Integrating the Web Application Bridge (WAB) with IBM WebSphere Portal 8.0: A step-by-step guide

Introduction

This article describes a comprehensive procedure for integrating the IBM® Web Application Bridge (WAB) with IBM WebSphere® Portal 8.0, including understanding, installing, and configuring WAB with WebSphere Portal 8.0.

NOTE: To perform the tasks described in this document, you need basic WebSphere Portal and IBM WebSphere Application Server knowledge and administration skills.

The WAB is a feature built on top of WebSphere Portal and WebSphere Application Server that facilitates low-cost, “at the glass” integration of Web-based content providers, such as the Microsoft® SharePoint 2007 server, with WebSphere Portal using HTML iFrames and reverse proxy technology.

Understanding the WAB

Let's start with a discussion of the WAB components.

WAB components

The WAB consists of four major components (see figure 1):

• Web Application Manager portlet. This component is used to provision, update, export, and delete the site XML descriptor file.
• Web Dock portlet. Shows the content that is fetched from backend sites on a portal page.
• Engine component. Contains the system logic necessary to handle and orchestrate the other components of the WAB.
• Reverse proxy component. Handles HTTP-based communication with the backend sites.

Figure 1. WAB components


Figure 2 illustrates a simplified conceptual control of the WAB, in which the four circled steps are explained below.

Figure 2. Simplified conceptual flow


(1) The Web browser sends an HTTP request to the virtual Web application installed on the WebSphere Portal Server.

(2) The virtual Web application repeats the request to the Content Provider on behalf of the Web browser. Selected HTTP headers, cookies, POST data, etc. may be forwarded from (1).

(3) The content provider generates a response to (2) and sends it back to the virtual Web application.

(4) The virtual Web application repeats the response generated by the Content Provider in (3) to the Web browser. Selected HTTP headers, cookies, etc. may be forwarded from (3).

Accessing virtual Web applications

Once the virtual Web application is created, Web content from the content provider is available via the Portal server, using the hostname and port of the WebSphere Portal server or cluster and the original path and query, examples of which are shown in table 1.

Table 1. Original and Virtual Web application URLs

Original URL	Virtual Web application URL

We can place the user interface of the virtual Web application on a Portal page by using a new portlet called the Web Dock portlet.

Installing the WAB

Attention: in Portal 8 WAB is already installed.....

The following items are new with the latest version of the WAB (currently, version 3.0):

• Single sign-on is supported using the Form-based authentication.
• Simple and Protected GSS-API Negotiation (SPNEGO) authentication is supported using Kerberos.
• The WAB configuration data and portlet data migration are aligned; no separate scripts required.
• There is now a wizard user interface to configure the virtual Web application. The deployment descriptor files are no longer used.
• The virtual Web applications are now classified with user-defined categories.
• Sessions are now aligned between Portal and the backend application.
• Localization, translation, and locale-specific rendering of the Web Dock portlet title is supported.
• Server-side and client-side Inter Portlet Communication (IPC) is now supported.
• Improved dynamic Web Dock iframe resizing.
• Integrated absolute URL filtering is now supported. You no longer need to apply a separate filter.
• Multiple Web Dock portlets on a page is now supported through the Resource Environment Provider settings.

Installing the WAB from the Solutions Catalog

You can install the latest version of the WAB from the Solutions Catalog.

Installing the WebSphere Portal Solution Installer
First, we must perform the following pre-install steps:

1. Download the latest version of the Solution Installer from IBM WebSphere Portal Solution Installer.
2. Before installing the Solution Installer, review the WebSphere Portal Solution Installer User Guide; the documentation is provided in the Attachment section of the product documentation topic, “IBM WebSphere Portal Solution Installer: V7.”
3. After following the Solution Installer documentation and setup, restart the WebSphere Portal server.
4. Download the latest version of the WAB. Refer to “IBM Web Application Bridge for WebSphere Portal,” for more details.

NOTE: Review the WebSphere Portal Solution Installer User Guide before installing the WAB. The documentation is provided in the \temp\SolutionInstaller\documentation\IBM directory.

Installing the WAB from the Solutions Installer: Stand-alone environment

After installing the Solutions Installer, you can install the WAB for your stand-alone environment by following these steps:

1. Disable the Trust Association Interceptor (TAI):

a) Log on to the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
b) Select Security --- Global security --- Authentication --- Authentication mechanisms and expiration --- Web and SIP security --- Trust association.
c) Deselect the Enable trust association check box.
d) Click OK and then click Save.
e) Restart the WebSphere Portal server.

2. Copy the vwat.paa file to any directory, for example, \temp.
3. Open a command prompt and change to the wp_profile_rootConfigEngine directory.
4. Run the following task to install the PAA file:

• Microsoft Windows®: ConfigEngine.bat install-paa –DPAALocation=C:\temp\vwat.paa
• IBM i®: ConfigEngine.sh install-paa –DPAALocation=/QIBM/temp/vwat.paa
• AIX® /Linux®/Solaris: ./ConfigEngine.sh install-paa –DPAALocation=/root/temp/vwat.paa

5. Run the following task to deploy the PAA file:

• Windows: ConfigEngine.bat deploy-paa -DappName=vwat -DforceDeploy=true
• IBM i: ConfigEngine.sh deploy-paa -DappName=vwat -DforceDeploy=true
• AIX/Linux/Solaris: ./ConfigEngine.sh deploy-paa -DappName=vwat -DforceDeploy=true

6. Restart the WebSphere Portal server.

Complete the following steps to enable the Trust Association Interceptor (TAI):

1. Log on to the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
2. Select Security --- Global security --- Authentication --- Authentication mechanisms and expiration --- Web and SIP security --- Trust association.
3. Select the Enable trust association check box.
4. Click OK and then click Save.
5. Restart the WebSphere Portal server.

Complete the following steps to update the Web server plug-in to support a URL "/":

NOTE: These steps are required only if your environment is configured to use a Web server:

1. Log on to the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
2. Ensure that the wp.vwat.servlet.ear ear file is mapped to the Web server.
3. Regenerate the plug-in and propagate it to the Web server.

Installing the WAB from the Solutions Installer: Clustered environment

After installing the Solutions Installer, you can install the WAB for your cluster environment by following these steps:

1. Disable the Trust Association Interceptor (TAI):

a) Log on to the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
b) Select Security --- Global security --- Authentication --- Authentication mechanisms and expiration --- Web and SIP security --- Trust association.
c) Deselect the Enable trust association check box.
d) Click OK and then click Save.
e) Restart all nodes of the cluster, including the Web server.

2. On every node in the cluster, copy the vwat.paa file to any directory; for example: \temp.

NOTE: The Solution Installer does not replicate shared libraries in a clustered environment. When installing PAA files that contains shared libraries, including the vwat.paa file, you must complete the installation on every node of the cluster.

3. On every node in the cluster, open a command prompt and change to the wp_profile_rootConfigEngine directory.

4. On every node in the cluster, run the following task to install the PAA file:

• Windows: ConfigEngine.bat install-paa –DPAALocation=C:\temp\vwat.paa
• IBM i: ConfigEngine.sh install-paa –DPAALocation=/QIBM/temp/vwat.paa
• AIX/Linux/Solaris: ./ConfigEngine.sh install-paa –DPAALocation=/root/temp/vwat.paa

5. On every node in the cluster, run the following task to deploy the PAA file:

• Windows: ConfigEngine.bat deploy-paa -DappName=vwat -DforceDeploy=true
• IBM i: ConfigEngine.sh deploy-paa -DappName=vwat -DforceDeploy=true
• AIX/Linux/Solaris: ./ConfigEngine.sh deploy-paa -DappName=vwat -DforceDeploy=true

6. On the primary node, run the following task to activate all the portlets, using the deployment manager to synchronize all the nodes:

• Windows: ConfigEngine.bat activate-portlets
• IBM i: ConfigEngine.sh activate-portlets
• AIX/Linux/Solaris: ./ConfigEngine.sh activate-portlets

7. Use these steps to enable the Trust Association Interceptor (TAI):

a) Log on to the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
b) Select Security --- Global security --- Authentication --- Authentication mechanisms and expiration --- Web and SIP security --- Trust association.
c) Select the Enable trust association check box.
d) Click OK and then click Save.
e) Restart all nodes of the cluster, including the Web server.

8. Use these steps to validate the Virtual Web Application servlet:

a) Log on to the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
b) Select Applications --- Application Types --- WebSphere enterprise applications.
c) Locate the wp.vwat.servlet.ear application, select the resource name to open the application, and click Manage Modules.
d) Validate that the Virtual Web Application servlet has both the Web server and the cluster name mapped to it; save the configuration if required.
e) Select System Administration --- Nodes --- Full Resynchronize, to synchronize the cluster nodes.

9. Use these steps to update the Web server plug-in to support a URL "/":

NOTE: This step is only required if your environment is configured to use a Web server.

a) Log on to the deployment manager WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
b) Ensure that the wp.vwat.servlet.ear ear file is mapped to the Web server.
c) Regenerate the plug-in and propagate it to the Web server.

Restart all nodes of the cluster, including the Web server.

Integrating the WAB with WebSphere Portal

This is a multi-step process, as follows:

Create a new application from the Virtual web application manager portlet

To do this:

1. Log on to WebSphere Portal, using the fully qualified host name.
2. Select Administration --- Portlet Management --- Virtual Web Application Manager (see figure 3).

Figure 3. Virtual Web Application Manager



3. Optional: Select New --- Application category, to create a new category for your application components. Click New --- Application component, to create a new application.
4. Enter the following information on the required Basic tab (see figure 4):

a) Select HTTP or HTTPS, to define the URI scheme.
b) Select the appropriate Host from the list of available Web servers. The host name should be the fully qualified host name of your backend server.
c) Enter a display name for your application.
d) Enter a description for your application.
e) Select the appropriate category for your application.
f) Add users and groups to define access control permissions for the available roles.

Figure 4. Basic tab



On the Connection, Authentication, and Localization tabs, you can accept the defaults or update the information according to your business requirements:

1. Click the Connection tab, to define how the browser communicates with the Web application:

a) Select the allowed HTTP methods.
b) Choose to forward the existing user agent or select a custom user agent.
c) Click the Persist Connection button to change between allowing the connection to persist or not allowing it.
d) Enter a value for the read timeout.
e) Enter a value for the connection timeout.
f) Enter a value to define the number of allowed cookies.

2. Click the Authentication tab, to define how users authenticate with the Web application:

a) Select the appropriate authentication type and then fill in any additional parameters for that type:

• None: Choose this option if no authentication is required to access the backend server.
• HTTP: Choose this option if access to the backend server requires basic authentication
• Form: Choose this option if access to the backend server requires a form, such as Gmail.

NOTE:

• If you select Form, the user must enter the correct credentials in the Personalize mode. The user remains logged in for the session timeout duration. By design, when the session times out, the WAB re-authenticates with the backend server.

• Therefore, until the user logs out or the session times out, if a user provides incorrect credentials in the Personalized mode, there is no error message about the wrong credentials.

• • Also, if you are using an Internet application that has additional complex security features regarding client identity (for example, Yahoo), then the WAB may not be able to access the application.
  
  
  • IWA: Choose this option if you are using SPNEGO as the Web authenticator. This allows the user to get logged in with a token transfer from the Active Directory server.

b) Add required parameters for headers, cookies, and filters that are used for authentication.

3. Click the Localization tab, to add any additional languages supported for the Web application, and Click Save to save your application.

Add a Web Dock portlet

After creating the application, you must add a Web Dock portlet onto a page so that users can access the Web application:

1. If necessary, log on to WebSphere Portal as the administrator, using the fully qualified host name.
2. Navigate to Administration --- Manage Pages, and click Content Root.
3. Click New Page and create a page for your Web application.
4. After selecting or creating a page, click the Edit Page Properties icon and select Advanced options.
5. Click “I want to set parameters,” enter the following information, and then click Add:

• New parameter: resourceaggregation.profile
• New value: Enter the profile override for the page, for example profiles/profile_full.json

6. Click OK to save the new parameter.
7. Click OK to save the changes to the page properties.
8. Click Edit mode, and click the Content tab (see figure 5).
9. Locate the Web Dock portlet and then click the Add to page icon. Click Save.

Figure 5. Content tab



NOTE: An Administrator must grant the privileged user role to those users who access the Page that contains the Web Dock portlet.

Configure the Web Dock portlet

Finally, we configure the Web Dock portlet to define from which backend site the content must be shown.:

1. Go to the page that contains the Web Dock portlet you want to edit.
2. Click the Display menu arrow, and select Edit Shared Settings (see figure 6).

Figure 6. Edit Shared Settings


3. Edit the necessary fields to configure the virtual Web application container, as shown in figure 7, and click Save.

Figure 7. Configure Virtual Web Application Container window

Conclusion

You should now know how to integrate the Web Application Bridge with WebSphere Portal 8.0 and have a good understanding of WAB and its components and architecture. If you encounter an issue with the WAB, contact the IBM Support team with all the steps you have followed to assist them with resolving the issue.

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Resources

developerWorks WebSphere Portal zone:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/portal/

WebSphere Portal discussion forum:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=168

About the author

Bhava Mada is a Senior Software Engineer on the WebSphere Portal and Web Content Manager Support team at IBM's Technical Support Center in Dublin, Ireland. He is a WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Portal, and JAVA Certified Developer and Administrator, and worked extensively on J2EE Projects in the banking domain before joining IBM in 2007. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Applications and has 14 years IT experience. You can reach him at bhava.mada@ie.ibm.com.