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Features Overview


Features New to
  • Rewriter support for Microsoft™ Exchange 2003 Outlook Web Access


For a list of Portal patches that are obsoleted by refer to the included patch is not a standalone installation and does not include Portal Server 6.2. Portal Server 6.2 must be installed prior to upgrading to or installing . can be installed on top of previous patches as it is cumulative. Refer to the section titled New Portal Patching Methodology for additional information.

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Pre-installation Considerations

In addition to the profile and flatfile changes listed in the Template Modifications Required section of the this document, there are also internal changes made that may directly affect how you use, test, or evaluate the product. Most of these behavioral changes tend to be directly related to the rewriter component, but there are other parts of the product that may be affected, as well. As such, it is important that this patch, as with any other, be test thoroughly on a development or QA system prior to being put in to production. Additionally, because of the nature of Portal 6x distribution and the customization requirements for the product, special attention should be given to JSP files that must be modified by the patch installer in order to fix defects, and/or for the product to continue functioning normally.

Noticeable Behavioral Changes after Installing

  • HTTP Location header will now be handled correctly by the Gateway.
  • Form data containing escaped values can now be rewritten.

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Installation Information

These installation instructions provide steps to install For other document information about Sun Portal Server 6.1 software products, visit:

http://docs.sun.com/db/coll/S1_PortalServer_61?q=portal
For Portal Server software packages, visit:
http://www.sun.com/downloads

System Requirements

This section describes the system requirements for

System Requirements for Portal
Component Description
Operating Environment updates Portal Server 6.1 software, and runs in the Solaris™ 8 and Solaris™ 9 operating environments.
Memory Each Portal component should have a minimum of 1GB of main memory. This minimum requirement applies to proof of concepts (POCs), demo/test environments, and production systems alike.
OS Patches No OS patches besides those required by the Portal Server base install are needed by

Installation Overview

Please familiarize yourself completelly with the release notes prior to attempting either installation of, or upgrade to,

The following directories and files are included in :

NOTE: The release notes are now stored in the patch directory itself so that they are able to be included with the rest of the patch on SunSolve.

Installation Instructions

NOTES:

  • If the Portal Server installation contains both a server node and one or more platform nodes, then must be applied on the server node first, then each additional platform node as well. The patch must also be applied to any installed gateway nodes following completion of application to the Server and platform nodes.

  • must have the following releases applied prior to patch installation:
    1. Portal Server 6.1

  • Portal Server 6.x Patch Consolidations are cumulative. That means that any later patch consolidation for the same minor version (dot release) will contain prior patch consolidations for the same minor version. For example, PS6.1PC2, contains the entire delta between PS6.1 and PS6.1PC1 in addition to the new delta between PS6.1PC1 and PS6.1PC2. PS6.1PC2 can be installed on PS6.1PC1 or on PS6.1. Patch consolidations cannot be applied on differing minor or major product versions. For instance, PS6.1PC1 cannot be applied on PS6.0 or iPS3.0.

  • Running different release levels on different nodes is highly discouraged and not supported by Sun. Each node must be upgraded to the same revision in the order previously outlined.

  • In addition to the required Solaris patches, Mozilla.org's Rhino JavaScript engine is also required if you have a Gateway node in place and would like end users to be able to use automatic proxy configuration files in conjunction with the Portal Server Netlet functionality. Rhino 1.5R1, which has been tested and certified for use by Portal Server Quality Assurance, is available for download at http://www.mozilla.org/rhino/, or from the third party product distribution.

STEPS:

  1. In a terminal window, become root.
  2. Download and install Rhino Version 1.5R1 on the server node if needed for automatic proxy configuration support by the Netlet. Rhino must be installed to the JRE being used by the Portal. In 6.1, this would be /usr/java1.3.1_06/jre.

  3. # unzip rhino15R1.zip
    # cp rhino/js.jar /usr/java1.3.1_06/jre/lib/ext/js.jar
    # chmod 444 /usr/java1.3.1_06/jre/lib/ext/js.jar

  4. Unzip the downloaded patch binary

  5. # unzip PS6.1PC1.zip

  6. Be sure the server and platform nodes on which you are currently installing are running and use the Solaris[tm] patchadd command to apply the patch.


  7. # root@ps-server: /etc/init.d/amserver startall

    starting auth helpers ...
    done.
    checking for directory server ...
    directory server already running
    done
    starting web server ...
    iPlanet-WebServer-Enterprise/6.0SP5 B10/31/2002 16:22
    [LS ls1] http://ps-server.int.sun.com, port 80 ready to accept requests
    startup: server started successfully
    iPlanet-WebServer-Enterprise/6.0SP5 B10/31/2002 16:22
    [LS ls1] http://ps-server.int.sun.com, port 8088 ready to accept requests
    startup: server started successfully
    done.

    # root@ps-server: patchadd

  8. Apply the patch using patchadd to other installed nodes on separate machines including any Portal proxies or Gateway nodes.

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Template Modifications Required

Every attempt is made by the patch installer to both preserve customized template information and automate the update of that information. However, since the contents of the files cannot be accurately predetermined, any modified template files are backed up in the same directory as their updated counterparts with the patch name postfixed to the template name. For example, /etc/opt/SUNWps/desktop/default/MyFrontPageTabPanelContainer \ /Netlet/display.template might be backed up to /etc/opt/SUNWps/desktop/default/MyFrontPageTabPanelContainer/ \ /Netlet/display.template.pre . The backup files are also copied back to their original location upon patch removal. To help avoid potential content-related customization problems, refer to the Tips for Customizing Templates section of this document. The following template files, .properties files, jsps, xml files, and platform files are modified by this patch consolidation:

Template and Flatfile Modifications Made by
Name Component Change
N / A
Name Component Change

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Tips for Customizing Templates

Because the Portal Server itself is so customizable, you should follow some precautions to insure that any customizations made to the Portal Server are preserved after a product upgrade. First, set up a customized template directory if you have not already done so. While this directory could be an entire subset of the default template directory, it is advisable to only copy over those template files that you will be customizing. This particular scheme would then use the default directory as a 'base' for all templates and would help insure that customized templates are not accidentally overwritten when the default templates are modified.

NOTE: Files in the default template directory should should never be customized.

To create a customized template directory:
  1. Create a directory at the same level as the /etc/opt/SUNWps/desktop/default/ directory with a new name such as mytemplates. In that directory, only copy the templates you need to modify in their proper directories. The other templates will be retrieved as needed from the default directory using Portal's own filelookup mechanism.
  2. Edit the templates in the mytemplates directory according to your own preference.
  3. Log into the administration console.
  4. Select the appropriate services configuration screen. Fox example, select View: Services to administrate the desktop service globally. Alternately, select an organization, and then View: Services to administrate the desktop service for that organization only.
  5. Expand the link next to Desktop under the Portal Server Configuration subheading on the left view pane
  6. Modify the Desktop Type field located on the right view pane from default to mytemplates.
  7. Select Save

As a general rule of thumb, avoid modifying templates that have only a functional purpose rather than a look and feel purpose. One example of a template that should not need modifications is the NetletProvider/display.template . This template contains only JavaScript necessary for the launching of the Netlet. The contents of the Netlet Pop-up window should instead be customized by modifying the associated .properties file. The reason for this is that there could be a functional change in the product that would overwrite a customization done specifically to that particular template file. This example also exhibits why it is important to only keep customized files in the customized template directory.

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Checking the Current Product Install Level

and subsequent patch consolidations make changes to both the gateway, and version scripts necessary to print additional information about the current install level. In previous versions of Portal, this information had to be gathered from a variety of sources including the package versions, patchadd -p output, or from a flatfile that was not updated by patches themselves. Portal patches will now update the version files when they are installed and again when they are backed out.

To get the version information for the Gateway node, from node itself as root, type:

# /etc/init.d/gateway version
Mon Nov 17 13:48:15 PST 2003 Sun ONE Portal Server Secure Remote Access 6.2
Thu Mar 06 14:38:05 PST 2004

To get the version information for the Portal Server node, from the node itself as root, type:
# <install_dir>/SUNWps/bin/version
Thu Jun 19 14:29:46 PDT 2003 Portal Server 6.1
Thu Feb 26 14:30:18 PST 2004

To get the version information for the Identity Server node, from the node itself as root, type:
# /etc/init.d/amserver version
Sun One Identity Server 6.1

An RFE has been filed to modify the Identity Server version information to match that which is available in Portal Server. The First line of the version output contains the major version information that may also include the product build date. Each remaining line of output represents a patch that has been applied to the major version. The comma separated list in order includes the actual patchID (currently a Solaris patch ID), the patch name, and the patch install date. All of this information is important for supportability purposes and to help Portal administrators in product maintainance.

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Enabling Exchange 2003 Support Through the Rewriter

This section covers the rewriter integration with Microsoft Outlook Web Access that is delivered as a part of Microsoft Exchange 2003. For integrations with other versions of Microsoft Exchange Server refer to the Sun Blueprints online article titled Sun ONE Portal Server and Microsoft Exchange Integration Cookbook. Follow the steps bellow in enable Microsoft Exchange 2003 support through the rewriter.

  1. Associate the new Exchange rulest to include the Exchange Server
As a part of the patch installation, an additional ruleset has been added to the Portal Service in the Identity Server. A new rule association can be created from the Rewriter tab of the Gateway profile Service Configuration. For instance, to create the association for the default Gateway profile:
  1. Login to the Identity Administration Console
  2. Select the Service Configuration Tab in the upper pane
  3. Expand the link next to Gateway under the SRA Configuration section of the left pane
  4. Select default from the list of profiles
  5. Select the Rewriter Tab from the right pane
  6. In the URI to RuleSet Mappings list add an entry similar to the following:
    *://*ex-server.domain.com|exchange_2003_owa_ruleset where ex-server.domain.com is the fully qualified named of the Exchange Server that will be accessed via the Portal Gateway.
  7. Select Save
  8. Restart the Identity Server and then the Gateway node
  1. Disable NTLM Authentication on the Exchange Server
NTLM Authentication must be disabled on the Exchange Server if Internet Explorer browser clients will be used. NTLM is a Windows domain based proprietary authentication protocol that is not supported by the Gateway reverse proxy. HTTP Basic Authentication can be used instead and the Portal Server can cache the authentication credentials to achieve SSO functionality for remote users. For information on enabling HTTP Basic Authentication Caching refer to the SRA Administrator's Guide. To disable NTLM authentication in Microsoft Exchange 2003 perform the following steps:
  1. Launch the Microsoft Exchange System Manager
  2. From the left hand pane expand Servers
  3. Expand the virtual server that Exchange was deployed to
  4. Expand Protocols -> HTTP -> Exchange Virtual Server
  5. Right select Exchange and choose properties
  6. Select the Access tab in the Exchange propertiees window
  7. Select the Authentication button
  8. In the authentication methods window be sure that Basic authentication is selected, and NTLM authentication is not selected
  9. Select OK
  10. Select Apply and OK

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Fixing Problems With Portlet Channels

Patch fixes the following problems with portlet channels.

  1. Bug# 5016148: Value collision when number of portlet channels on the same page are setting the same attribute.
  2. Bug# 5023785: Portlet-mode in portlet.xml is case-sensitive.
For the portlets to work properly after the patch is installed, the portlet application needs to redeployed. Do this by performing the following steps for each portlet application:

  • Undeploy the application using pdeploy
    <install_dir>/SUNWps/bin/pdeploy undeploy -u "uid=amAdmin,ou=People,dc=red,dc=iplanet,dc=com" -w <password> -p <password> -g <NameofPortletApplication>
  • Deploy the application again using pdeploy
    <install_dir>/SUNWps/bin/pdeploy deploy -u "uid=amAdmin,ou=People,dc=red,dc=iplanet,dc=com" -w <password> -p <password> -g <NameofPortletApplication.war>
  • Restart the server
    /etc/init.d/amserver startall

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