Setting Up an Alfresco Repository

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This article explains the basic steps to set up Alfresco and to add an Alfresco repository in the Documents and Media portlet.

Resolution

1. Start an existing Alfresco VM. (The following steps are using Alfresco 4.0 Community version). In the VM, if Alfresco is not started, go to Alfresco Community > Alfresco Community Service > Start Alfresco Community service to start it.
2. In this case, the default user and its password for Alfresco 4.0 are 'admin' and 'password'. To make sure the 'Test Test' user can access Alfresco 4.0, we need to create a new credential. To do it, follow the steps below:
   • On the Alfresco VM, open any browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080/share.
   • Login Alfresco 4.0 using the User Name of 'admin' and Password of 'password'.
   • Go to More... > Users and click New User to create a new user with the following details:
     • First Name: test
     • Last Name: test
     • Email: [e-mail]
     • User Name: test
     • Password: test
     • Verify Password: test
     • Groups: ALFRESCO_ADMINISTRATORS (search for the 'ALFRESCO_ADMINISTRATORS' group and then click on 'Add' next to the search result to add it as the group for the newly created user)
   • Click 'Create User' to create the 'test' user.
3. To make sure a Alfresco repository can be added in Liferay, make sure the following properties are added to the portal-ext.properties file:
   • company.security.auth.type=screenName
   • session.store.password=true
4. After making the configurations above start the Liferay bundle and sign in the portal using the Screen Name of 'test' and Password of 'test'.
5. Add a Documents and Media portlet to any page and click Add > Repository to add a new Alfresco repository in the displayed page as follows (see additional notes in Additional Information for more helpful information when adding the Alfresco repository):
   • Add the new Alfresco repository as 'CMIS Repository (AtomPub)'.
     • Name: Alfresco AtomPub Repository
     • Description: Alfresco Description
     • Repository Type: CMIS Repository (AtomPub)
     • AtomPub URL: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/service/api/cmis(This is the URL if you are using Alfresco 3.4.x); http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmisatom (This is the URL if you are using Alfresco 4.0.x)
   • Add the new Alfresco repository as 'CMIS Repository (Web Services)'.
     • Name: Alfresco Web Services Repository
     • Description: Alfresco Description
     • Repository Type: CMIS Repository (Web Services)
     • Web Services ACL Service: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmis/ACLService?wsdl
     • Web Services Discovery Service: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmis/DiscoveryService?wsdl
     • Web Services Multifiling Service: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmis/MultiFilingService?wsdl
     • Web Services Navigation Service: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmis/NavigationService?wsdl
     • Web Services Object Service: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmis/ObjectService?wsdl
     • Web Services Policy Service: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmis/PolicyService?wsdl
     • Web Services Relationship Service: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmis/RelationshipService?wsdl
     • Web Services Repository Service: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmis/RepositoryService?wsdl
     • Web Services Versioning Service: http://[IP Address of the Alfresco Server]:8080/alfresco/cmis/VersioningService?wsdl
6. Click Save to save the settings.
7. You can then see the newly added Alfresco repository under Browse by Type in the left navigation panel of the Documents and Media portlet.

Additional Information

The version of Alfresco being used above is 4.0 Community. 

To log out of the Alfresco server, click 'Logout (username)' at the top right corner directly if you are accessing http://localhost:8080/alfresco or click on the username at the top right corner and click 'Logout' if you are accessing http://localhost:8080/share/.

To view the repositories in the Alfresco server (http://localhost:8080/share/), click on the 'Repository' tab at the top of the page.

If the Liferay user and the corresponding Alfresco user's credentials do not match, you will not be able to connect to the repository, thus the Alfresco repository cannot be added in the Documents and Media portlet. In the above instructions, we added 'test test' as an administrator in the Alfresco server. If you do not wish to do so, you can also add 'admin' into the related Liferay bundle as a portal administrator, namely having the 'Administrator' role for the portal, and then use the 'admin' user to add the Alfresco repositories in Liferay.

When testing multiple repositories, it's easier if you have added the user 'test test' as an administrator in the Alfresco server and use 'test test' to add the Alfresco repositories in Liferay. That way, all you have to do is to sign in the portal as 'test test' and then you can test all of the repositories at once.