WebSphere Portal Solution Release Terminology

 

Solution Release Terminology

Once the Portal software is installed and the customization of the site has reached a stable state, a solution release can be created. A solution release is the site developed by you, consisting of portal configuration + portal artifacts + extension artifacts, but not including the WebSphere Portal product itself.

Components of a Solution Release

• Portal configuration - This is the configuration done by administrators and shared between multiple users. Configuration done by individual portal users is not included in the solution release. Portal configuration information is stored as configuration entities in the portal configuration database.

• Portal artifacts - Software development deliverables are usually stored on the portal file system as artifacts.

• Extension artifacts - Elements that belong to components that are not part of the core Portal, such as search collections, WCM, and collaboration components are extension artifacts. The Portal Extension Artifacts can be stored on the portal file system or in a database.

Types of solution Releases

• Initial – the first solution release. The process of applying this initial solution release to an empty Portal is called staging of Portal Release version 1.

• Differential – subsequent solution releases. Differential releases are used to update an existing portal solution release to a new solution release (V1 to V2) by adding and deleting required resources.

  

below illustrates a schematic of many of the components which make up a solution release.

 

 

Depending on the needs of your organization, your entire portal infrastructure might be contained on a single box, or distributed across multiple systems or even locations. In all but the most basic of Portal landscapes, solution releases must be moved between the different environments within your Portal landscape, from development to production.

Because the elements that make up the solution release vary greatly from one another, the tools required to move or stage them between the different environments also vary greatly. Within this wiki, we focus on using the following methods and tools to move information between environments:

• XMLAccess
• Release Builder
• Site Management

This section provides an overview of the configuration management tasks, tools and utilities that are needed to move each of the component element types in a solution release from a source environment to a target environment.