development for IBM WebSphere Process Server 7 and Enterprise Service Bus 7

I have worked alongside WPS and WESB on three projects recently, so this is a subject closer to my heart ...

Wednesday 14 July 2010

GLPCTL010E Failed to start database manager for database instance: 'dsrdbm01'

Having managed to locate the right 32-bit version of Tivoli Directory Server 6.2, I then found that the installation barfed with: -

(Jul 14, 2010 3:05:51 PM), null, com.ibm.ldap.install.beans.PanelDefaultInstancePanel$NullWriterDefinst, dbg, line read from idsdefinst script is GLPCTL010E Failed to start database manager for database instance: 'dsrdbm01'.

I'd previously installed DB2 UDB 9.1.0.9: -

DB21085I  Instance "dsrdbm01" uses "32" bits and DB2 code release "SQL09019"
with level identifier "020A0107".
Informational tokens are "DB2 v9.1.0.9", "s100326", "MI00323", and Fix Pack "9".
Product is installed at "/opt/ibm/db2/V9.1".

and, more importantly, had allowed the DB2 installer to create a default instance ( db2inst1 ) and was able to start/stop DB2, create the sample database ( db2sampl ) etc. so I knew that DB2 was OK.

However, the fact that I'd created an instance turned out to be the problem - looking at this Technote: -

DB2 V9.1 FP5+ is now supported with Tivoli Directory Server V6.x

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=767&uid=swg21314966

I quickly realised that the db2inst1 instance was the default, meaning that the TDS installer was seeing a conflict as I was trying to start the new dsrdbm01 instance.

The solution was simple - from the shell in which I was running the TDS configuration tool ( /opt/IBM/ldap/V6.2/sbin/idsxcfg ), I needed to set the DB2INSTANCE variable BEFORE running the configuration tool: -

export DB2INSTANCE=dsrdbm01
/opt/IBM/ldap/V6.2/sbin/idsxcfg

This then allowed me to configure/create/start the DB2 instance, and carry on with the rest of the TDS installation.

Easy when you know how ....

"No Java Runtime Environment (JRE) was found on this system" when attempting to install IBM Tivoli Directory Server 6.2

Doh! Doh !Doh! Doh! Doh!

I spent 15 minutes wondering why I saw: -

Initializing Wizard
Extracting Bundled JRE
Verifying JVM
No Java Runtime Environment (JRE) was found on this system.

when attempting to install ITDS 6.2 from an extracted TAR file ( C1N8XML.tar ) using the command: -

./install_tds.bin

I then tried a slightly different tack, running the command with a log: -

./install_tds.bin -is:log /tmp/tds.log

which generated the following: -

Log file created by MultiPlatform installer @Wed Jul 14 14:42:40 BST 2010
INSTALLER_PATH=/tmp/tds/tds/./install_tds.bin
Checking the environment variables specifed in the JVM files to find the JVM...
No JVM can  be found using the shell environment variable. Searching JVM will continue with Path Hints specified in the JVM Files...
jvm files not specified. Searching a JVM can not be performed.
Extracting bundled JRE...
checking disk space on the parition /tmp/istemp14508195144240 for /tmp/istemp14508195144240/ibm_linux_amd64_150_sr7.bin
89432 512 bytes disk blocks required.
Cheking for disk quotas...
Disk quotas not enabled for /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00...
24523760 512 bytes disk blocks  available on the partition /tmp/istemp14508195144240
Disk space check on the parition /tmp/istemp14508195144240 succeeded.
checking disk space on the parition /tmp/istemp14508195144240 for /tmp/istemp14508195144240/ibm_linux_amd64_150_sr7.bin
139196 512 bytes disk blocks required.
Cheking for disk quotas...
Disk quotas not enabled for /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00...
24435104 512 bytes disk blocks  available on the partition /tmp/istemp14508195144240
Disk space check on the parition /tmp/istemp14508195144240 succeeded.
installing bundled JRE...
Verifying... /tmp/istemp14508195144240/_bundledJRE_/bin/java  -cp  /tmp/istemp14508195144240/Verify.jar Verify  java.vendor java.version
Verification failed for /tmp/istemp14508195144240/_bundledJRE_ using the JVM file /tmp/istemp14508195144240/_bundledJRE_/jvm

So far, so good.

I then attempted to test the bundled JRE, using the command: -

/tmp/istemp14508195144240/_bundledJRE_/bin/java -version

which returned: -

bash: /tmp/istemp14508195144240/_bundledJRE_/bin/java: cannot execute binary file

This ran a bell from an earlier blog posting so I further tested the JRE: -

strace /tmp/istemp14508195144240/_bundledJRE_/bin/java -version

which returned: -

execve("/tmp/istemp14508195144240/_bundledJRE_/bin/java", ["/tmp/istemp14508195144240/_bundl", "-version"], [/* 33 vars */]) = -1 ENOEXEC (Exec format error)
dup(2)                                  = 3
fcntl64(3, F_GETFL)                     = 0x2 (flags O_RDWR)
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136, 0), ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7fc4000
_llseek(3, 0, 0xbf930834, SEEK_CUR)     = -1 ESPIPE (Illegal seek)
write(3, "strace: exec: Exec format error\n", 32strace: exec: Exec format error
) = 32
close(3)                                = 0
munmap(0xb7fc4000, 4096)                = 0
exit_group(1)                           = ?

The Exec format error did it for me - at that point, I realised that I was  trying to install a 64-bit version of TDS onto a 32-bit OS :-)

A Google search for C1N8XML.tar confirmed this: -

Download IBM Tivoli Directory Server version 6.2 for Linux systems

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/doview.wss?uid=swg24021083

which showed: -

C1N8XML.tar              (tds62-linux-x86-64-base.tar)              IBM Tivoli Directory Server tar file for AMD64/EM64T Linux. Includes full server, proxy server, client

whereas I actually needed ( and had already downloaded ): -

C1N6YML.tar                (tds62-linux-ia32-base.tar)                    IBM Tivoli Directory Server tar file for System x Linux. Includes full server, proxy server, client

Ironically, the 64-bit version was on my oh-so-usual 320 GB USB drive where I keep all my software products, whereas the 32-bit version was sitting in DownloadDirector on my PC, waiting to be transferred to said USB drive.

Moral of the story ? Rename my TAR files to something more meaningful ....

Monday 12 July 2010

Plugging in to Mozilla Firefox

During the past month or so, there's been a few Firefox plugins to which I
repeatedly turn. These include: -

Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools at your
fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and
JavaScript live in any web page...

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843/

HttpFox monitors and analyzes all incoming and outgoing HTTP traffic between the
browser and the web servers.

It aims to bring the functionality known from tools like HttpWatch or
IEInspector to the Firefox browser.

Information available per request includes:
- Request and response headers
- Sent and received cookies
- Querystring parameters
- POST parameters
- Response body

FireShot is a Firefox extension that creates screenshots of web pages (entirely
or just visible part).

Unlike other extensions, this plugin provides a set of editing and annotation
tools, which let users quickly modify web captures and insert text annotations
and graphical annotations. Such functionality will be especially useful for web
designers, testers and content reviewers.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5648/

Along with these is the absolutely excellent Foxear, which gives me access to my
Bookmarks ( fka Dogear ) from Lotus Connections, wherever I go, across multiple
laptops, using Ubuntu, OSX and ( via VMware, on rare occasions ) Windows.

Sadly ( for you ), Foxear is an IBM-internal plugin, but it does "leverage" the
power of Lotus Connections ...

Administering IBM WebSphere Portal 6.1.0 and 6.1.5: A workshop

The goal of this white paper is to explain the various administration and
configuration tools offered by IBM WebSphere® Portal. Learn which tool to use
for which task and about the new capabilities of WebSphere Portal 6.1.5, and
understand differences from previous versions of WebSphere Portal. We take you
through exercises for each tool so you can learn hands-on how to use the
different tools.

In this article

* What is WebSphere Portal?

* WebSphere Portal file system structure

* Command line tools

* Command line tools: WebSphere Application Server scripting

* Administration user interface: Admin portlets

* WebSphere Application Server Integrated Solutions Console

* Conclusion

* Resources

* About the authors

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/portal/proddoc/dw-w-portaladmin/

Saturday 10 July 2010

You must use a browser that supports frames for the WebSphere Application Server Administrative Console

Had a minor panic when I saw this exception: -

You must use a browser that supports frames for the WebSphere Application Server Administrative Console

from a previously working instance of Mozilla Firefox 3.6.6, when I attempted to access the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console (ISC) on: -

https://dmhw500.uk.ibm.com:10032/ibm/console/logon.jsp

The error appeared just as I entered the credentials and clicked the "Login" button.

... and then I remembered that, on Friday whilst playing with Portal and iFrames, I'd turned off frame support via the about:config URL ( accepted the "Here be dragons" warning, and promising to be careful ) by changing: -

browser.frames.enabled;true

to: -

browser.frames.enabled;false

Turned them back on, and .... we're back :-)

Phew !

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Adding AND removing features from WebSphere Portal 6.1.5

Having worked out how to add support for WCM and Personalization recently: -

http://portal2portal.blogspot.com/2010/07/no-content-resource-collections.html

http://portal2portal.blogspot.com/2010/07/more-fun-with-no-content-resource.html

I was then asked how to REMOVE the WCM authoring portlets.

A quick search through the ConfigEngine tasks gave me this: -

/opt/IBM/WP7/wp_profile/ConfigEngine/ConfigEngine.sh remove-wcm-authoring -DWasPassword=wpsadm1n -DPortalAdminPwd=wpsadm1n

as per these entries in the Information Centre: -

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wcmdoc/v6r0/topic/com.ibm.lotus.wcm.doc/wcm/wcm_install_configtasks_removeauthoring.html

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wpdoc/v6r1/topic/com.ibm.wp.ent.doc_v615/wcm/wcm_install_configtasks_removeauthoring.html

Within an hour of answering that question, I was asked ( by another client ) how to remove the Mashups capability added by the WebSphere Portal 6.1.5 Feature Pack.

Following my own advice, I added Mashups into my Administration installation: -

/opt/IBM/WP7/wp_profile/ConfigEngine/ConfigEngine.sh deploy-portal-mashup-ui -DWasPassword=wpsadm1n -DPortalAdminPwd=wpsadm1n

and, having verified that I saw a Mashups page in my top navigation, and that I could edit the Mashup page, add iWidgets etc., I then *REMOVED* it  again: -

/opt/IBM/WP7/wp_profile/ConfigEngine/ConfigEngine.sh remove-portal-mashup-ui -DWasPassword=wpsadm1n -DPortalAdminPwd=wpsadm1n

/opt/IBM/WP7/wp_profile/ConfigEngine/ConfigEngine.sh action-remove-ear-wp.mmi.deploy -DWasPassword=wpsadm1n -DPortalAdminPwd=wpsadm1n

Now it's way too early to tell whether this (a) works properly or (b) is supported so, as with all of my top tips, **YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY**

WebSphere Support - Twitering away ...

Looking for a valid reason to use Twitter ? Even if you don't really want to
know what your network is up to in terms of travel, beer, coffee etc., you
might find it useful to see how your favourite IBM software products are doing.
If so, consider "following" all or some of the following, even if you don't
actually create a Twitter account: -

WebSphere

http://twitter.com/websphere_ehelp
http://twitter.com/IBM_AppServer
http://twitter.com/IBM_WMQ
http://twitter.com/IBM_Broker
http://twitter.com/IBM_CICS
http://twitter.com/IBM_Commerce
http://twitter.com/IBM_ProcessServ
http://twitter.com/IBM_Monitor
http://twitter.com/IBM_Modeler
http://twitter.com/IBMDataPower
http://twitter.com/IBM_Adapters
http://twitter.com/ISA_Tools

Lotus

http://twitter.com/websphere_edu
http://twitter.com/lotuseducation
http://twitter.com/lotustechinfo
http://twitter.com/PortalSupport
http://twitter.com/PortalToolboxes
http://twitter.com/ibm_eSupport

Have I missed any ?

Tuesday 6 July 2010

Strange problem with WebSphere Portal URLs following fix pack installation

This started out as a rumour of a problem whereby applying certain fix packs to WebSphere Portal 6.1.0.3 would "corrupt the context root" which had been changed from the default of wps.

We were fortunate enough to recreate the problem in its entirety during the build of a "sandbox" environment - the actual symptoms were slightly different; whilst the new context root worked perfectly, the client had also changed the default home page URIs ( both for anonymous - portal - and authenticated - myportal ), using the same ConfigEngine modify-servlet-path command, as per the Information Centre: -

Changing the portal URI

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wpdoc/v6r1/topic/com.ibm.wp.ent.doc_v615/config/cfg_intr.html

Whilst there were no errors in the portal logs ( WebSphere_Portal/SystemOut.log and WebSphere_Portal/SystemErr.log ), or in the ConfigEngine logs, there was definitely a problem; accessing either of the new home URIs resulted in an HTTP 404 exception - which isn't a typical WebSphere exception; accessing the wrong URI would typically result in: -

SRVE0255E: A WebGroup/Virtual Host to handle /new/homepage has not been defined.

SRVE0255E: A WebGroup/Virtual Host to handle dmhw500.uk.ibm.com:10039 has not been defined.

in the browser, with a corresponding exception in SystemOut.log such as: -

[06/07/10 07:02:09:627 BST] 0000002c webcontainer  E com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WebContainer handleRequest SRVE0255E: A WebGroup/Virtual Host to handle /new/homepage has not been defined.

Therefore, I started digging further and, on ascertaining that the client uses Servlet Filtering, as per Ron Lynn's excellent article: -

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0707_lynn/0707_lynn.html

I looked at the web.xml that WebSphere Portal ( wps.war in wps.ear ) uses.

This had the WRONG URIs, with filter paths such as: -

<filter-mapping>
<filter-name> Parameter Filter</filter-name>
<url-pattern>/myportal/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
<filter-mapping>
<filter-name> Parameter Filter</filter-name>
<url-pattern>/portal/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

rather than the expected URIs that the client had chosen to use.

Changing web.xml for the WPS application via: -

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/wp_profile/config/cells/localhostCell01/applications/wps.ear/deployments/wps/wps.war/WEB-INF/web.xml

( Note this under the application configuration rather than installedApps *AND* needs to be set at the cell/node level )

all was OK.

Having narrowed the problem down to web.xml in wps.war, I dug further into the ConfigEngine/config/work directory structure, and found that PM12630 had backed out the client's changes to web.xml, keeping both the original customer-modified AND the default IBM implementation, which had been causing the problem.

Once I'd realised that this fix was "at fault", I checked the APAR for the iFix, and lo and behold, the problem was highlighted: -

<snip>
The change to the wps.war web.xml file can either be done automatically through the following config task

<wp_profile>/ConfigEngine/ConfigEngine.[bat|sh] apply-PM12630

or manually be exporting the wps.ear, merging the web.xml with the changes outlined in the problem solution section and redeploying the wps.ear.

Do not use the this task if portal url schema names or servlet filters have been modified in wps.war web.xml. In this case, the change has to be manually merged into the web.xml file to keep the prior modifications.
</snip>

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1PM12630

Thus, we have a fix - reinstate the correct Servlet Filters - and can avoid it in the future by manually applying this iFix, and any others that have the same health warning.

More fun with "No content resource collections available" when attempting to use Personalization and Lotus Web Content Management together

As an update to my previous post: -

http://portal2portal.blogspot.com/2010/07/no-content-resource-collections.html

my client found that, in one environment, the ConfigEngine task configure-wcm-authoring was failing, with the following exception: -

<message id="EJPXA0025E">com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlCommandException: EJPXA0025E: The resource was not found in the portal, either because it does not exist or because you have not specified an identifying attribute in the XML input. [page Content.Root.Home=ibm.portal.Home]</message>

It transpired that the IBM-supplied default home page, with the Unique Name of ibm.portal.Home, had been deleted. Creating a new page, named TempHome with the Unique Name of ibm.portal.Home allowed the script to be run to completion, and the PzN rules could then be created against the Resource Collections.


Monday 5 July 2010

WebSphere Portal Server - 6.1.5 - Downloads for Windows 32/64-bit

Pulled this list off the Catalog earlier today, to act as an aide memoire when I next need to download the product from XL or PA: -

IBM WebSphere Portal Server V6.1.5 - IBM WebSphere Portal Server Install V6.1.5 (W-Setup, A-Setup, H-Setup, HI-Setup, I-Setup, IL-Setup, PL-Setup, ZL-Setup, SS-Setup, SO-Setup) Multiplatform Multilingual (CZ8G7ML)
IBM WebSphere Portal V6.1.5, WebSphere Portal Express V6.1.5 and Lotus Web Content Management V6.1.5 - IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment for Windows x86-32, V6.1.0.27 (W-1) Multilingual (CZ8H2ML)
IBM WebSphere Portal V6.1.5 and Lotus Web Content Management V6.1.5 - IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment for Windows x86-64 (W-2) Multilingual (CZ8H8ML)
IBM WebSphere Portal Server V6.1.5 - IBM WebSphere Portal Server Server component (Disk 1 of 4) V6.1.5 (W-3, A-3, H-3, HI-3, I-3, IL-3, PL-3, ZL-3, SS-3, SO-3) Multiplatform Multilingual (CZ8I4ML)
IBM WebSphere Portal Server V6.1.5 - IBM WebSphere Portal Server Server component (Disk 2 of 4) V6.1.5 (W-4, A-4, H-4, HI-4, I-4, IL-4, PL-4, ZL-4, SS-4, SO-4) Multiplatform Multilingual (CZ8I5ML)
IBM WebSphere Portal Server V6.1.5 - IBM WebSphere Portal Server Server component (Disk 3 of 4) V6.1.5 (W-5, A-5, H-5, HI-5, I-5, IL-5, PL-5, ZL-5, SS-5, SO-5) Multiplatform Multilingual (CZ8I6ML)
IBM WebSphere Portal Server V6.1.5 - IBM WebSphere Portal Server Server component (Disk 4 of 4) V6.1.5 (W-5A, A-5A, H-5A, HI-5A, I-5A, IL-5A, PL-5A, ZL-5A, SS-5A, SO-5A) Multiplatform Multilingual (CZ8I7ML)

:-)

Thursday 1 July 2010

"No content resource collections available" when attempting to use Personalization and Lotus Web Content Management together

I've been working with a client who is making heavy use of Personalization (PzN) in WebSphere Portal 6.1.0.3 (WP) on AIX, using the "Select Action" rule type against Lotus Web Content Management (WCM).

However, when they attempted to create a new rule, they were hitting the message"No content resource collections available" where ordinarily one would expect to see three default resource collections: -
  • Federated Documents
  • Web Components
  • Web Content
Enabling tracing in WP via the com.ibm.websphere.personalization.*=all trace package showed us exceptions such as: -

[29/06/10 18:04:53:200 BST] 0000004a SystemErr     R
com.ibm.websphere.personalization.PersonalizationException: The collection was not found: null
[29/06/10 18:04:53:214 BST] 0000004a PznXMLInterpr >
com.ibm.websphere.personalization.rules.PznXMLInterpreter handleException ENTRY
[com.ibm.websphere.personalization.PersonalizationException: ResourceCollection not found for ,"Exception Thrown in PznXMLActionInterpreter.doQuery()",com.ibm.websphere.personalization.context.PersonalizationContext@7c6b7c6b]
[29/06/10 18:04:53:214 BST] 0000004a SystemErr     R
com.ibm.websphere.personalization.PersonalizationException: ResourceCollection
not found for


etc.

Following a timely blog post from Graham Bucknell ( aka Tork Wrench ): -

Why doesn’t the WCM authoring portlet come up after installing Portal?

I confirmed that this was definitely a WP/WCM installation e.g. an installation of WebSphere Portal that includes WCM, by checking /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/wps.properties for WPFamilyName=content rather than, say, WPFamilyName=server.

However, the wps.properties did give me another clue, WPInstallType=admin, which indicates that the client was using the slimmed-down ( but *NOT* cut-down ) installation option.

This gave me a clue to check the Information Centre here: -

Adding features to an administration installation

and, more specifically, this: -

Adding Personalization features to an administration installation

and this: -

Adding Web Content Management to an administration installation

These two sections describe how to use ConfigEngine to add PzN and WCM to your installation: -

./ConfigEngine.sh action-deploy-portlets-prereq.pzn -DPortalAdminPwd=password -DWasPassword=password
./ConfigEngine.sh configure-wcm-authoring -DPortalAdminPwd=password -DWasPassword=password

I replicated the problem by performing an Administration installation on my own box ( my trusty Thinkpad ) and then ran the two ConfigEngine tasks, one at a time, testing as I went along.

PS I DID have the Federated Documents collection under PzN, before running either task, but not the WCM-related ones.

The action-deploy-portlets-prereq.pzn task doesn't seem to do much, as the PzN portlets are already deployed out-of-the-box, even on an Administration install, but it did create a nice little page group which I could then use.

However, the magic trick was to run the configure-wcm-authoring task, which did the job nicely. Watching the log as the task ran, I saw the following two important lines: -


...
Calling JCRInitializer for file:
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/pzn/prereq.pzn/config/nodes/pznwcmcontentrc.nodes
Calling JCRInitializer for file:
/opt//IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/pzn/prereq.pzn/config/nodes/pznwcmcomponentrc.nodes

...

These two files, respectively, create the two missing Resource Collections: -

  • Web Content
  • Web Components
The moral of the story ? If you get the exception "No content resource collections available" on an Admin. install of WebSphere Portal *AND* you've definitely got a deployment that includes WCM, then run the configure-wcm-authoring task via ConfigEngine, and you'll be in like Flynn.

Seemples !

64-bits but no buts ...

Something that I need to look at later is whether my shiny new Thinkpad W500 will allow me to run a 64-bit VMware image using Workstation 7.1.0 whilst I'm booting into a 32-bit installation of Ubuntu 10.04.

I've enabled VT in the Thinkpad's BIOS but VMware is still moaning: -


You have configured this virtual machine to use a 64-bit operating system. However, 64-bit operation is not possible. This host is VT-capable, but VT is disabled.

This is usually because VT has been disabled in the BIOS/firmware settings or the host has not been power-cycled since changing this setting.


Now I've definitely rebooted since changing the BIOS - the Thinkpad won't allow you to do otherwise.

This KB article covers the "problem" in more depth, and the VMware site includes a sweet little tool that you can boot up, via an ISO image, to determine whether this emulation is possible or not.

Will download from here later and have a play ...

Lotus Support Tools

Picking up on a Tweet from my mate, Ray Davies, who was re-Tweeting a comment from another fellow yellow geek, David Fry, there's a new site from Lotus providing a single place to visit to get access to support resources etc.

From the site: -

As a Lotus software customer, we know you would like to be self sufficient in finding what you need when you need it. But, it can be hard to know which electronic support option to choose at any given time. Below, you'll find basic descriptions and video demos of some of our most popular tools to help you get started (or become more expert) at assisting yourself.

and links to: -

    * IBM Support Portal
    * Lotus Product Best Practices Wikis
    * Lotus Product Forums, Blogs and RSS
    * Fix Central
    * Service Request (SR)
    * My Notifications
    * Open Mics and Webcasts
    * IBM Technical Support Chat
    * Notes from Lotus Support blog
    * Multimedia Library for Lotus software
    * Assist On-site
    * IBM Support Assistant (ISA)
    * Lotus Greenhouse
    * Lotus Domino Configuration Tuner

Check it out here -> http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/support/clickaway/

Spotted - Yet another WebSphere Portal blogger ....

Whilst looking for something completely different, I found Rob's blog here: -

http://www.rojotek.com/blog/

Definitely worth a look, as he's got some useful "hacks" for various frequently
used portal tasks, as well as some interesting stuff on coding using a Java
framework called Play!

Visual Studio Code - Wow 🙀

Why did I not know that I can merely hit [cmd] [p]  to bring up a search box allowing me to search my project e.g. a repo cloned from GitHub...