Planning to install WebSphere Portal Express
Before installing IBM® WebSphere® Portal Express® in a production environment, you need to assess your hardware and software needs, possible database configurations, security options, and LDAP server options. Skipping this important step can lead to unexpected results and costly delays.
About this task
- System requirements
Before installing IBM WebSphere Portal Express, review the hardware and software requirements to ensure you have the supported versions of prerequisite and corequisite software as well as the required hardware. - Release notes
Known issues and problems are centrally available on the support page. Links into the support knowledge base are integrated throughout the information center to make sure you have the most current information. Before you start the installation process, check the IBM Support site for the most current information about known limitations or issues. Use the following dynamic queries to find late breaking information about this release. - WebSphere Portal Express Support Statement
This support statement proposes a revision to the definition of "supported" and "unsupported" with respect to the various products of which IBM WebSphere Portal Express depends on for proper operation. - User IDs and passwords
Understanding character limitations for user IDs and passwords is important because they are used throughout the system to provide access and secure content. The character limitations provided here apply to the IBM WebSphere Portal Express administrator, IBM WebSphere Application Server administrator, database administrator, LDAP server administrator, and user IDs. Database and LDAP servers can have more restrictive limitations than provided here. Therefore you should check the database and LDAP server product documentation for restrictions. Failure to correctly define user IDs and passwords during the installation process can result in installation failure. In addition, your company may have more restrictive user ID and password requirements that you must also follow. - Server topologies
Topology diagrams help you visualize different configurations that you can set up to support various user and system load requirements. The topology diagrams are representative of basic configurations. - Web Content Manager environments
To use a Web Content Manager system, you will need to deploy a set of Web Content Manager environments within your overall WebSphere Portal system. Reviewing the Web Content Manager environments help you understand what happens in each environment and how you may want to setup your physical severs. Web Content Manager is installed using the WebSphere Portal installation user interface. - Stand-alone roadmap
- Horizontal cluster roadmap
- Vertical cluster roadmap
- Evaluation license
IBM WebSphere Portal Express comes with a special license that lets you install and deploy the product for a 60 day evaluation at no charge. If you subsequently purchase WebSphere Portal Express, a simple utility lets you convert the evaluation license to a full production license. Users who prefer to purchase and install WebSphere Portal Express directly, without the evaluation license, can do so without having to install or convert the evaluation license. - Web servers
By default IBM WebSphere Portal Express uses the internal HTTP transport within IBM WebSphere Application Server to handle requests. However, because WebSphere Application Server also supports the use of an external web server, you can access WebSphere Portal Express from your web server. You can use a local web server on the same machine as WebSphere Portal Express or you can use a remote web server on a different machine. A remote web server is typical for a production environment or other high-traffic configuration and is also typically placed in demilitarized zones (DMZ) outside a firewall to protect portal ports. - Database considerations
By default, IBM WebSphere Portal Express installs and uses IBM DB2 Universal Database™ Workgroup Server Edition. Installing with DB2® lets you quickly get WebSphere Portal Express installed and running in a production-level environment. - User registry considerations
A user registry or repository authenticates a user and retrieves information about users and groups to perform security-related functions, including authentication and authorization. - WebSphere Portal Express high availability
IBM WebSphere Portal Express is licensed for use in a single server configuration and may not be used in either a cloned configuration or a clustered configuration except when implementing idle standby for the purpose of failover.