ConfigEngine on WebSphere Portal 7 - a surprise, albeit a pleasant surprise

I've just run through the process to add new attributes into the WebSphere Identity Manager (WIM) configuration on WebSphere Portal 7.0.0.1.

This is a relatively straight forward process, although there were a few learning curves for me, as I'd not done this before.

In brief terms, you: -

(a) Deploy an enterprise application (EAR) that's normally used for the Property Extension database ( aka LookAside ) via the command: -

$ ./ConfigEngine.sh wp-la-install-ear

( noting that the process is different for a clustered environment, where the EAR gets deployed to the DM rather than to the Portal instance as per this old-but-good Technote )

(b) Add the new attributes into the ConfigEngine properties file - wkplc.properties

(c) Add the attributes into WIM via the command: -

$ /ConfigEngine.sh wp-add-property

(d) Map the attributes from one place to the other ( in our case, the source data has been added to the LDAP schema, so we're mapping it from LDAP, via the Federated Repository, to WIM ) via the command: -

$ /ConfigEngine.sh wp-update-federated-ldap-attribute-config

(e) Validate the new attributes: -

- by eyeballing wimconfig.xml ( located under /opt/IBM/WebSphere/wp_profile/config/cells/<CELLNAME>/wim/config )

- by running the following command: -

$ ./ConfigEngine.sh wp-query-attribute-config

and inspecting the resulting availableAttributes.html file which is placed in the ConfigEngine/log directory 

Hay, Dave \(IBM\) to: Dave Hay 18/05/2011 07:48 Hide Details From: "Hay, Dave \(IBM\)" <Dave.Hay@rbs.co.uk> To: Dave Hay/UK/IBM@IBMGB, Default custom expiration date: 17/05/2012

So there was one small "gotcha" which confused me for a while.

When running the wp-add-property command, I couldn't work out why the process appeared to stall midway through it's run, just as the ConfigEngine started to talk across to the Deployment Manager: -

[wplc-add-property]   Instance attributes (Set 1 of 1):
[wplc-add-property]     attribute=[ *** NONE_SPECIFIED *** ]
[wplc-add-property]     nsURI="http://www.ibm.com/websphere/wim"
[wplc-add-property]     customproperty=[ *** NONE_SPECIFIED *** ]
[wplc-add-property]     entityTypes="PersonAccount"
[wplc-add-property]     repositoryId="TDSCollaboration"
[wplc-add-property]     propertyName="ExchangeVersion"
[wplc-add-property]     ignoreDuplicateIDs= *** NOT_SPECIFIED ***
[wplc-add-property]     dataType="string"
[wplc-add-property]     trimSpaces= *** NOT_SPECIFIED ***
[wplc-add-property]     providerURL="corbaloc:iiop:dm.uk.ibm.comt:9809"
[wplc-add-property]     multiValued="false"
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:47:18.613 BST] Looking up EJB: corbaloc:iiop:dm.uk.ibm.com.net:9809...
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:47:18.718 BST] security.LoadSCI
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:47:18.724 BST] security.GettingConfig
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:47:18.725 BST] security.AuthTarget
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:47:18.748 BST] Client code attempting to load security configuration
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:47:18.757 BST] security.ClientCSI
[wplc-add-property] Realm/Cell Name: CollaborationWorkBench
[wplc-add-property] User Identity: 

<STOP>

[wplc-add-property] User Password: 

<STOP>  

[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:48:12.711 BST] EJB ejb/com/ibm/websphere/wim/ejb/WIMServiceHome is found.
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:48:12.720 BST] Retrieving model schema...
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:48:12.762 BST] Model schema returned.
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:48:12.763 BST] Registering model schema...
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:48:12.797 BST] Model schema registered.
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:48:12.900 BST] Retrieving model schema...
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:48:12.939 BST] Model schema returned.
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:48:12.940 BST] Registering model schema...
[wplc-add-property] [05/18/11 07:48:12.962 BST] Model schema registered.
[wplc-add-property] Status = Complete

Yes, you guessed it ....

The script was waiting for me to enter my user name and password.

I'm sure that, in the past, the script would have simply fallen over because I'd not entered the Deployment Manager credentials on the command line, or elsewhere in wkcplc.properties or soap.client.properties.

So, this is actually good news - the script is prompting me - I wish the text was a bit more clear e.g. Please enter User Identity and press [Enter] but c'est la vie ...

For more information about adding attributes to WIM, please check the Wiki here.

Bonne chance :-)