Modifying settings.xml

Owned by Matthew Wagner
Last updated: Mar 11, 2021 by Patrick Hendriks
4 min read

This topic explains how XperienCentral’s settings.xml file should be modified to fit the XperienCentral installation. The settings.xml file is located in the root of the XperienCentral installation (/vol/www/webmanager-mywebsite) and can be modified with a text editor.


In This Topic


General Settings



PropertyactiveProfile
Default value
externaldb-mssql
New valueexternaldb-mysql
ExplanationProfiles can be defined in the settings.xml. The activeProfile property allows you to indicate which profiles are loaded when the settings.xml is read. Part of the data is not stored in the JCR but directly in a relational database. This property is used to indicate which database type should be used.
Possible values

externaldb-mssql
externaldb-mysql
externaldb-oracle



PropertyactiveProfile
Default value
jcr-standalone-derby
New valuejcr-standalone-mysql
ExplanationVarious storage mechanisms can be selected to store data in the JCR. By default, data is stored in the Apache Derby database.
Possible values

jcr-standalone-derby
jcr-standalone-mssql
jcr-standalone-mysql
jcr-standalone-oracle
jcr-clustered-mysql
jcr-clustered-mssql
jcr-clustered-oracle



Propertywebmanager.project.basedir
Default value
<xperiencentral-root>/yoursite
New value/vol/www/xperiencentral-mywebsite
Explanation

This is the directory that contains the XperienCentral release. This directory is actually a temporary directory: After a successful build of XperienCentral, this directory is deleted.



Propertywebmanager.project.name
Default value
Your site
New valueThis is the name of MyWebsite



Propertywebmanager.project.description
Default value
Your site
New valueThis is the description of MyWebsite



Propertywebmanager.project.url
Default value
http://www.yoursite.nl
New valuehttp://www.mywebsite.com



Propertywebmanager.portnr
Default value
8080
New value80
ExplanationThis is the port number that allows access to the website in a browser. In a production environment, the Tomcat environment will only be available via the AJP protocol (in this sample installation on port 8009). The Apache web server catches the HTTP requests on port 80 and, if necessary, forwards them to XperienCentral which runs in Tomcat. The communication between the Apache web server and Tomcat runs via the AJP protocol (on port 8009).



Propertywebmanager.frontendservername
Default value
127.0.0.1
New valuewww.mywebsite.com
ExplanationThe name of the server that allows access to the external XperienCentral environment. This is the URL the website visitor will access.



Propertywebmanager.backendservername
Default value
localhost
New valueedit.mywebsite.com
ExplanationThe name of the server that allows access to the backend XperienCentral environment. All users use this address to log in to XperienCentral.



Propertywebmanager.admin.username
Default value
localhost
New valueedit.mywebsite.com
ExplanationIn XperienCentral, it is possible to access logs that analyze what happens on the website. The access to this log is limited to the user defined in this property. This user should also be defined in the admin-users.xml file. The address for accessing the log  is http://www.mywebsite.com/web/admin/log. See also Log and Administrative Pages.



Propertywebmanager.admin.password
Default value
CHANGEMECHANGEME
New valueEnter a new password.
ExplanationThe password for the user wmadmin_user



Propertywebmanager.workbasedir
Default value
${webmanager.project.basedir}/work
New value/vol/www/mywebsite/work
Explanation

Temporary files and directories created while XperienCentral is running are located here. When XperienCentral is restarted, a number of these directories need to be deleted. These directories are listed in the rc scripts of Tomcat’s start/stop.



Propertywebmanager.staticbasedir
Default value

${webmanager.project.basedir}/webmanager-webapps/webmanager-static-webapp/target/webmanager-static-webapp-${project.version}

New value/vol/www/mywebsite/web-docs
Explanation

The location for all the static content (images and style sheets that determine the website’s design).



Propertywebmanager.backendbasedir
Default value

${webmanager.project.basedir}/webmanager-webapps/webmanager-backend-webapp/target/webmanager-backend-webapp-${project.version}

New valueno-backenddir
Explanation

Contains a reference to the location of the XperienCentral application. Because the setup of the environment is based on .WAR files, this parameter can be disabled. This is done by entering the no-backenddir value



Propertywebmanager.bundledir
Default value

None

New value

For Tomcat: leave it empty. For JBoss: set to: ${webmanager.osgidirectory}/platformbundles

Explanation

Set the bundledir to ${webmanager.osgidirectory}/platformbundles for deployment on application servers that unpack the application archive to a temporary directory on each startup. JBoss, for example.



Propertywebmanager.configfilename
Default value

${webmanager.backendbasedir}/WEB-INF/siteworks/configuration.xml

New value

/vol/www/mywebsite/configuration/configuration.xml

Explanation

The reference to XperienCentral’s configuration file. Which license components are available for which host names is determined in this file.



Propertywebmanager.cleansitelocation
Default value

${webmanager.project.basedir}/webmanager-cleansite/target/webmanager-cleansite-${project.version}.jar

New value

/vol/www/mywebsite/system/webmanager-cleansite-${project.version}.jar

Explanation

The reference to XperienCentral’s clean site. The clean site is a file that contains the default XperienCentral design. After the clean site is read, XperienCentral is ready. The clean site includes a channel, a home page, a workflow, users, etc.



Propertywebmanager.streamingfiledir
Default value

${webmanager.backendbasedir}/WEB-INF/streaming

New value

/vol/www/mywebsite/streaming

Explanation

The streaming directory contains files uploaded in XperienCentral and that require authorization. These files cannot simply be placed in a public web directory.



Propertywebmanager.smtphost
Default value

smtp.gx.nl

New value

smtp.mywebsite.com

Explanation

This property contains the SMTP server used to send all outgoing e-mails. Example of e-mails sent by XperienCentral:

  • Responses to forms completed on the website
  • Newsletters
  • Alerts to editors
  • Notifications of changed content



Propertywebmanager.springproperties.filename
Default value

classpath:webmanager.properties

Explanation

This property points to the files used by the Spring framework (see the file <webmanager-root>\webmanager\webapps\backed\WEB-INF\springmvc-servlet.xml). The properties file can be referenced in three ways:

  • By referring to the file in the classpath:

    <webmanager.springproperties.filename>classpath:webmanager.properties</webmanager.springproperties.filename>
  • By setting a Java system property with the name webmanager.configuration.properties that points to the location of the file webmanager.properties if it is located outside of the XperienCentral deployment:

    <webmanager.springproperties.filename>file:${webmanager.configuration.properties}</webmanager.springproperties.filename>
  • By explicitly pointing to the location of the file on the file system if the properties file is located outside of the XperienCentral deployment, for example:

    <webmanager.springproperties.filename>file:/vol/www/mywebsite/condiguration/spring/webmanager.properties</webmanager.springproperties.filename>



Propertywebmanager.editiondir
Default value

${webmanager.backendbasedir}/work/edition-bundles

Explanation

This property points to the directory containing the XperienCentral plugins.


Back to top


Clustering Settings



Propertywebmanager.clustering.filestore
Default value

false

Explanation

In a clustered environment, XperienCentral uses a file store mechanism to copy files such as the contents of the upload and upload_mm directories to each node in a clustered installation and also to clean up files that have been deleted. To enable the XperienCentral File Distribution Service, change the value of this property to true.


GX Software strongly recommends that you use the File Distribution Service in dual read/write node clustered environment. If you do not use the File Distribution Service in a clustered environment, you must use another mechanism such as Robocopy or Rsync to synchronize files between the nodes in the cluster.



Propertywebmanager.clustering.id
Default value

None

Explanation

In a clustered environment, each node must have a unique identifier. The best practice is to use the name of the server as the cluster ID so you can easily match the two together.



Propertywebmanager.clustering.readonly
Default value

false

Explanation

In a clustered environment, you must define each node as either a read/write or read-only node. False means the node is read/write and True means the node is read-only.



Back to top


Database Settings

During the configuration of the general activeProfile property, which profiles should be used for the database are indicated. This topic uses MySQL as a database, so only the MySQL-specific profiles (externaldb-mysql and jcr-standalone-mysql) are modified.


Propertywebmanager.externaldb.dbhost
Default value

localhost

New value127.0.0.1
Explanation

The host for the database.



Propertywebmanager.externaldb.dbport
Default value

3306

New value3306
Explanation

The port number for the database.



Propertywebmanager.externaldb.dbname
Default value

webmanager9

New valuewm9mywebsite
Explanation

The name of the database used for storing all external data.



Propertywebmanager.externaldb.dbuser
Default value

root

New valueroot
Explanation

The name of the user who has database rights.



Propertywebmanager.externaldb.dbpassword
Default value

admin

New valuemyDBpassword
Explanation

The database user's password.


 JCR Database Settings


Propertywebmanager.jcr.dbhost
Default value

localhost

New value127.0.0.1
Explanation

The host name of the database.



Propertywebmanager.jcr.dbport
Default value

3306

New value3306
Explanation

The port number of the database.



Propertywebmanager.jcr.dbname
Default value

webmanager9

New valuewm9mywebsite
Explanation

The name of the database where the JCR data is stored.



Propertywebmanager.jcr.dbuser
Default value

root

New valueroot
Explanation

The user who accesses the database.



Propertywebmanager.jcr.dbpassword
Default value

admin

New valuemyDBpassword
Explanation

The database user's password.


Back to top