Getting IBM Content Navigator up and running

To provide the IBM Content Navigator web client to your users, you must prepare your web application server and database, install IBM Content Navigator, configure and deploy the web application, update your web application server and database, and administer and configure the web client.

Follow these general steps to install and configure IBM Content Navigator.

Step 1 - Plan the IBM Content Navigator deployment

Planning the IBM Content Navigator deployment involves reviewing the prerequisites, making deployment decisions, and completing the installation and configuration worksheets. See Planning for IBM Content Navigator.

Review the prerequisites to ensure that your environment meets the minimum requirements. See Prerequisites for installing IBM Content Navigator. You can also review the overview and integration documentation. See IBM Content Navigator overview and Integration with IBM Content Navigator components.

Make deployment decisions about your environment. For example, decide which database to use for your content repository, which database to use for your configuration database, and which application server to use. Also, consider security and language options that affect your deployment. See the following planning tasks:
  1. Planning for your content repository
  2. Planning for your configuration database
  3. Planning for your web application server
  4. Planning for security
  5. Language support for IBM Content Navigator
You must also decide whether to use sync services. See Configuring sync services for IBM Content Navigator (FileNet P8).

Before you install and configure IBM Content Navigator, you must complete the appropriate installation and configuration worksheets. See Installation and configuration worksheets.

Step 2 - Complete the prerequisite tasks

Before you can install IBM Content Navigator, you must have the following software on the IBM Content Navigator server:
  • A supported web application server
  • IBM Content Manager OnDemand users:
    • Content Manager OnDemand Web Enablement Kit (ODWEK)
    • Transform software, such as the AFP2PDF conversion tool
In addition, you must have the following software in your content management environment:
  • A supported content management server
  • A database server where you can store the IBM Content Navigator web client configuration and preferences
Before you install the IBM Content Navigator software on the server, complete the following tasks:
  1. Prepare your web application server. Complete the preinstallation tasks that are appropriate for the web application server in your environment:
    Web application server Preinstallation tasks
    WebSphere® Application Server
    1. Ensure that a copy of the JDBC drivers is on the web application server. See Copying JDBC drivers to the web application server.

      Highly Available ClustersIf you plan to deploy IBM Content Navigator in a highly available cluster, copy the JDBC drivers to the same directory on each node in the cluster.

    2. IBM FileNet P8 users only.FileNet® P8 users only: If you plan to deploy IBM Content Navigator and Content Engine on separate WebSphere Application Server cells, then see Exporting the LTPA key from the Content Engine server (FileNet P8).
    3. For WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 or later only: See Disabling HTTPOnly settings for Java applets.
    4. IBM FileNet P8 users only.FileNet P8 users only: See Configuring separate WebSphere Application Server instances that run on the same computer.
    Oracle WebLogic Server
    1. Ensure that a copy of the JDBC drivers is on the web application server, and add the JDBC drivers to the startup script. See Adding the JDBC drivers to the Oracle WebLogic Server startup script.

      Highly Available ClustersIf you plan to deploy IBM Content Navigator in a highly available cluster, add the JDBC drivers to each node in the cluster.

    2. IBM FileNet P8 users only.FileNet P8 users only: If you plan to deploy IBM Content Navigator and Content Platform Engine or Content Engine in different domains, you must enable trust between them. See Enabling trust between the Content Platform Engine domain and the IBM Content Navigator domain.
  2. Prepare your database. You must point to an existing database when you configure and deploy IBM Content Navigator. You can use an existing database, or you can create a database to store information about IBM Content Navigator. See Creating a database for IBM Content Navigator.

Step 3 - Install IBM Content Navigator

You can install the IBM Content Navigator software by running the installation program or by running a silent installation. The installation program adds the files on the IBM Content Navigator server. See Installing the IBM Content Navigator software.

Important: If you plan to deploy IBM Content Navigator in a clustered environment, install the software on at least one server in the cluster. However, it is easier to achieve high availability if you install the IBM Content Navigator software on some or all of the servers in the cluster.

You do not need to install multiple instances of the IBM Content Navigator software to deploy different types of web applications.

IBM FileNet P8 users only.If you plan to use IBM FileNet P8 workflows in IBM Content Navigator, you must update the Process Engine client connector files. Also, update the Process Engine client connector files if the version of the connector files that are installed with IBM Content Navigator do not match the version of the connector files on your Process Engine server.

To update the Process Engine client connector files:
  • If you are running IBM FileNet P8, version 5.2 or later, you can update the Content Platform Engine client connector files when you run the IBM Content Navigator Configuration and Deployment Tool.

Step 4 - Configure and deploy the web application

Before users can access the IBM Content Navigator web client, you must configure and deploy IBM Content Navigator on your web application server.

The configuration tasks that you must complete depend on which types of repositories you want to connect to from this instance of the IBM Content Navigator web client. To configure and deploy IBM Content Navigator, complete the following tasks in the IBM Content Navigator Configuration and Deployment Tool:

Use the appropriate table for your environment:
Table 1. Tasks required to configure and deploy IBM Content Navigator on WebSphere Application Server
Task IBM Content Manager IBM Content Manager OnDemand IBM FileNet P8
Creating a configuration profile ✓ ✓ ✓
Updating the IBM FileNet P8 client connector files (FileNet P8)     ✓
If you plan to use FileNet P8 workflows, see Configuring Process Engine for IBM Content Navigator (FileNet P8)     ✓
Configuring the connection to your LDAP server (FileNet P8)     ✓
If you plan to deploy IBM Content Navigator and Content Engine on separate WebSphere Application Server cells, see Importing your Content Engine LTPA keys (FileNet P8)     ✓
Configuring the Content Manager OnDemand connector (Content Manager OnDemand)   ✓  
Configuring the JDBC driver for your database ✓ ✓ ✓
Configuring the Content Manager connector (Content Manager) ✓    
Configuring your database and data source ✓ ✓ ✓
Configuring JAAS authentication on your web application server ✓ ✓ ✓
Configuring the IBM Content Navigator web application ✓ ✓ ✓
Building the web application ✓ ✓ ✓
Deploying the web application on WebSphere Application Server ✓ ✓ ✓
Table 2. Tasks required to configure and deploy IBM Content Navigator on Oracle WebLogic Server
Task IBM Content Manager OnDemand IBM FileNet P8
Create a configuration profile ✓ ✓
Updating the IBM FileNet P8 client connector files (FileNet P8)   ✓
If you plan to use FileNet P8 workflows, see Configuring Process Engine for IBM Content Navigator (FileNet P8)   ✓
Configuring the connection to your LDAP server (FileNet P8)   ✓
Configuring the Content Manager OnDemand connector (Content Manager OnDemand) ✓  
Configuring your database and data source ✓ ✓
Configuring the IBM Content Navigator web application ✓ ✓
Building the web application ✓ ✓
Deploying the web application on Oracle WebLogic Server ✓ ✓

Step 5 - Complete post-configuration tasks

After you configure and deploy IBM Content Navigator, complete the following tasks:
  1. Update your web application server. Complete the post-configuration tasks that are appropriate for the web application server in your environment:
    Web application server Post-configuration tasks
    WebSphere Application Server
    1. Linux for System z users only: Configuring access to an X Window System server (WebSphere Application Server).
    2. IBM FileNet P8 users only.IBM FileNet P8 users only: Configuring distributed sessions to support session replication on WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment.
    3. Microsoft SharePoint users only: Configuring an isolated shared library on WebSphere Application Server.
    4. IBM Content Manager OnDemand users only.Content Manager OnDemand users only: Enabling access to Content Manager OnDemand repositories (WebSphere Application Server).

      Highly Available ClustersIf you plan to deploy IBM Content Navigator in a highly available cluster, you must add the ODWEK library environment variable to each node in the cluster.
    Oracle WebLogic Server
    1. Linux for System z users only: Configuring access to an X Window System server (Oracle WebLogic Server).
    2. IBM Content Manager OnDemand users only.Content Manager OnDemand users only: Enabling access to Content Manager OnDemand repositories (Oracle WebLogic Server).

      Highly Available ClustersIf you plan to deploy IBM Content Navigator in a highly available cluster, you must add the ODWEK library environment variable to each node in the cluster.

    3. Adding security arguments to the Oracle WebLogic Server startup script.

      Highly Available ClustersIf you plan to deploy IBM Content Navigator in a highly available cluster, you must add the JAAS security arguments to each node in the cluster.
  2. Create and populate the IBM Content Navigator configuration table on the database instance where you plan to store IBM Content Navigator configuration data. If you did not use the IBM Content Navigator Configuration and Deployment Tool to run the script on your database, see Running the script to configure your database for IBM Content Navigator.
  3. Although IBM HTTP Server is not required, it is recommended that you use IBM HTTP Server to manage HTTP traffic to your IBM Content Navigator web application server. See Mapping IBM Content Navigator components to IBM HTTP Server.
  4. Restart your web application server.
  5. Before you administer and configure the web client, you must verify that IBM Content Navigator was successfully deployed to your web application server. See Verifying your IBM Content Navigator deployment.

Step 6 - Administer and configure the web client

After you configure and deploy the web application, you must administer the web client to enable users to connect to the repositories in your environment. See Configuring the IBM Content Navigator web client. The IBM Content Navigator administration tool is integrated with the IBM Content Navigator web client. You can access the administration tool by logging in to the administration desktop. See Accessing the IBM Content Navigator administration tool

To enable users to access the web client, complete the following required tasks:
  1. Connect to your repositories. See Configuring connections to repositories for IBM Content Navigator
    IBM Content Manager OnDemand users only.Important: If you configure connections to IBM Content Manager OnDemand repositories, you must configure application-level settings that are shared by all of the Content Manager OnDemand servers in your environment. See Connecting and configuring IBM Content Manager OnDemand repositories
  2. Define your default desktop, and optionally define custom desktops. See Defining desktops.
  3. Construct a URL for your users to enter in a web browser to access an IBM Content Navigator desktop. See Constructing a URL for IBM Content Navigator. Then, you can send the URLs for your desktops to your users.
In addition, you can complete the following optional tasks at this point:
  • Configure features for your repositories, such as teamspace management, entry template management, search options, download tracking, and sync services. See Configuring the features of a repository.
  • Create a theme with a color scheme and images that are specific to your organization. You can modify the banner, login page, navigation elements, and buttons. See Defining themes.
  • Provide access to other users to administer IBM Content Navigator. See Adding IBM Content Navigator administrators.
  • Configure logging to capture information about the transactions between IBM Content Navigator and your repositories. See Configuring logging.
  • Create icon mappings to change the icons that are displayed for document MIME types and item states. For example, MIME types indicate the type of a document, such as PDF or HTML. Item states indicate the state of a document or folder, such as checked out, on hold, or is bookmarked. See Configuring the icons that are displayed in the web client.
  • Register and configure plug-ins to integrate other software with the web client. See Registering and configuring plug-ins.
  • Create viewer maps and configure the viewers that you want to use to display documents. See Configuring viewers used to display documents in the web client.
  • Create file type filters to enable users to narrow search results to include only a specific type of document or documents. See File type filters.
  • Create custom menus to restrict the actions that are available by default, or to add custom actions that are available after you register and configure plug-ins. See Customizing menus.
  • Create custom labels to change specific terms that are used in the web client user interface. For example, you can change the term repository to library if your company refers to repositories as libraries. See Customizing labels in the web client.

Step 7 - Integrate and customize

Finally, integrate with other software, configure services and devices, and develop custom software for use with IBM Content Navigator.

If you want to use IBM Content Navigator with Microsoft Office, see Integrating IBM Content Navigator with Microsoft Office.

IBM FileNet P8 users: If you want to use IBM FileNet P8 workflows, see Integrating IBM FileNet P8 workflows in IBM Content Navigator.

If you use teamspace templates, you can export a teamspace template from one repository and import it to another repository of the same type and same release level. See Migrating teamspace templates.

If you want to use sync services, see Configuring sync services for IBM Content Navigator (FileNet P8).

IBM Content Navigator desktops, features, folders, and documents can be started or opened remotely by sending the user’s browser to a specified URL that includes the item's unique identifier. To understand how to construct a URL for developers to use in custom applications, see Constructing a URL for IBM Content Navigator.

To understand how to develop custom applications that are integrated with IBM Content Navigator, see Developing applications with IBM Content Navigator APIs.