"Could not initialize the application's security component" seen when starting Lotus Notes 8.5.2 on Ubuntu Linux 10.10

Hmmm, for no obvious reason, I started seeing this message, in a screen-obscuring dialogue box, when starting Notes 8.5.2 on Ubuntu Linux 10.10

Could not initialize the application's security component. The most likely cause it problems with files in your application's profile directory.
Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and that your hard disk is not full or close to full.
It is recommended that you exit the application and fix the problem.
If you continue to use this session, you might see incorrect application behaviour when accessing security features

as per the screenshot below.

This bug report in Launchpad led me to the solution, suggesting that the problem may be due to a missing or, in my case, incorrectly permissioned, Eclipse subdirectory.

To test this assumption, I ran the following set of commands: -

ll /home/hayd/ | grep mozilla

returns

drwx------  6 hayd hayd      4096 2010-10-11 18:37 .mozilla/

ll /home/hayd/.mozilla/

returns: -

total 40
drwx------  6 hayd hayd  4096 2010-10-11 18:37 ./
drwxr-xr-x 93 hayd hayd 12288 2011-02-25 11:15 ../
drwx------  3 root root  4096 2011-01-30 18:51 eclipse/
drwx------  3 hayd hayd  4096 2010-06-14 13:42 extensions/
drwx------  4 hayd hayd  4096 2010-09-09 08:36 firefox/
-rw-------  1 hayd hayd  5218 2010-07-30 13:23 pluginreg.dat
drwxr-xr-x  2 hayd hayd  4096 2010-10-11 18:37 plugins/

ll /home/hayd/.mozilla/eclipse/

returns: -

total 272
drwx------ 3 root root   4096 2011-01-30 18:51 ./
drwx------ 6 hayd hayd   4096 2010-10-11 18:37 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root   4096 2010-08-28 19:13 Cache/
-rw------- 1 root root  65536 2011-01-30 18:51 cert8.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2048 2010-11-25 10:42 cookies.sqlite
-rw------- 1 root root  16384 2011-01-30 18:51 key3.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2048 2010-06-15 16:42 permissions.sqlite
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 151552 2011-01-30 17:54 places.sqlite
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      0 2011-01-30 17:54 places.sqlite-journal
-rw------- 1 root root    310 2010-11-25 13:33 pluginreg.dat
-rw------- 1 root root    769 2011-01-30 18:51 prefs.js
-rw------- 1 root root  16384 2011-01-30 17:32 secmod.db

The solution ( for me ) ?

As root ( via sudo bash ), run: -

chown -R hayd:hayd /home/hayd/.mozilla/eclipse/
chmod -R +rwx /home/hayd/.mozilla/eclipse/

These two commands set the appropriate ownership and read/write/execute permissions to the eclipse subdirectory that Notes uses.

This appears to have resolved the problem - so far......

WebSphere Portal v7 - Fixpack 1

Whoa, how did I miss this last Thursday ? Oh, I guess it was because I was on a plane home from Edinburgh at the time :-)

So, IBM released the first "full" fix pack for WebSphere Portal 7 last week - this is also known as 7.0.0.1.

There's a lot of good stuff in this release, so it's worth checking out the fix list here.

IBM have pulled together a  page that contains all of the relevant resources for this fix pack here.

It's also worth bookmarking this page which lists the recommended updates for WP and WCM v7, which now includes this 7.0.0.1 fix.

Get downloading ...

WebSphere User Group - Upcoming Events - One virtual, one (very) physical :-)

Two new WUG-related events coming soon: -

Thursday 24 February @ 1100 Eastern Standard Time

Webcast - Leveraging a Federated ESB with WebSphere DataPower

The reality of modern enterprises is that the vast majority have multiple, disparate business units that essentially comprise islands of SOA. By maximizing service reuse in the enterprise, a federated ESB approach that leverages federated service reuse can bridge connectivity across domain boundaries resulting in higher efficiency and responsiveness.

In this webinar, learn how a Federated ESB approach that includes WebSphere DataPower Appliances and leverages the 80 - 20 rule can accelerate and simplify your Federated ESB deployment. With in-depth case studies from leading international financial institutions, see first-hand how this powerful approach can work for your organization.

Bill Hines, Executive I/T Specialist and World-Wide Tech Sales Leader for DataPower

Bill Hines is an Executive I/T Specialist and World-Wide Tech Sales Leader for DataPower, working out of Hershey, PA (Chocolatetown, USA). He has many years of DataPower experience in both customer engagements and developing and delivering internal DataPower training to the IBM consulting, engineering, support, QA, and technical sales teams. He also has WebSphere Application Server experience dating back to 1998. He is the lead author of the acclaimed IBM Press book IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliance Handbook and co-author of IBM WebSphere: Deployment and Advanced Configuration as well as many articles published in WebSphere Technical Journal and developerWorks.




Click here to register.

Wednesday 23 March @ IBM Bedfont

Join the WUG team to hear some great speakers talk about a variety of excellent topics, including portal development and testing, mobile access, social/collaboration and search: -

• Test-Driven Development for Portal Applications
• Developing Mobile Portal Content with Mobile Portal Accelerator
• Customer implementation of integrated Social Portal
• Architecture of Multichannel (Mobile) Applications using IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory
• Development of a customer Patient Portal
• Integrating the Google Search Appliance with WebSphere Portal and Lotus Web Content Management

The agenda is online here as is the registration page.

Integrating WebSphere Commerce and Lotus Connections

An interesting article from Glenn Kline at Perficient: -

I was recently asked by IBM if we have integrated WebSphere Commerce and Lotus Connections. I don't believe to date we have done this but it really got me thinking as to how exactly we would do it. Currently I have been leading an effort where we are integrating Commerce with a traditional J2EE / WebSphere application and the concepts are quite similar.

It's a good article, and very much worth a read if you're interested in this area, which, as purveyors of exceptional web experiences, we all are.

The IBM Exceptional Web Experience Conference - 16-19 May 2011 - Call for Abstracts

So, Lotusphere 2011 ( #ls11 ) finished a few weeks back, and IBM is already planning the next major event - the Exceptional Web Experience conference - which takes place ... in Orlando, Fla :-)

The conference registration is now open and, perhaps more importantly, the chance to submit an abstract for the event is also upon us.

Business Impact Program

Track 1: Customer Case Studies and Industry Solutions

• Detailed presentations of client solutions,including Project Goals and Analysis,Industry Specific Approaches,Implementation and Governance Techniques, Best Practices.

Track 2: Accelerating Solution Time to Value and ROI

• Proven Strategies to Build the Vision and Value of an Exceptional Web Experience
  
• Building a Portal Delivery Roadmap
  
• Paths to Success
  
• How to Successfully Justify and Deploy Portal and Social
  
• Software in Your Organization
  
• The Real Scoop on Understanding the Portal Competitive Landscape.

Track 3: Optimize Customer Experiences to Build Brand and Generate Revenue

• You are What You Market: Leveraging New Rules of Marketing
  
• Getting Smart with Retail Portals to Address the Accelerated Shift in Buyer Behavior
  
• Delivering Your Portal Solutions to Mobile Audiences: Best Practices
  
• User Experience Optimization Initiative: Understanding and Applying Web Analytics

Technology Program Track 4: Web Experience Platforms and Solutions

• Getting Started with IBM WebSphere Portal and IBM Web Content Management
  
• WebSphere Portal 7
  
• Technical Overview and Strategy
  
• Leveraging Portal NOW to Deliver Exceptional Web Experiences
  
• IBM Forms Technical Deep Dive
  
• What’s New in Lotus Quickr ?
  
• Extending your Portal to Mobile Devices
  
• IBM Mashup Center Overview
  
• Exceptional Web Experience in the Cloud – How to Use IBM WebSphere Portal
  
• IBM Web Content Management
  
• Forms and Mashups in the Cloud.

Track 5: Developing Exceptional Web Experiences

• Improving the Online Experience: Building Next Generation Web sites
  
• Using Adobe FLEX to Deliver IBM
  
• WebSphere Portal and Collaboration Services
  
• Developing Web Applications using IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory, IBM Rational® Application Developer and IBM Lotus Widget Factory
  
• Powering Exceptional Web Experiences Using Industry Toolboxes
  
• Leveraging WebSphere Commerce and IBM Web Content Management
  
• Deliver Operational and Real-time Business Intelligence with Cognos® Business Intelligence
  
• IBM Forms Technical Deep Dive.

Track 6: Best Practices and Implementation

• Managing the Portal Deployment Project: Best Practices, Effective Portal Governance
  
• High Availability Designs and Implementation with WebSphere Portal, Virtualizing Portals, Successfully Managing Your WebSphere Portal, Virtualizing Portals
  
• Successfully Managing Your IBM Web Content Management Solution; Hands On Lab
  
• Administrating WebSphere Portal.

If there's something that you'd like to share, please consider submitting an abstract here.

*Note* The submission form requires a Lotus Greenhouse account, so please visit here if you don't have one.

The closing date for abstracts is two weeks away - Friday 4 March - so strike while the iron is hot.

What is better than Wayne's World ? WebSphere World, WebSphere World, It's Party Time :-)

Thanks to ThisWeekInLotus  for sharing this site - I'm still catching up with the TWiL podcasts; I'm now on the December 24th review of 2010, so am less than two months behind the curve.

One of the last episodes of the year featured John Gallagher from City University, who quoted WebSphere World as his tip.

Having looked at, and registered on, the site, I'd be tempted to agree.

Kudos to Billy Lo for running a great site, keep up the good work :-)

Webcast: "Running IBM WebSphere Portal and WCM in virtualized environments" - Thursday 24 February 2011

IBM Product Development will host a Tech Exchange Webcast and call on "Running IBM WebSphere Portal and WCM in virtualized environments" on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 10:00 AM US EST (3:00 PM GMT).

Below are the webcast URL and call-in numbers:

Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011
Time: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM US EST (3:00 PM GMT)
Webcast URL: https://apps.lotuslive.com/meetings/join?id=5260580

Audio by phone:
North America, Toll free: 866-803-2145
North America, Toll: 1-210-795-1099
Participant Passcode: 3137041

For further information, please check this page on IBM.COM.

Lotus Connections 3 - Security Vulnerability

One of my colleagues in the Lotus Connections development team drew my attention to this  document: -

Flash (Alert) - Security vulnerability in Lotus Connections login module

Abstract

Security vulnerability in Lotus Connections login module.

Content

After installing fixpack 7.0.0.11 for WebSphere Application Server, an application may be able to invoke an internal login module in an incorrect fashion.

This only applies to an application internal login, and does not apply to a client login.

* RECOMMENDATION: *

WebSphere Application Server has been modified to properly handle this type of login. IBM strongly urges all customers to apply the patch immediately to all deployments. Please contact WebSphere Application Server support team to obtain hotfix 7.0.0.11-WS-WAS-IFPK54565.pak for WebSphere fixpack 7.0.0.11.

Please review the Flash, and work with IBM Support to locate and apply the fix.

WASX7015E seen when using WSAdmin to work with Lotus Connections 3.0 configuration

I had a major "Doh!" moment earlier this afternoon, whilst helping a friend resolve an issue with the Homepage service.

He was trying to check out and change the Homepage configuration using the following commands / scripts: -

( From the Deployment Manager node )

cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01/bin
./wsadmin.sh -lang jython -port 8879
wsadmin>execfile("homepageAdmin.py")
wsadmin>HomepageCellConfig.checkOutGettingstartedConfig("/tmp","lc13Cell01")

but the first wsadmin command was failing with: -

No Homepage services found
HomePage Configuration Environment initialized

which meant that the second command then failed with: -

WASX7015E: Exception running command: "HomepageCellConfig.checkOutGettingstartedConfig("/tmp","lc13Cell01")"; exception information:
com.ibm.bsf.BSFException: exception from Jython:
Traceback (innermost last):
  File "<input>", line 1, in ?
AttributeError: checkOutGettingstartedConfig

I'd correctly identified that the first response - No Homepage services found - was a key symptom, but it took me a while longer to realize why :-)

So, I spun up my LC30  VMware image, which thankfully was merely suspended, and tried the same commands - with the same response.

Then I realized that (a) my node agent was stopped and (b) the Profiles and Homepage clusters were NOT started.

So, thinking that this was the root cause, I started the node agent using the command: -

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/startNode.sh

and started the two clusters ( Profiles is a dependancy for security to work, and I knew that I'd need Homepage running ).

Having done this, I re-tried the same commands as my pal: -

cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01/bin
./wsadmin.sh -lang jython -port 8879
wsadmin>execfile("homepageAdmin.py")
wsadmin>HomepageCellConfig.checkOutGettingstartedConfig("/tmp","lc13Cell01")

but failed at the self same first hurdle: -

No Homepage services found
HomePage Configuration Environment initialized

A quick Google for the error message ID - WASX7015E - threw up this Technote: -

WASX7015E error when running AdminTask command from wsadmin CLI

which, whilst for a COMPLETELY different product, contained the key phrase: -

...
This error is most likely caused by not logging into the wsadmin environment with a valid user. When you get authenticated, you still end up in the wsadmin shell. But you should see error messages that indicate that AdminTask will not be available, like in the screenshot below. Make sure you log into the wsadmin shell using a proper userid and password and AdminTask commands will be able to be executed.
...

At this point, I slapped my forehead, and said "Doh!" in an extremely loud voice.

Looking back through my commands, I realized that I'd NOT authenticated when I ran up the wsadmin shell.

I re-did the commmands BUT with authentication: -

./wsadmin.sh -lang jython -user lcadmin -password passw0rd
WASX7209I: Connected to process "dmgr" on node lc30CellManager01 using SOAP connector;  The type of process is: DeploymentManager
WASX7031I: For help, enter: "print Help.help()"

wsadmin>execfile("homepageAdmin.py")
Connecting to WebSphere:name=HomepageAdminService,type=LotusConnections,cell=lc30Cell01,node=lc30Node01,process=homepageCluster_server1
HomePage Administration initialized

wsadmin>HomepageCellConfig.checkOutGettingstartedConfig("/tmp","lc30Cell01")
Homepage Getting Started page configuration file successfully checked out

wsadmin>HomepageCellConfig.checkInGettingstartedConfig("/tmp","lc30Cell01")
Loading schema file for validation: /tmp/gettingstarted-config.xsd
/tmp/gettingstarted-config.xml is valid
Homepage Getting Started page configuration file successfully checked in

and we're in like Flynn.

Job is, as they say, a good 'un.

PS I also note that, in LC30, it no longer appears to be necessary to run synchAllNodes(). This is a change over LC25.

Webcast: Guidance to a Successful Installation, Deployment, and Customization of Lotus Connections 3.0 - February 16, 2011

Abstract

The IBM Lotus Connections team will host a customer Webcast call about Guidance to a Successful Installation, Deployment, and Customization of Lotus Connections 3.0 on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 10AM ET (15:00 UTC).

Content

Members from the IBM Lotus Connections Test and Development teams will give an audio and video presentation about installation, deployment and customization. Questions from the attendees will be answered after the presentation by the presenter and other Subject Matter Experts.

There are more details here -> https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21461173 <- including links to allow questions to be posted, LotusLive URL, Wiki etc.

Webcast: Upgrading to Lotus Quickr 8.5 for Domino - 9 February 2011

Abstract
IBM Lotus Support is hosting a Webcast about upgrading to Lotus Quickr 8.5 for Domino on Wednesday, February 9, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. EST (15:00 GMT).

Content

You are invited to join a Webcast about upgrading to Lotus Quickr 8.5 for Domino. A Webcast consists of a slide presentation by IBM Support team members followed by a Q&A session with a panel of subject matter experts.

The Webcast will be held on Wednesday, February 9, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. This session will be recorded; a link to the recording will be added to this document.

Please bring your questions to the call, or submit questions in advance by posting a response to the following entry in the Lotus Quickr forum:

Webcast: Upgrading to Lotus Quickr 8.5 for Domino - 9 February 2011

If you are interested in learning more about this topic before joining this call, refer to the Upgrading section in the production documentation in the Lotus Quickr wiki.
Want to know more ? Then click here ...

LotusLive Symphony - aka Project Concord

To be honest, I have not really had a chance to drill into Project Concord, apart from to read Ed's blog post on the subject from Lotusphere .... 2010: -

We also demonstrated Project Concord, a set of collaborative web editors that will be part of the new LotusLive Labs in Q2 2010.  Project Concord is something I've talked to customers about in concept over the last year or so -- that when we started working on productivity as a set of web tools, we weren't just going to deliver yet another reinvented word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation tool.  Instead, this project demonstrates some very cool collaborative document editing, contextual commenting, smart tables, and task and attention management.  It is designed to work with installed editors (e.g. Symphony), browser users, and even mobile users.

So, today, thanks to my good friend, Mr Mike Spradbery ( aka @Spradders ) I had a quick poke about the product which, if I have got this right, will be called LotusLive Symphony at some point down the line.

It's available to try via this link.

In addition, it also APPEARS to be available here, as part of Lotus Connections on Greenhouse or, more specifically, here within the Files app.

Regardless of how you reach it, it's a very cool experience - you can upload a document ( I chose to upload MS Word file in .DOC format ) and then EDIT it live via the browser. This causes the original .DOC file to be converted to the OPEN Document Format (ODF) or, more specifically, to the .ODT format.

This gives me a very rich document editing experience, as good as any other RTE that I've used before, including the capability to paste in from Word documents, which I've seen as a key requirement within Lotus WCM via Ephox EditLive! etc.

Having played around, I then saved and closed the document, and shared it with Mike as an editor.

I was then able to back into the document and, via the Tools -> Tasks -> Assign a section menu, I assigned a section of the document to Mike. This generated a new Activity into Mike was automatically added. This then notified him and, as I type this blog post in Evolution, I can see my  Firefox tab flashing away in the menu bar. When I checked the Firefox tab, I can see Mike's in like Flynn, editing away within the document.

So, to summarise, I can upload or create a new document, share it with team members as editors, assign them sections of the document on which to work, and they can start editing ALL IN REAL TIME.

Oh, and did I mention that I can choose to export the document in PDF format, RIGHT OUT OF THE BROWSER ?

Now, I've only used Google Docs once before when I recorded an episode of the Oscar-nominated This Week in Lotus podcast. Therefore, I'm assuming that there'll be a fair deal of feature comparison between the two, but I'll leave other more tech-savvy people to do the comparison.

In short, CHECK IT OUT - it's really rather cool.

*UPDATE* As per the comments, I've added some screenshots. I can also confirm that, for me, I can only create documents and spreadsheets; I'm not sure whether there is a plan to offer presentations at some later date. 

IBM Books .. you wait for one, and then four come along at once

In Packt Publishing's monthly news letter, I notice that four new IBM-related books are due to be published on February 22nd: -

IBM Rational Team Concert 2 Essentials

Improve team productivity with Integrated Processes, Planning, and Collaboration using Team Concert Enterprise Edition

IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5 for Domino Administration

Ensure effective and efficient team collaboration by building a solid social infrastructure with IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5 ( co-authored by the LotusEvangelist, Keith Brooks  and my own ISSL colleague, David Byrd )

IBM WebSphere Application Server v7.0 Security

Secure your WebSphere applications with Java EE and JAAS security standards

Getting Started with IBM FileNet P8 Content Manager

Install, customize, and administer the powerful FileNet enterprise content management platform

Time to do some on-line shopping, especially as there appears to be a 20% discount on IBM books during February.

WebSphere Portal v7 - Problems creating Virtual Portals

*CAVEAT* This worked for me - it may not work for you - if in doubt, please contact IBM Support and raise a PMR. In addition, please check this Wiki article re Virtual Portals and WebSphere Portal v7.

Back in 2008 and 2009, I had blogged about using templates to drive the creation of Virtual Portals.

Well, today a colleague and I both saw a similar problem where the Virtual Portal wizard was failing with: -

Error EJPAH2010E: Failed to create virtual portal.

com.ibm.portal.WpsException: EJPAH5002E: Failed to initialize virtual portal.
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.initializeVPContentTree(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:780)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction$2.run(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:284)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction$2.run(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:280)
at com.ibm.wps.ac.impl.UnrestrictedAccessImpl.run(UnrestrictedAccessImpl.java:84)
at com.ibm.wps.command.ac.ExecuteUnrestrictedCommand.execute(ExecuteUnrestrictedCommand.java:95)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.createVirtualPortal(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:288)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.doExecute(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:115)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.adminstruts.actions.BaseAction.execute(BaseAction.java:64)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.struts.WpsRequestProcessor.processActionPerform(WpsRequestProcessor.java:338)

Error EJPAH2013E: Failed to execute xmlaccess script.

com.ibm.portal.WpsException: EJPAH2013E: Failed to execute xmlaccess script.
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.utils.XmlAccessUtil.executeXmlScript(XmlAccessUtil.java:118)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.initializeVPContentTree(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:766)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction$2.run(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:284)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction$2.run(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:280)
at com.ibm.wps.ac.impl.UnrestrictedAccessImpl.run(UnrestrictedAccessImpl.java:84)
at com.ibm.wps.command.ac.ExecuteUnrestrictedCommand.execute(ExecuteUnrestrictedCommand.java:95)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.createVirtualPortal(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:288)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.doExecute(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:115)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.adminstruts.actions.BaseAction.execute(BaseAction.java:64)

Error EJPEB0002E: An exception occurred.

com.ibm.wps.command.CommandFailedException: EJPEB0002E: An exception occurred.
WrappedException is: 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. [portlet Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2G70 name=IWidgetWrapper.$cloned.Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2G70]
at com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlCommand.execute(XmlCommand.java:264)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.utils.XmlAccessUtil.executeXmlScript(XmlAccessUtil.java:101)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.initializeVPContentTree(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:766)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction$2.run(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:284)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction$2.run(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:280)
at com.ibm.wps.ac.impl.UnrestrictedAccessImpl.run(UnrestrictedAccessImpl.java:84)
at com.ibm.wps.command.ac.ExecuteUnrestrictedCommand.execute(ExecuteUnrestrictedCommand.java:95)
at com.ibm.wps.portlets.managevirtualportals.actions.DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.createVirtualPortal(DoCreateVirtualPortalAction.java:288)

Error 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.

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. [portlet Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2G70 name=IWidgetWrapper.$cloned.Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2G70]
at com.ibm.wps.command.xml.UpdateEngine.locateItem(UpdateEngine.java:422)
at com.ibm.wps.command.xml.UpdateEngine.processItem(UpdateEngine.java:230)
at com.ibm.wps.command.xml.UpdateEngine.processItem(UpdateEngine.java:238)
at com.ibm.wps.command.xml.UpdateEngine.processItem(UpdateEngine.java:238)
at com.ibm.wps.command.xml.UpdateEngine.updateTopLevelItem(UpdateEngine.java:188)
at com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlAccessHandler.fillObjectModel(XmlAccessHandler.java:345)
at com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlAccessHandler.endElement(XmlAccessHandler.java:227)
at org.apache.xerces.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.endElement(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.xerces.impl.xs.XMLSchemaValidator.endElement(Unknown Source)

Now we both suspected that the problem was with the template that's used to actually create the VP itself.

In the past, this template was called InitVirtualPortal.xml and was located in: -

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/wp_profile/installedApps/wpx7/wps.ear/wps.war/virtualportal

However, in version 7, things have changed.

It now transpires that it's, by default, located within a ZIP file ( VirtualPortal.zip ) in this directory: -

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/wp_profile/config/cells/wpx7/assets/VirtualPortal.zip/aver/BASE/bin

Therefore,  I needed to do the following: -

a) Backup the original VP template ZIP file: -

cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/wp_profile/config/cells/wpx7/assets/VirtualPortal.zip/aver/BASE/bin/
mv VirtualPortal.zip Original_VirtualPortal.zip

b) Create a temporary directory - mkdir /tmp/foobar
c) Change to this directory - cd /tmp/foobar
d) Extract the contents of the zip file - unzip /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/wp_profile/config/cells/wpx7/assets/VirtualPortal.zip/aver/BASE/bin/VirtualPortal.zip
e) Edit the VP template - vi InitVirtualContentPortal.xml
f) Locate and remove the offending resources - there were actually references to three iWidgetWrapper clones: -

<portlet action="locate" name="IWidgetWrapper.$cloned.Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2G70" objectid="Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2G70"/>
<portlet action="locate" name="IWidgetWrapper.$cloned.Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2G77" objectid="Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2G77"/>
<portlet action="locate" name="IWidgetWrapper.$cloned.Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2GN1" objectid="Z3_CGAH47L000J610IAHHCB8L2GN1"/>

g) Re-zip the files - zip ~/VirtualPortal.zip *
h) Place the newly created VirtualPortal.zip into the appropriate directory - cp ~/VirtualPortal.zip /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/wp_profile/config/cells/wpx7/assets/VirtualPortal.zip/aver/BASE/bin/. For the record, this is what I now have in that directory: -

-rwxrwx--- 1 root root 281206 Nov 12 09:49 Original_VirtualPortal.zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 276607 Feb  1 00:47 VirtualPortal.zip

i) Re-try the VP creation process

And, with the click of my heels, it all worked OK.

*UPDATE* My colleague also mentioned that, if you see exceptions such as when you try and create a Virtual Portal of the same name as the one that had previously failed, you may need to do a "clean-up", as per these two Technotes: -

Error messages when attempting to recreate a virtual portal

Unable to create new virtual portal after virtual portal deletion

In essence, you need to create an XMLAccess script e.g. cleanup.xml,
and invoke it as follows: -

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/bin/xmlaccess.sh -in cleanup.xml -url http://localhost:10039/wps/config -user wpadmin -password passw0rd


I'm not sure what led to this problem - it *MAY* have been something I did early on when I was "playing" with Widgets and Portlets - I'll try the same process with a vanilla installation, and report back.

*CAVEAT* This worked for me - it may not work for you - if in doubt, please contact IBM Support and raise a PMR. In addition, please check this Wiki article re Virtual Portals and WebSphere Portal v7.