Customer  may notice that   wcm  attachments and files  resources  show no errors  during conversion   but  the documents do not exist in the collection/index

Enabling   DCS  debug shows   successful conversion   but also  show the  following  message for each attempted conversion
 

"DCS returned an  empty string for document"

[7/25/13 17:37:56:986 EDT] 0000002d ApplicationDo 1   DCS returned an  empty string for document http://wcmtestkit8001cf7.zippyvm.rtp.raleigh.ibm.com/idcs/folder1/folder11/testdoc.doc
 

Often this  is  because  the wrong version of the  RemoteDSC.zip is in use .   The  is a new  RemoteDCS.zip  for  each  8.0.0.x CF0X  released.  Essentially  each CF  has it owns files.   Please  open a pmr  and contact  IBM support  if  it is not clear  you are using  the correct files  for the CF in use.

 You may have  been using the   either the  search and  Browse  portlet or a customized  search portlet   that  made use of the  searchandbrowse.jar in  portal 7 and or  6.1

 Beginning  in Portal 8   the search and  Browse  portlet is no longer available.    The  inherent features  and capabilities of the Search and  Browse  portlet are now included in the Portal 8 search  center portlets and page. Refer to the following  pages and documentation for more information 

"Starting with Version 8 of WebSphere Portal the Search and Browse
portlet provided with earlier portal versions is no longer available.
The Search Center has been enhanced with advanced search options
previously available in the Search and Browse portlet. Categorization
and taxonomy are no longer available."


http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/xpDocViewer.xsp?lookupName=IBM+WebSphere+Portal+8+Product+Documentation#action=openDocument&res_title
=Portlets_for_working_with_Search_wp8&content=pdcontent

So if you are including this jar file in the custom search portlet, that may have to be modified to no longer use this jar ( as this is not available in 8.0)

So here is a simple scenario. User  consistently sees that  a named collection index directory exists when  trying to create a new one . This is even after the following has been done
1. No collections exists in the   Manage Search  collections  listings
2. The collections name  is not  listed  in the PSE Sources  within the  Resource Permissions Portlet  (Portal Administration > Resource Permissions)
3. The directory in   <wp_profile>/collections   folder
4. The   "faulty collections"  link  does not  show up  meaning the  server does not  necessarily see a  corrupted search index

To  resolve  issues with reappearing "deleted" indexes   there are a couple of items to check  in to the above  items

A. Check  the settings in the  SearchService  properties

 - If this  is the default  out of the  box  portal collection ,  make sure the  "PortalCollectionForceCreate" is set to "off". Otherwise  it will be   recreated at startup
         

  -  Make sure that if   RECOVERY_BACKUP_LOCATION    is  set,  then  the named collections folder structure  within that  location must also be deleted. Otherwise   on startup  the server will seethe backup information  and  restore  the  directory even though   there is no specified  collection. This is a feature intended to help recover otherwise corrupt  collections  instead  of intentionally deleted ones.
<wp_profile>/PortalServer/collections_config_backup

B.  Check  for and  delete  the  named index listing  the PSE_DESC table (in the RELEASE SCHEMA).
 

 

6)   At the VERY top of the file, just under display name


 

Add the following:

 

<filter>

   <filter-name>Home Substitution Filter</filter-name>
   <filter-class>com.ibm.wps.engine.ServletSubstitutionFilter</filter-class>

</filter>

 

Resulting in:

Add the following between these two lines:
<filter-mapping>
   <filter-name>Home Substitution Filter</filter-name>
   <url-pattern>/portal/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>


resulting in:

 

9)  Portal v8 only:  Open the /tmp/wps_expanded/wps.war/WEB-INF/web_merged.xml file in a text editor.  Repeat steps 6-8 in this file. 

14b)  Portal v8 only:  Verify the web_merged.xml also contains the changes.

Addendum to Original Posting

New bits of information will periodically be added to this entry. 

1)  Portal Infocenters

The official source of information should be the Portal Infocenters, with blog entries (such as this one) providing supplemental information to the Infocenters.

v61 Infocenter:

- Exporting the wps.ear file:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wpdoc/v6r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.wp.ent.doc_v615/admin/wsrpt_secltpa_expear1.html

- Redeploying the wps.ear file:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wpdoc/v6r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.wp.ent.doc_v615/admin/wsrpt_secltpa_redeploy.html

v70 Infocenter:

- Exporting the wps.ear file:

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/Exporting_the_portal_EAR_file_wp7

- Redeploying the wps.ear file:

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/Redeploying_the_portal_EAR_file_wp7

v80 Infocenter: 

- Exporting the wps.ear file:

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/Exporting_the_portal_EAR_file_wp8

- Redeploying the wps.ear file:

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/Redeploying_the_portal_EAR_file_wp8

2)  Portal v8 web_merged.xml file:

The original article was targeted towards WebSphere Portal 6.1 primarily.  Additional actions are required for WebSphere Portal 8.0.  In particular, both the web.xml and web_merged.xml file for wps.ear must be updated for changes to go into effect.  (Thanks Thomas for the tip!)