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Oracle® Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle WebCenter
11g Release 1 (11.1.1)

Part Number E12405-11
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14 Managing the Announcements and Discussions Services

This chapter describes how to configure and manage the Announcements and Discussions services for WebCenter applications. These two services use the same connection to a back-end Oracle WebCenter Discussions server.

Unless otherwise documented, do not make configuration changes within the Oracle WebCenter Discussions server. Always use Fusion Middleware Control or the WLST command-line tool to review and configure back-end services for WebCenter applications. For troubleshooting tips with Oracle WebCenter Discussions, see Section 14.12, "Troubleshooting Issues with Announcements and Discussions."

Any changes that you make to WebCenter applications, post deployment, are stored in MDS metatdata store as customizations. See Section 1.3.5, "Oracle WebCenter Configuration Considerations."

Note:

Configuration changes for the Discussions and Announcements services, through Fusion Middleware Control or using WLST, are not dynamic so you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed for your changes to take effect. See Section 8.2, "Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Application Deployments."

This chapter includes the following sections:

Audience

The content of this chapter is intended for Fusion Middleware administrators (users granted the Admin or Operator role through the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console). See also, Section 1.8, "Understanding Administrative Operations, Roles, and Tools."

14.1 What You Should Know About Discussions Server Connections

The Discussions service enables users to start, publish, and store discussions in WebCenter applications. The Announcements service lets you create and expose announcements on your application pages.

The Discussions service and the Announcements service require a connection to the WebCenter Discussions server. Both services use the same connection. The Oracle WebCenter Discussions software is installed automatically with Oracle Fusion Middleware.

You can register additional WebCenter Discussion connections through the Fusion Middleware Control Console, but only one connection is active at a time:

WebCenter Spaces

Some additional configuration is required to use Discussions and Announcements services in WebCenter Spaces. This includes choosing the category (on the discussions server) under which all WebCenter Spaces discussions and announcements are stored, and more. This configuration takes place inside WebCenter Spaces. For more information, see "Configuring Discussion Forum Options for WebCenter Spaces" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.

You can register connections for your WebCenter application through the Fusion Middleware Control Console or using WLST

14.2 Discussions Server Prerequisites

This section includes the following subsections:

14.2.1 Discussions Server - Installation

The Oracle WebCenter Discussions software is installed automatically with Oracle Fusion Middleware.

14.2.1.1 Discussions Server - High Availability Installation

To set up Oracle WebCenter Discussions for high availability, install the WC_Collaboration domain in a clustered environment. Then log on to the Oracle WebCenter Discussions admin console, go to the Cache Features page, and select to enable clustering (Figure 14-1).

Figure 14-1 Cache Features - Clustering

Description of Figure 14-1 follows
Description of "Figure 14-1 Cache Features - Clustering"

14.2.2 Discussions Server - Configuration

You can view, set, and remove Oracle WebCenter Discussions server system properties with the following WLST commands:

  • getDiscussionsServerProperty

  • setDiscussionsServerProperty

  • removeDiscussionsServerProperty

For command syntax and examples, see the section, "addDiscussionsServerAdmin" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

Additionally, the addDiscussionsServerAdmin command grants system administrator permissions on the discussions server to a user or a group. This command is useful when you connect the discussions server to a new identity store that does not contain any of the current administrators. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "addDiscussionsServerAdmin" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

The syncDiscussionServerPermissions command (WebCenter Spaces only) synchronizes discussion server permissions for subspaces that inherit security from their parent. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "syncDiscussionsServerPermissions" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

14.2.3 Discussions Server - Security Considerations

  • WS-Security establishes a trust relationship between your WebCenter application and Oracle WebCenter Discussions so that your WebCenter application can pass the user identity information to the server without knowing the user's credentials.

    Configure OWSM WS-Security for WebCenter Discussions, depending on your topology, following either Section 32.1.2, "Configuring the Discussions Server for a Simple Topology," Section 32.2.2, "Configuring the Discussions Server for a Typical Topology," or Section 32.3.2, "Configuring the Discussions Server for a Complex Topology."

  • Oracle WebCenter Discussions-specific Web Services messages sent by WebCenter applications to Oracle WebCenter Discussions server are not encrypted. For message confidentiality, access the Discussions server URL over Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or protect the Web Service end points with an OWSM policy. For more information, see Chapter 31, "Configuring SSL" and Chapter 32, "Configuring WS-Security."

  • By default, Oracle WebCenter Discussions is configured to use the embedded LDAP identity store: All users in the embedded LDAP store can log on to the discussions server, and all users in the Administrators group have administrative privileges on Oracle WebCenter Discussions.

    For your production environment, you must reassociate the identity store with an external LDAP server, as described in Section 28.1, "Reassociating the Identity Store with an External LDAP Server." In addition, you must either move the Fusion Middleware administrator account to the external LDAP (as described in Section 28.5, "Moving the Administrator Account to an External LDAP Server"), or if you choose not to move the administrator account, you must perform some additional steps to identify the new administrator account for the discussions server as described in Section 28.5.1, "Migrating the WebCenter Discussions Server to Use an External LDAP."

  • You can configure Oracle WebCenter Discussions to leverage single sign-on security using Oracle Access Manager, Oracle Single Sign-On, or SAML-based single sign-on. For information, see Chapter 30, "Configuring Single Sign-on." For additional Discussions-specific configuration instructions for Oracle Access Manager (OAM), see also Chapter 30, "Configuring the Discussions Server for SSO."

    Note:

    If you set up SAML single sign-on (SSO), with WebCenter Spaces as the source application and Oracle WebCenter Discussions as the destination application, then you can access Oracle WebCenter Discussions administration pages from WebCenter Spaces as follows:
    • Space > Settings > Services page

    • Administration > Configuration > Services page

    However, because the administration pages of Oracle WebCenter Discussions do not participate in SSO, if you access the administration pages directly, you are required to log in to Oracle WebCenter Discussions again.

  • If WebCenter is not integrated with a single sign-on solution, then different login sessions are required for the owc_discussion user (/owc_discussions) and the owc_discussion admin user (/owc_discussions/admin).

  • User Identity: User identity management is handled by authentication providers settings specified in Oracle WebLogic Server using custom JPS Auth Factory. To check that the correct auth factory is running, go to Oracle WebCenter Discussions admin console Systems Properties page and confirm the following property values:

    • owc_discussions.setup.complete_11.1.1.2.0=true

    • AuthFactory.className=oracle.jive.security.JpsAuthFactory

      If the AuthFactory.className is set to this value, then set the owc_discussions.setup.complete_11.1.1.2.0 property to false and restart the Oracle Discussion Server. This ensures that proper initialization is done for the application.

14.2.4 Discussions Server - Limitations

The Oracle WebCenter Discussions URL supports only English and Spanish languages for displaying labels; however, data can be entered in UTF-8 format. Oracle recommends using the WebCenter application (with all WebCenter-supported languages) for user operations in the discussions server. All WebCenter-supported languages are supported for data, such as discussion topics or announcements, and they are displayed in the discussions server also.

The Discussions and Announcements services do not support non-ASCII user names if the Oracle WebCenter instance is running in a native encoding on Microsoft Windows. In a Linux environment, to allow support for non-ASCII user names in the Discussions and Announcements services, the server on which Oracle WebCenter is deployed must have the environment variable LC_ALL set to utf-8.

WebCenter Spaces

Do not change user permissions in the discussions server, as this might cause unexpected behavior. Always manage user permissions for discussions and announcements in WebCenter Spaces. For more information, see "Understanding Discussion Server Role Mapping" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.

14.3 Registering Discussions Servers

You can register multiple discussion server connections for a WebCenter application, but only one is active at a time.

To start using the new (active) connection you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed.

This section includes the following subsections:

14.3.1 Registering Discussions Servers Using Fusion Middleware Control

To register a discussions server:

  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control and navigate to the home page for the WebCenter application. For more information, see:

  2. Do one of the following:

    • For WebCenter Spaces - From the WebCenter menu, choose Settings > Service Configuration.

    • For WebCenter Portal applications - From the Application Deployment menu, choose WebCenter > Service Configuration.

  3. From the list of services on the WebCenter Service Configuration page, select Discussions and Announcements.

  4. To connect to a new discussions server, click Add (Figure 14-2).

    Figure 14-2 Configuring Discussion and Announcement Connections

    Configuring a Content Repository
  5. Enter a unique name for this connection, and indicate whether this connection is the active (or default) connection for the application (Table 14-1).

    Table 14-1 Discussion and Announcement Connection - Name

    Field Description

    Connection Name

    Enter a unique name for the connection.

    The name must be unique (across all connection types) within the WebCenter application.

    Active Connection

    Select to use this connection for the Discussions and Announcements services in the WebCenter application.

    While you can register multiple discussions server connections for a WebCenter application, only one connection is used for discussion and announcement services—the default (or active) connection.


  6. Enter connection details for the discussions server. For details, see Table 14-2.

    Table 14-2 Discussion and Announcement Connection - Connection Details

    Field Description

    Server URL

    Enter the URL of the discussions server hosting discussion forums and announcements.

    For example: http://discuss-server.com:8890/owc_discussions

    Administrator User Name

    Enter the user name of the discussions server administrator.

    This account is used by the Discussions and Announcements services to perform administrative operations on behalf of WebCenter users.

    In WebCenter Spaces, this account is mostly used for managing Space-related discussions and announcements. It is not necessary for this user to be a super admin. However, the user must have administrative privileges on the current root category for WebCenter Spaces, that is, the category (on the discussions server) under which all Space-related discussions and announcements are stored.

    Note: If your WebCenter application does not include Space-related functionality, the administrator's user name is not required.

    Authenticated User Web Service Policy URI

    Select the policy this connection uses for authenticated access to the discussions server Web service.

    SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) is an XML-based standard for passing security tokens defining authentication and authorization rights. An attesting entity (that already has trust relationship with the receiver) vouches for the verification of the subject by method called sender-vouches.

    The client policy specified must be compatible with the service policy that is configured for the OWCDiscussionsServiceAuthenticated endpoint in the discussions server. Out-of-the-box, the default service policy is WSS 1.0 SAML Token Service Policy (oracle/wss10_saml_token_service_policy).

    Options available are:

    • WSS 1.0 SAML Token Client Policy (oracle/wss10_saml_token_client_policy)

    • WSS 1.1 SAML Token With Message Protection Client Policy (oracle/wss11_saml_token_with_message_protection_client_policy)

    • Global Policy Attachment

    If your environment supports Global Policy Attachments, you must ensure that the default policy attached to the OWCDiscussionsServiceAuthenticated endpoint in the discussions server is set to oracle/no_authentication_client_policy using the WLST command detachWebServicePolicy or Enterprise Manager.

    Public User Web Service Policy URI

    Select the client policy this connection uses to enforce message security and integrity for public access to the discussions server Web service.

    The client policy specified must be compatible with the service policy that is configured for the OWCDiscussionsServicePublic endpoint in the discussions server. Out-of-the-box, a service policy is not configured for public access (None).

    Options available are:

    • None - This is the default setting.

    • WSS 1.1 Message Protection Client Policy (oracle/wss11_with_message_protection_client_policy)

    • Global Policy Attachment

    If your environment supports Global Policy Attachments, you must ensure that the default policy attached to the OWCDiscussionsServicePublic endpoint in the discussions server is set to oracle/no_authentication_client_policy using the WLST command detachWebServicePolicy or Enterprise Manager.

    Recipient Key Alias

    Enter the recipient key alias to be used for message protected policies (applicable to the OWCDiscussionsServicePublic and OWCDiscussionsServiceAuthenticated endpoints). This is the alias to the certificate that contains the public key of the discussions server in the configured keystore.

    See also Chapter 32, "Configuring WS-Security".


  7. Configure advanced options for the discussion and announcement connection (Table 14-3).

    Table 14-3 Discussion and Announcement Connection - Advanced Configuration

    Field Description

    Connection Timeout (in Seconds)

    Specify a suitable timeout for the connection.

    This is the length of time (in seconds) the WebCenter application waits for a response from the discussions server before issuing a connection timeout message.

    The default is -1, which means that the service default is used. The service default is 10 seconds.


  8. Sometimes, additional parameters are required to connect to the discussions server, for example, those listed in Table 14-4.

    Table 14-4 Additional Discussion Connection Properties

    Additional Connection Property Description

    application.root.category.id

    (WebCenter Spaces only) Application root category ID on the discussions server under which all discussion forums are stored. For example, if set to 3, then all forums are stored inside the category 3.


    If additional parameters are required to connect to the discussions server, expand Additional Properties and enter details as required (Table 14-5).

    Table 14-5 Discussion and Announcement Connection - Additional Properties

    Field Description

    Add

    Click Add to specify an additional connection parameter:

    • Name - Enter the name of the connection property.

    • Value - Enter the default value for the property.

    • Is Property Secured - Indicate whether encryption is required. When selected, the property value is stored securely using encryption.

      For example, select this option to secure the admin.password property where the value is the actual password.

    Delete

    Click Delete to remove a selected property.

    Select the correct row before clicking Delete.

    Note: Deleted rows appear disabled until you click OK.


  9. Click OK to save this connection.

  10. To start using the new (active) connection you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed. For more information, see Section 8.2, "Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Application Deployments."

For WebCenter Spaces, some additional configuration is recommended for the Discussions service. For details, see "Configuring Discussion Forum Options for WebCenter Spaces" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.

14.3.2 Registering Discussions Servers Using WLST

Use the WLST command createDiscussionForumConnection to create a discussion server connection. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "createDiscussionForumConnection" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

To configure the Discussions and Announcements services to actively use the new connection, set default=true.

Make sure to set additional properties for WS-Security. See Section 14.5.2, "Modifying Discussions Server Connection Details Using WLST."

For information on how to run WLST commands, see Section 1.13.3.1, "Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands."

Note:

To start using the new (active) connection you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed. For more information, see the section, "Starting and Stopping WebLogic Managed Servers Using the Command Line" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

14.4 Choosing the Active Connection for Discussions and Announcements

You can register multiple discussion server connections for a WebCenter application, but only one connection is active at a time. The active connection becomes the back-end discussions server for:

This section includes the following subsections:

14.4.1 Choosing the Active Connection for Discussions and Announcements Using Fusion Middleware Control

To change the active connection:

  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control and navigate to the home page for the WebCenter application. For more information, see:

  2. Do one of the following:

    • For WebCenter Spaces - From the WebCenter menu, choose Settings > Service Configuration.

    • For WebCenter Portal applications - From the Application Deployment menu, choose WebCenter > Service Configuration.

  3. From the list of services on the WebCenter Services Configuration page, choose Discussions and Announcements.

    The Manage Discussion and Announcement Connections table indicates the current active connection (if any).

  4. Select the connection you want to make the active (or default) connection, and then click Edit.

  5. Select the Active Connection checkbox.

  6. Click OK to update the connection.

  7. To start using the new (active) connection you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed. See Section 8.2, "Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Application Deployments."

14.4.2 Choosing the Active Discussion for Discussions and Announcements Using WLST

Use the WLST command setDiscussionForumConnection with default=true to activate an existing connection. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "setDiscussionForumConnection" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

To disable a Discussions and Announcements connection, either delete it, make another connection the 'active connection', or use the removeDiscussionForumServiceProperty command:

removeDiscussionForumServiceProperty('appName='webcenter', property='selected.connection')

Using this command, connection details are retained but the connection is no longer named as an active connection. For more information, see the section, "removeDiscussionForumServiceProperty" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

For information on how to run WLST commands, see Section 1.13.3.1, "Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands."

Note:

To start using the new (active) connection you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed. For more information see, "Starting and Stopping WebLogic Managed Servers Using the Command Line" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

14.5 Modifying Discussions Server Connection Details

You can modify discussions server connection details at any time.

To start using the modified (active) connection you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed.

This section includes the following subsections:

14.5.1 Modifying Discussions Server Connection Details Using Fusion Middleware Control

To update connection details for a discussions server:

  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control and navigate to the home page for the WebCenter application. For more information, see:

  2. Do one of the following:

    • For WebCenter Spaces - From the WebCenter menu, choose Settings > Service Configuration.

    • For WebCenter Portal applications - From the Application Deployment menu, choose WebCenter > Service Configuration.

  3. From the list of services on the WebCenter Service Configuration page, choose Discussions and Announcements.

  4. Select the connection name, and click Edit.

  5. Edit connection details, as required. For detailed parameter information, see Table 14-2 and Table 14-4.

  6. Click OK to save your changes.

  7. To start using the updated (active) connection you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed. See Section 8.2, "Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Application Deployments."

14.5.2 Modifying Discussions Server Connection Details Using WLST

Use the WLST command setDiscussionForumConnection to edit connection details. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "setDiscussionForumConnection" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

To set additional parameters, use the setDiscussionForumConnectionProperty command. For more information, see the section, "setDiscussionForumConnectionProperty" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

For information on how to run WLST commands, see Section 1.13.3.1, "Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands."

Note:

To start using the updated (active) connection you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed. For more information, see the section, "Starting and Stopping WebLogic Managed Servers Using the Command Line" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

14.6 Deleting Discussions Server Connections

You can delete discussion server connections at any time but take care when deleting the active connection. If you delete the active connection, none of the Discussions or Announcements task flows work, as they all require a back-end discussions server.

This section includes the following subsections:

14.6.1 Deleting a Discussions Server Connection Using Fusion Middleware Control

To delete a discussions server connection:

  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control and navigate to the home page for the WebCenter application. For more information, see:

  2. Do one of the following:

    • For WebCenter Spaces - From the WebCenter menu, choose Settings > Service Configuration.

    • For WebCenter Portal applications - From the Application Deployment menu, choose WebCenter > Service Configuration.

  3. From the list of services on the WebCenter Services Configuration page, select Discussions and Announcements.

  4. Select the connection name, and click Delete.

  5. To effect this change you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed. For more information, see Section 8.2, "Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Application Deployments."

    Note:

    Before restarting the managed server, mark another connection as active; otherwise, the service is disabled.

14.6.2 Deleting a Discussions Server Connection Using WLST

Use the WLST command deleteConnection to remove a connection. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "deleteConnection" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

Ensure that another connection is marked active; otherwise, the service is disabled.

For information on how to run WLST commands, see Section 1.13.3.1, "Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands."

Note:

To effect this change you must restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed. For more information, see the section, "Starting and Stopping WebLogic Managed Servers Using the Command Line" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

14.7 Setting Up Discussions Service Defaults

Use the WLST command setDiscussionForumServiceProperty to set defaults for the Discussions service in your WebCenter application:

For command syntax and examples, see the section, "setDiscussionForumServiceProperty" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

For information on how to run WLST commands, see Section 1.13.3.1, "Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands."

14.8 Setting Up Announcements Service Defaults

Use the WLST command setAnnouncementServiceProperty to set defaults for the Announcements service:

For command syntax and examples, see the section, "setAnnouncementServiceProperty" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

For information on how to run WLST commands, see Section 1.13.3.1, "Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands."

14.9 Testing Discussions Server Connections

Try accessing the discussions server with the following URL:

http://host:port/owc_discussions

You should see a page listing all public information.

14.10 Granting Administrator Permissions on Oracle WebCenter Discussions

The WLST command addDiscussionsServerAdmin grants system administrator permissions on the discussions server to a user or a group. This command is useful when you connect the discussions server to a new identity store that does not contain any of the current administrators. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "addDiscussionsServerAdmin" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

14.11 Granting Administrator Role for Oracle WebCenter Discussions

The default domain administrator created for Oracle WebCenter is also the administrator for Oracle WebCenter Discussions. You can make a nondefault user the administrator for Oracle WebCenter Discussions.

While creating a domain, if you specify any other user as the domain administrator, that user is granted all the domain administrative rights. However, after creating the domain, you must manually grant the administrator role to that nondefault user for WebCenter Spaces and Oracle WebCenter Discussions server. For information on how to grant administrator privileges to a nondefault user for WebCenter Spaces, see Section 28.4.1, "Granting the WebCenter Spaces Administrator Role."

For Oracle WebCenter Discussions, the default user is the super administrator. This section describes how to grant administrator privileges to a nondefault user.

14.11.1 Granting the Administrator Role with WLST

The WLST command addDiscussionsServerAdmin lets you grant system administrator permissions on the Discussions server to a user or a group. This is useful when you connect the discussions server to a new identity store. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "addDiscussionsServerAdmin" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

14.11.2 Granting the Administrator Role

To grant the administrator role for Oracle WebCenter Discussions to a nondefault user:

  1. Log on to the Jive Forum Admin Console as an administrator by using the following URL format: http://host:port/owc_discussions/admin.

  2. Click the Settings link in the list of links across the top of the page.

  3. Click the Admins/Moderators link, if not selected, in the navigation panel on the left.

  4. On the Admins & Moderators page, click the Grant New Permissions tab.

  5. Select the System Admin checkbox.

  6. Select the A Specific User checkbox and specify the user to whom you want to grant administrative privilege for Oracle WebCenter Discussions.

  7. Click Grant New Permission.

    You can now log on to Oracle WebCenter Discussions as the user whom you have assigned the administrative privilege.

    Figure 14-3 Granting the Administrator Role on Oracle WebCenter Discussions

    Description of Figure 14-3 follows
    Description of "Figure 14-3 Granting the Administrator Role on Oracle WebCenter Discussions"

14.11.3 Revoking the Administrator Role

After assigning the administrator role to the required nondefault user, you may want to revoke the administrator role from the default user.

To revoke the administrator role:

  1. Log on to Jive Forum Admin Console as the nondefault user whom you have assigned the administrator role.

  2. Click the Settings link in the list of links across the top of the page.

  3. Click the Admins/Moderators link, if not selected, in the navigation panel on the left.

  4. On the Admins & Moderators page, under the Permission Summary tab, uncheck the System Admin checkbox for the required user, for example, weblogic. (Figure 14-4)

    Figure 14-4 Revoking the Administrator Role

    Description of Figure 14-4 follows
    Description of "Figure 14-4 Revoking the Administrator Role"

  5. Click Save Changes.

    The administrative privileges for managing Oracle WebCenter Discussions are now revoked from the default user.

14.12 Troubleshooting Issues with Announcements and Discussions

This troubleshooting section includes the following subsections:

14.12.1 Authentication Failed

Problem

WS-Security does not appear to be set properly for the connection between WebCenter and Oracle WebCenter Discussions. You may see the following error:

failure to authenticate the user WebLogic, due to: Authentication Failed

Solution

This error may be caused due to various reasons. Check the following:

  • Ensure that the OWSM SAML policy setting is appropriately defined between the discussions connection and the discussions server.

  • For the WebCenter Discussions service, review WC_Spaces-diagnostic.log for errors and exceptions. If the log does not provide enough information to correct errors, then turn on debugging for the oracle.webcenter.collab.share and oracle.webcenter.collab.forum packages.

  • For the Oracle WebCenter Discussions server, review WC_Collaboration-diagnostics.log and jive.error.log inside your domain's $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/SERVER_NAME/owc_discussions/logs directory. If the logs do not provide enough information to correct errors, then turn on debugging for Oracle WebCenter Discussions. To turn on debug logs, log on to the Oracle WebCenter Discussions admin console, go to page logs, the Debug tab, and enable. Restart the WC_Collaboration domain to change the logging setting.

  • Make sure that the WebCenter application and the Oracle WebCenter Discussions server are in time sync. This is important with OWSM WS-Security.

14.12.2 Discussions Cannot Be Enabled in a Space

Problem

Discussions cannot be enabled in any Space, even new Spaces.

Solution

This error may be caused due to various reasons. Check the following:

  • Oracle WebCenter Discussions server is up and running and accessible. See Section 14.9, "Testing Discussions Server Connections."

  • Administrator User Name (adminUser) property configured for the active connection has administrative privileges on the application root category (the category configured for the WebCenter Spaces). See Section 14.3, "Registering Discussions Servers."

    It is not necessary for this user to be a super admin. However, the user must have administrative privileges on the application root category configured for the WebCenter Spaces, that is, the category (on the discussions server) under which all Space discussions and announcement are stored.

  • Application root category, where all Space discussions and announcements are stored, exists on the back-end server.

    You can check the application root category ID configured for the WebCenter Spaces application by navigating to WebCenter Administration, Configuration, Services, and then Discussions. See "Specifying Where Discussions and Announcements are Stored on the Discussions Server" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.

14.12.3 Login Does Not Function Properly After Configuring Oracle Access Manager

Problem

When you log in to the Oracle WebCenter Discussions server after configuring Oracle Access Manager single sign-on, a 500 - Internal Server Error occurs.

Solution

  1. If one does not exist, add a user as super admin on Oracle WebCenter Discussions using the WLST command addDiscussionsServerAdmin. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "addDiscussionsServerAdmin" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

  2. Log on to the Discussions Admin Console with the super admin account, and navigate to System - System Properties.

  3. Edit the property owc_discussions.setup.complete_11.1.1.2.0 to set the value as false.

  4. Restart the Oracle WebCenter Discussions server.

14.12.4 Category Not Found Exceptions

Problem

If you change the connection to use a different discussions server, and if you change the application root category ID from Administration - Configuration - Services - Discussions, then you could see exceptions like, "Category Not Found."

Solution

Restart the managed server on which the WebCenter application is deployed.