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How to create a syndicator-subscriber pair

Applies to

HCL Digital Experience version 9.5 and higher

Introduction

In the Web Content Manager (WCM) feature of HCL Digital Experience (DX), content updates and metadata are distributed across your infrastructure using a dedicated syndication relationship. Establishing this connection ensures that your authoring environment can automatically push published changes to your delivery servers. This article describes how to create a syndicator-subscriber pair.

Instructions

Initialize this connection by creating a shared credential vault slot on the subscriber server to store the administrative credentials for the syndicator, and then configure the subscription.

Prerequisites for SSL connections

Before you establish a syndication pair, ensure that the syndicator and subscriber servers have exchanged signer certificates in their respective NodeDefaultTrustStore files.

Complete the following steps on both the syndicator and the subscriber servers:

  1. Log in to the IBM Integrated Solutions Console (WAS admin console) as an administrator.
  2. Navigate to Security > SSL certificate and key management > Key stores and certificates > NodeDefaultTrustStore > Signer certificates.

  3. Select Retrieve from port, and then enter the following:

    • Host: The hostname of the target server (for example, on the syndicator, enter the subscriber server hostname).

    • Port: 443

      Note

      For on-premises environments, use the default HCL DX SSL port 10041.

    • SSL configuration for outbound connection: NodeDefaultSSLSettings

    • Alias: The hostname of the target server (for example, on the syndicator, enter the subscriber server hostname).

  4. Select Retrieve signer information.

  5. After the signer certificate is received correctly, select OK.
  6. Select Apply.
  7. Select Save at the top of the console messages.

Create the vault slot

  1. On the subscriber server, log in to HCL DX as an administrator.
  2. Navigate to Administration > Security > Credential Vault.
  3. Select Add a vault slot.
  4. Under Name, enter SyndicationSlot.
  5. Under Vault resource associated with vault slot, select New, and then enter SyndicationVaultResource.
  6. Select the Vault slot is shared check box, and then enter the following details:
    • Shared userid (the syndicator admin user ID)
    • Shared password
    • Confirm password
  7. Under Description, enter SyndicationSharedSlot.
  8. Select OK.

Create the syndicator-subscriber pair

  1. Navigate to Administration > Content Management > Subscribers.
  2. Select Subscribe Now.

  3. Under Syndicator URL, enter your syndicator server URL. For example: http://mysyndicator.example_hostname.com:<port>/wps/wcm.

    Note

    • If the syndicator is a Virtual Portal (VP) named myVP, the URL would be: http://mysyndicator.example_hostname.com:<port>/wps/wcm/myVP.
    • If you use an SSL connection, use https as the protocol in the URL instead of http.

  4. Under Syndicator Name, enter mySyndicator.

  5. Under Subscriber Name, enter mySubscriber.
  6. In the Credential Vault Slot drop-down list, select SyndicationSlot.
  7. Select Next, and then Finish.

Verify the connection

After the syndicator-subscriber connection is established, test the connection on the syndicator and subscriber servers.

  1. Log in to HCL DX as an administrator.
  2. Navigate to Administration > Content Management.
  3. Select Syndicators or Subscribers.
  4. Select the Test connection flash icon.

  5. Verify that a green information message appears, indicating that the connection works.

    • In the syndicator server, the following message should appear:

      The syndicator successfully communicated with the subscriber "<subscriber_name>".

    • In the subscriber server, the following message should appear:

      The subscriber successfully communicated with the syndicator "<syndicator_name>".

    If the connection fails, refer to Verify the configuration settings and Troubleshooting.

Verify the configuration settings

If you encounter errors while testing the connection, verify the configuration settings on both the syndicator and subscriber servers using the following steps:

  1. Log in to HCL DX as an administrator for the syndicator and subscriber servers.
  2. Navigate to Administration > Content Management.
  3. Select Syndicators or Subscribers.
  4. Select the Edit Syndicator or Edit Subscriber pencil icon on the right side.

  5. Compare your URLs against the following examples to ensure they are correct.

    Sample subscriber URLs on the syndicator server: 

    https://subscriber_hostname/wps/wcm/connect?MOD=Subs

    https://subscriber_hostname:10041/wps/wcm/connect?MOD=Subs

    http://subscriber_hostname:10039/wps/wcm/connect?MOD=Subs

    Sample syndicator URLs on the subscriber server:

    https://syndicator_hostname/wps/wcm/connect?MOD=Synd

    https://syndicator_hostname:10041/wps/wcm/connect?MOD=Synd

    http://syndicator_hostname:10039/wps/wcm/connect?MOD=Synd

Troubleshooting

If the syndicator-subscriber pair connection continues to fail, check the SystemOut.log on both servers to determine which error messages occur during a test connection for further troubleshooting. If more detailed traces are required, refer to Collecting Data: Syndication for HCL Digital Experience v8.5 and higher.

Additional information