UPORTAL Ho people, of course it is an open source portal product, then in the many portal why can it attract my eye? It turned out that it was found during the recent study of CAS. UPORTAL's single sign-in section uses the CAS's Proxy architecture, and it is also a product developed and maintained by American universities. This article briefly describes the installation and configuration of UPORTAL. In-depth research on it still needs a certain day.
uPortal is a free, sharable portal under development by institutions of higher-education. This group sees an institutional portal as an abridged and customized version of the institutional Web presence ... a "pocket-sized" version of the campus Web. Portal technology adds "customization" and "community" to the campus Web presence. Customization allows each user to define a unique and personal view of the campus Web. Community tools, such as chat, forums, survey, and so on, build relationships among campus constituencies .
uPortal is an open-standard effort using Java, XML, JSP and J2EE. It is a collaborative development project with the effort shared among several of the JA-SIG member institutions. You may download uPortal and use it on your site at no cost.
UPORTAL release has two, Quick Start and Only Uportal, as the name suggests, the former is a direct running program including the servlet container, while the latter needs to compile and deploy into an existing Web container, Here I can of course use the latter (the former is too bored). It is necessary to compile its source code using ANT. Specific steps are as follows:
UPORTAL ONLY Distribution
What is inclined?
THE UPORTAL-ONLY Distribution is Downloaded AS A ZIP File Which Extracts To Directory Called Uportal_rel-2-4-2.zip. The Directory Contains the Following ...
docs - directory containing documentation about uPortal src -. directory hierarchy containing the source code for uPortal lib -. directory containing necessary jar files for the Java API's used by uPortal webpages -. hierarchy which contains stylesheets, image files, java servlet pages, and other Necessary Files for Uportal. Properties - Directory Which Contains Properties And Configuration Files Used by uportal .... and the following files
Build.xml - build file for use by ant. build.properies - property file for use by Ant.
What do you need to know?
User of this Distribution Requires Knowledge of J2ee Environments and The Ant Tool from The Apache Jakarta Project.
Requirements
The Java Development Kit (JDK) version 1.3 or higher must be installed. JAVA_HOME environment variable must be set. The Jakarta-Ant build tool (version 1.5.3 or later). A web application environment such as Tomcat or IBM Websphere An SQL database Such as Hypersonicsql, Oracle, or PostgreSQL
Setting Up A Web Application Environment
The uPortal web application requires a web application enviroment such as Tomcat or IBM Webshere. If you already have a web application environment installed on a server, the uPortal context can just be deployed to that environment, otherwise you will have to install one. The build files for uPortal have been set up such that it can be easily deployed into Tomcat The Jakarta-Tomcat servlet container can be downloaded from:.. http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/index.html Version 4.1.24 is recommended .
Compiableing and deploying uportal
Compiling and deploying uPortal is managed using the Jakarta Ant build environment. It is highly recommended that anyone implementing uPortal or developing channels become familiar with the Ant build tool. Documentation for Ant is available at Jakarta-Ant web siteFor detailed instructions on how to compile and Deploy Uportal Go to the Documentation Page At:
Building uoptal.
Building and deploying uoptal
Overview
Compiling and deploying uPortal is managed using the Ant build tool. Ant uses a file called build.xml for managing what is compiled and copies all necessary files into the uPortal context. The uPortal context can then be deployed as a complete web application running in a Servlet Container Such As Tomcat or IBM WebSphere. The build.xml file Usess several proties defined in a File Called Build.properties. Both of these Files Can Be found in The Uportal_rel-2-1-3 Directory.
Obtaining the ant build Tool
If using the uPortal-only release you will need to download the Ant build tool. It is available from http://jakarta.apache.org/ant. Once the archive is downloaded, uncompress it and update the operating system environment such that it Is Available Form The Standard Search Path. It is recommented That An Ant_Home Environment Be set, and ant_home / bin added to the path environment variable.
Obtaining External Dependency Libraries
IF Using The Uportal-Only Release You Will Have To Obtain All of The Necessary External Dependency Libraries Before Attempting To Compile Uportal.
First create a directory for downloading the necessary packages, for example / usr / local / java (unix) or C:. / Usr / local / java (Windows) Refer to the build.xml for a complete list of all packages you will need to obtain. Look for the comment section labeled "External Dependencies". Download each of the packages from the location specifed. for example, the xalan jar files are available from http://xml.apache.org/xalan-j. It is recommended that the required version specified in the build.xml file be downloaded. Each package typically contains jar files, documentation, and other related files in an compressed archive (zip, gzipped tar file). Uncompress each of the packages into the download directory. Most of the packages will created a subdirectory for the package with lib, doc, and other directories within that directory. Edit the build.properties file and change the property values to point to the location of all the required jar files. for example, change : xalan.jar =. / lib / xalan.jarto xalan. jar = / usr / local / java / xalan-j_2_4_0 / bin / xalan.jar Note that there are some additional properties in build.properties which may be modified. Leave them alone for now. Typically you should not need to modify the build. XML file at all.compiling uop
Now your ready to compile uPortal. Go to the uPortal_rel-2-1-3 directory and just type ant. Ant will first create a build directory, then invoke the java compiler and store all of the compiled class files into build / WEB-INF / Classes. IT WILL Also Copy Many Other Files Into The Build Directory Including Stylesheet Files, Images, and Property Files. Ifthing WORKED You Should See a Message Which Reads:
Build Successful
If Something Went Wrong, IT IS MOST LIKELY DUE TO ANT Being Unable To Find One or more of the@.properties file and try again.deploying uop
The Ant build tool also manages the deployment of the uPortal application into a servlet container. It will copy everything that it compiled and stored in the build directory into a directory specified in the build.properties files as deploy.home.
IF using the
uPortal-only release you will first need to obtain a servlet container. The Tomcat servlet container is recommended. Tomcat can be downloaded from http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat. Uncompress the archive file to a location where the web application server will run. For example, on Unix, extracting the Tomcat version 4.1.24 zip file into the / usr / local directory will create a directory called /usr/local/jakarta-tomcat-4.1.24 which is usually refered to with an environment Variable caled tomcat_home.
Before deploying uPortal you may need to modify the build.properties. Edit the file and find the deploy.home property. Change the value such that it points to the location where uPortal will be deployed. For a Tomcat servlet container that would typically be $ Tomcat_Home / WebApps / {app.name}, for example:
Deploy.home = / usr / local / jakarta-tomcat-4.0.4 / webApps / Uportal
Note: if you are working with the quick-start release, The Deployment Directory is relative to the uportal_rel-2-1-3 Directory (../tomcat-4.1.24/webapps/uportal) and shop not be change.
Now You're Ready to Deploy Uportal To The Servlet Container. Simply Type "Ant Deploy" to invoke the "deploy" target. If everything.
Setting up a database
The uPortal system can be deployed such that a database from several different vendors may be used Installation and configuration information about databases can be found in the:. Database Installation and Configuration Document
Setting up a Oracle Database
About Oracle
Oracle Is A Commercial Database Available from http://www.oracle.com
Obtaining the driver
A Oracle JDBC driver is also available through http://www.oracle.com. Versions for Oracle 8i and Oracle 9i are available. The driver downloads as a single "zip" file (for example, classes12.zip). The file should Be stores in a Directory Where IT Will Be Accessible from the Uportal Build Environment (for example /usr/local/java/oracle/lib/classes12.zip)
See Issues Section About Possible Issues Using this Driver.
Properties Configuration
The Uportal Build.Properties Will Need To Be Modifed. Find The Property Called JDBCDRIVER AND CHANGE IT TO POINT To The Oracle Zip / Jar File, for Example:
JDBCDriver.jar = / usr / local / java / lib / class12.zip
The uPortal rdbm.properties file (in the properties directory) will need to modified to specify the driver properties. First, comment out the property definitions which are currently defined (most likely, for HypersonicSQL). The rdbm.properties file contains several sample entries . UNCOMMENT THE LINES for the Oracle Database and make Whatver Changes Necessary To Match Your Local Database Installation, for Example:
##### Oracle - Examplejdbcdriver = Oracle.jdbc.driver.Oracledriverjdbcurl = JDBC: Oracle: Thin: @localhost: 1521: uportaljdbcuser = testjdbcpassword = mypass
The dbloader.xml properties file (also in the properties directory) may also need to be modified. This file is used by the DbLoader tool to create the uPortal database tables and populate the database. It contains several sample entries which create db-type- Mappings for DiffERENT DATABASES. Find the tags for an Oracle Database and Modify THE DB-VERSION, DRIVER-NAME, AND Driver-Version As Necessary. for Example:
THE PERSONDIRS.XML FILE (ALSO in The Properties Directory) May Need To Be Modified; This File is buy.
Loading the database
Loading The Database Requires a Couple of Steps
Create the database: Refer to the Oracle database documentation for instructions regarding how to create an Oracle database instances The database name (or in this case, the Oracle SID), port number, and driver information must reflect what was defined in the rdbm.. properties file Create the tables and populate the database: From the uPortal build directory, run "ant db" to execute the ant target which loads the database The ant target uses the Dbloader tool.Complete the Installation.
Once you have compiled and deployed uPortal and setup a database for it to utilize, you still need to publish the channel fragments and internationalize the database. This can be done in one step by issuing the `ant initportal` command. Once this command completes without Errors, your Uportal Instance Should Be Fully functional.
