Introduction

Should I take this tutorial?

This tutorial is for developers and administrators who want to get familiar with WebSphere Portal in general, and WebSphere Portal - Express in particular. It explains basic concepts such as portlet use and administration, user administration, and the basics of creating portal pages.

Editor's update: The Web site MetroSphere.com is no longer live. However, this series provides accurate and relevant information for installing IBM WebSphere Portal.

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What is this tutorial about?

This tutorial is part of the MetroSphere project, chronicling the creation of the MetroSphere.com community site. MetroSphere provides an easy, customizable way for the technical community to keep up with what's going on in their particular fields. The main site will run on a Linux box using WebSphere Portal Enable, but because of procurement delays, we're getting familiar with the software by installing WebSphere Portal - Express on a Windows box.

We'll be using Portal - Express to set up a small site from which to coordinate Express development, but this tutorial will focus on taking a look at the capabilities of Portal - Express.

This tutorial covers:

• General user concepts: what can a user do with a WebSphere Portal?
• Managing users and groups: How does security work?
• Managing portlets: What are they, and how does the system see them?
• Portal settings: What can an administrator control about the site?
• Creating a new page: How can a user or administrator add and control content?
• Using the generic portlets: Is there an easy way to add standard content such as Web pages and servlets?
• Creating a cliplet: What is a cliplet, and how can an administrator make one?

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Tools

In order to follow along with the steps in the tutorial, you will need access to a server running IBM WebSphere Portal - Express or one of the other WebSphere Portal offerings. It's not necessary to have physical access to the server, but you must be able to access it via a browser.

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Table of contents

• Introduction
• Using a portal
• Users and groups, and security
• Managing portlets
• Portal settings
• Creating a new page
• Using the generic portlets
• The Web Clipper portlet
• Summary
• Resources
• About the author

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• Buy: WebSphere Portal Express

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