The Instance Configuration settings define the basic configuration information for the virtual instance, from the appearance to the Terms of Use for your Users to agree to. Access the Instance Configuration settings from the Control Panel’s Configuration → Instance Settings section, and select the Instance Configuration category under the PLATFORM section. The Instance Configuration contains four entries:
- Appearance
- Contact Information
- General
- Terms of Use
Each configuration entry is described in the corresponding section below.
Appearance
The Appearance configuration entry defines the default logo and overall look and feel for the virtual instance. It’s organized into LOGO and LOOK AND FEEL sections:
LOGO: Change the default logo and check/uncheck the Allow site administrators to use their own logo? checkbox, enabled by default, to specify whether site administrators can upload a logo when they configure a site. When configuring a new logo, be careful to choose an image file that fits the space. Large images might overlap with the navigation.
LOOK AND FEEL: Set the default theme(s) for the instance and Control Panel.
Contact Information
The Contact Information configuration entry specifies how to contact the organization that owns the virtual instance. It’s divided into several sections:
ADDRESSES: Specify the primary, mailing, shipping, P.O. Box, etc. address of the organization.
PHONE NUMBERS: Provide the fax, local, etc. phone numbers for the organization.
ADDITIONAL EMAIL ADDRESSES: Specify any additional email addresses associated with the organization.
WEBSITES: Specify the public and/or intranet websites for the organization.
Developers can query for this contact information in their applications. Note that you can add and remove additional entries in a section with the plus and minus buttons respectively.
General
The General entry specifies the virtual instance’s configuration information, landing pages, and the associated organization’s basic legal information. It has two sections:
Main Configuration: Configure this information for the virtual instance:
- Set the name of the entity responsible for running the virtual instance.
- Set the mail domain.
- Set the virtual host.
- Set the URLs to a CDN configured to serve static resources.
Navigation: Set a home page for your virtual instance as well as default
landing and logout pages. To set these pages, use the page’s relative URL that
follows the domain. For example, to set the default landing page to
http://localhost:8080/web/guest/login
, use /web/guest/login
. You can use the
variable ${liferay:screenName}
as part of the address to redirect Users to
their personal pages upon login. For example, the User marvin
has this default
URL to his personal page:
http://localhost:8080/user/marvin
To make sure he’s directed there on login, place /user/${liferay:screenName}
in the Default Landing Page field. These URLs can also be set at the system
scope, in a portal-ext.properties
file:
default.landing.page.path=
default.logout.page.path=
company.default.home.url=
All virtual instances share the values specified in the properties file. Changes made in Instance Settings override the values set in the properties file. For more information, see the Portal Properties documentation.
Additional Information: Specify a Legal name, ID, company type, SIC code, ticker symbol, industry and industry type for the owner of the virtual instance.
Terms of Use
The Terms of Use entry contains everything you need to provide a custom Terms of Use agreement for your Users. Terms of Use are important when you need them, but not all Sites do. They’re not listed first, but they’re one of the first things to configure for your virtual instance, whether you require them or not.
Since the Terms of Use page is enabled by default, one of your first actions should be to disable or replace the default, placeholder terms. You can disable the requirement for all Users to read the Terms of Use or set the Group ID and Article ID for the Web Content Article that contains your Terms of Use. “How do I find a web content article’s Group ID and Article ID,” you ask? No problem. The Group ID is the ID of the Site the Web Content is associated with. To find the Group/Site ID, follow these steps:
-
Go to Site Menu → Configuration → Settings.
-
Find the Site ID field in the General tab. Enter it into the Group ID field.
Figure 1: The Site ID in Site Settings is the Group ID in the terms of Use configuration.
To find the Web Content Article’s ID, follow these steps:
-
Go to the Site Menu → Content & Data → Web Content.
-
Click on your Terms of Use article. Its ID appears at the top of the screen, with the Version and Workflow Status.
Figure 2: The Web Content Article ID is displayed in the edit screen.
Save the configuration. All your users signing in for the first time see your Terms of Use article. Users must agree to the Terms of Use to register their User Accounts.
Figure 3: Turn a Web Content Article into the Site's Terms of Use page.