HCL Digital Experience roadmap: Production and delivery environment

The production environment include the servers that provide incoming web traffic accesses to the web elements you build with HCL Digital Experience. This roadmap is based on a cluster topology.

The Configuration wizard prompts you to select the cluster type: static or dynamic. By default, the cluster type is static. A static cluster is a group of application servers in an IBM® WebSphere® Application Server Network Deployment environment that participates in workload management. A dynamic cluster monitors performance and load information and can dynamically create and remove cluster members, basing the changes on workload. You can add extra nodes to expand the capacity of the dynamic cluster.

Before HCL Digital Experience version 8.5, you had to install and configure WebSphere Virtual Enterprise to set up a dynamic cluster. With version 8.5 and later, the virtual enterprise component is integrated with the application server. Therefore, you do not have to install and configure WebSphere Virtual Enterprise before you set up a dynamic cluster.

Remember

Ensure that you configure the web server plug-in after you transfer your database.

Who should use this roadmap

Use this roadmap if you are an organization with the following requirements:

• An organization whose production site requires improved availability and failover
• An organization whose site experiences random high-load situations that might benefit from dynamic load balancing
• An organization whose website can benefit from other features such as prioritization, health monitoring, and dynamic operations
• An organization that needs to manage deployments and synchronize various cluster nodes with a single administrative interface, the deployment manager

Topology diagram

A cluster topology is versatile. You can use it to set up a production environment, a test environment, and more. The cluster topology diagram includes two horizontal nodes that are managed in the same cell. The nodes in the cluster use a common LDAP and database server. A remote search server is depicted too. In a cluster environment, you must use a remote search server.

Preparing for the installation process

Gather information and software before you install HCL Digital Experience.

1. Check product system requirements.

2. Log in to HCL Software Support and get the software.

Installing prerequisites

You can use existing prerequisite software installations. Verify that your existing version is supported. If it is not, upgrade to the appropriate version. Otherwise, install a web server, database server, and user registry server. Typically the database and user registry servers are already installed and configured. However, you might have to complete specific required configuration steps to integrate them with the portal server. See Installing and preparing the prerequisite software for more topic information.

1. Install a web server.

2. Prepare a database server.

3. Prepare a user registry.

Installing the HCL Digital Experience

Installing HCL Digital Experience involves preparing your operating system, installing or upgrading the installation manager, and running the installation program. See Installing the HCL Digital Experience software for more topic information.

Applying the latest cumulative fix

Portal maintenance is delivered through individual Fixes and Combined Cumulative Fixes (CFs), which are recommended to your environment.

Setting up a cluster environment

Start the configuration wizard to set up your clustered environment. First, transfer your database. Then, create the deployment manager and create a cluster node. Then, enable your federated LDAP user registry. Finally, create your additional horizontal cluster nodes using the Configuration Wizard. These instructions are for a horizontal cluster only. For information on setting up a vertical cluster, see Setting up a Cluster in the Configuring section of the documentation.

Log in to HCL Digital Experience to verify that your portal works:

http://hostname.example.com:10039/wps/portal,

Where: - hostname.example.com is the fully qualified host name of the server where - The portal is running and 10039 is the default transport port that the DX® Application Server created. The port number might be different for your environment.

1. Skip this step, if you have the most recent fix pack applied. To get the latest updates for the wizard, apply the most recent CF. For more information about applying the latest fix pack, see Apply Combined Cumulative Fix for more topic information.

2. Access the Configuration wizard: http://your_server:10200/hcl/wizard.

   Note

   If you are working with HCL Digital Experience version 8.5 or 9 software at a level prior to CF18, the wizard address is http://your_server:10200/ibm/wizard. After you install CF18, the configuration wizard automatically is adjusted to http://your_server:10200/hcl/wizard.

There is a known issue with Chrome version 45 and later and the Configuration wizard. If you experience difficulties, use a different browser when you access the wizard.

1. Log in to the Configuration Wizard with the administrative ID for the configuration wizard profile, cw_profile.

If the language you work in is not currently supported for the user interface, you might see the English version. For details about supported languages and the language codes for all of the HCL Portal user interfaces, see Language support.

1. Complete the following steps to transfer your database:

2. Select Set Up a Cluster > Database Transfer. The Database Transfer configuration option in the Configuration wizard assigns users and permissions, creates databases, obtains support for database collation, and transfers your database.

3. Provide information about your environment.

4. Save your configuration settings.

5. Complete one of the following steps:

   • Click Download Files to run the steps remotely.
   • Click Run All Steps to run the steps locally.

6. Log in to HCL Portal to verify that your portal server works.

7. Complete the following steps to create your deployment manager:

8. Select Set Up a Cluster > Create a Deployment Manager.

9. Provide information about your environment.

10. Save your configuration settings.

11. Complete one of the following steps:

    • Click Download Files to run the steps remotely.
    • Click Run All Steps to run the steps locally.

12. If you changed the context root during the installation or configuration of HCL Digital Experience, then you must complete the optional next step from the Configuration wizard to update parameters with the new context path after you complete the Create a Deployment Manager configuration option.

13. Log in to HCL Portal to verify that your portal server works.

14. Complete the following steps to create a cluster node:

15. Select Set Up a Cluster > Create a Cluster.

16. Provide information about your environment.

17. Save your configuration settings.

18. Complete one of the following steps:

    • Click Download Files to run the steps remotely.
    • Click Run All Steps to run the steps locally.

19. Log in to HCL Portal to verify that your portal server works.

20. Complete the following steps to enable federated security:

21. Set Up a Cluster > Enable Federated Security.

    Note

    If you set Use Administrator IDs stored in your LDAP user registry to yes, the WebSphere Application Server and HCL Portal user IDs and passwords are changed to the LDAP user ID and password. If you do not want to change both user IDs and passwords to match the LDAP user ID and password, set this value to no. After you configure your LDAP user registry, you can manually change the user IDs and passwords.

22. Provide information about your environment.

23. Save your configuration settings.

24. Complete one of the following steps:

    • Click Download Files to run the steps remotely.
    • Click Run All Steps to run the steps locally.

25. Log in to HCL Portal to verify that your portal server works.

26. Complete the following steps to create extra cluster nodes:

27. Install HCL Digital Portal on an additional node.

    Tip

    For additional nodes, you only need to install the HCL Portal product binary files. Therefore, on the Features screen of the IBM Installation Manager, ensure that Portal Server Profile is not selected.

28. Click Set Up a Cluster > Create an Additional Cluster Node.

    Note

    If you are setting up a vertical cluster, manual instructions are available for dynamic and static cluster configurations.

29. Provide information about your environment.

30. Save your configuration settings.

31. Complete one of the following steps:

    • Click Download Files to run the steps remotely.
    • Click Run All Steps to run the steps locally.

32. Log in to HCL Portal to verify that your portal server works.

Configuring the web server

Move the web server plug-in from the WebSphere Application Server to the web server.

Tuning the servers in your environment

Tuning the servers is important to the performance of your portal environment. After installation and deployment, HCL Digital Experience is not tuned for a production environment. Your database requires tuning for improved performance. You can organize your database now or soon after you finish your configuration. You must tune and maintain your database on a regularly.

1. Run the performance tuning tool to complete an initial tuning of your servers.

2. Check the tuning guide for more instructions. If tuning guide for the current release is unavailable, use the tuning guide for the previous product version.

Configuring a remote search service

Configure the remote search service to offload and balance system load.

1. Use the IBM Installation Manager to install the remote search service.

2. If you use single-sign on, prepare the security for the remote search service.

3. Configure the security between the portal and the remote search server.

4. Set the search user ID.

5. Configure the remote search service.

6. Configure the seedlist servlet.

Next steps

Depending on the choices that you made during the installation and set up, you might have to complete additional tasks to configure your environment.

The following options are available to continue configuring your environment:

• Configure global settings

  Configure portal behavior.

• Change the default portal Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)

  Complete the context root change on the Configuration for HCL Portal: Profile configuration details: Advanced panel during installation.

If you want to change the context root after installation, change the portal URI.

• Adapt the attribute configuration to match the LDAP server

  Add more attributes by using the Virtual Machine Manager.

• Configure syndication

  Configure syndication settings.

• Add vertical cluster members

  Add vertical cluster members.

• Configure search

  Configure search settings.

• Update your user registry

  Update your user registry to capture preferences.