Content Mirroring in EPiServer

Transcription

1 Content Mirroring in EPiServer Abstract From EPiServer 4.50 it is possible to define a selection of pages that can be mirrored to, for example, another system. This white paper describes the functionality of content mirroring in EPiServer. Product version: 4.50 Document version: 1.0

2 2 Content Mirroring in EPiServer Table of Contents OVERVIEW 3 Document Scope 3 KEY FEATURES 3 CONTENT MIRRORING IN EPISERVER 3 Releasing Part of the Content to Other EPiServer Sites 4 Saving Content as XML / HTML 4 Release to Multiple Front Servers - Staging 4 CONTENT MIRRORING WORKFLOW 4 Update Content from Organization Intranet to External Web Site 4 Create HTML Copy of Organization Web Site 5 The contents of this document are protected by copyright. Changes to the content or partial copying of the content may not be carried out without permission from ElektroPost Stockholm AB. The document may be freely distributed in its entirety, either digitally or in printed format, to all EPiServer users. EPiServer is a registered trademark of ElektroPost Stockholm AB. Other product and company names mentioned in this document may be the trademarks for their respective owners.

3 Overview 3 Overview From EPiServer 4.50 it is possible to define a selection of pages that can be mirrored, for example, to another system. EPiServer's content mirroring makes it possible, among other things, to define that pages with certain properties should be published in another EPiServer system. It is also possible to set up a staging and development environment that can be mirrored to a production environment for content publication. EPiServer's content mirroring can also keep track of pages that have been moved and deleted from a selection in order to keep exact page structures updated. Content mirroring is based on the existence of a "master" and one or more mirrors. Changes that are to be mirrored to another system can either be approved manually by an editor or automatically. The content can also be mirrored to XML and HTML format for integration with other systems or for archiving purposes. Document Scope This document is not a technical document and should be read by those requiring high-level information about EPiServer's content mirroring solution. A general description of the technologies used in content mirroring is also included in this white paper. Key Features Some of the main features of content mirroring are: Possibility to maintain content in one place and push the content to other sites. Provide EPiServer content to other structured formats, e.g. static HTML and XML. Web sites can be validated in a test environment before release, therefore improving quality. Content Mirroring in EPiServer The main feature of EPiServer's content mirroring solution is the possibility to maintain content in one place and push the content to other sites, for example releasing content to one sub-site, multiple sites in different locations, multiple static sites, or multiple front servers. The diagram below outlines the possibilities. Note Content mirroring is not recommended for simple EPiServer sites. The recommended scenario is a complex environment where publishing to other systems with other databases is required. The diagram below outlines the possible scenarios when content mirroring may be used.

4 4 Content Mirroring in EPiServer Releasing Part of the Content to Other EPiServer Sites EPiServer's content mirroring solution makes it possible for part of the content in one EPiServer site to be pushed (copied) to another EPiServer site. This is done by defining a page selection to be copied and a destination site. A channel is then created, pointing out the destination site together with the properties for the release. This could be used to either release content to a sub-site or to multiple sites in different locations. The channel uses the EPiServer internal format as Data format. Saving Content as XML / HTML It is possible to display EPiServer content in other structured formats, e.g. XML or static HTML. Static HTML can be used to either show EPiServer content in an environment other Microsoft or to "burn" a copy of the site at regular intervals. Release to Multiple Front Servers - Staging EPiServer's content mirroring solution enables creation of solutions for staging EPiServer sites. Staging solutions provide the possibility to either release a static site or an EPiServer-based site. In either case the content flow is very similar even if the server environments are rather different. Content Mirroring Workflow Update Content from Organization Intranet to External Web Site Updating content from an EPiServer intranet to an external EPiServer Web site is done in a few simple steps. 1. Create a channel in Admin mode, where you define the properties for the content that you want to be mirrored. In this first stage you define the root page of a channel, channel type (tree, list, search), and a possible language if you need to mirror multi-language pages to a single language system.

5 Content Mirroring Workflow 5 2. It is also possible to set a custom filter on the channel. For example, by adding property name SendToInternet with value True for a Boolean property. 3. After you have defined the channel settings, you must define the settings for the mirroring destination. The destination can be either XML, HTML or another EPiServer. 4. When the channel has been defined, mirroring is activated from the Action Window, if you have selected to manually approve mirrored pages. 5. When you open the Approve mirroring updates window from the Action window, you can see which pages will be pushed to the destination site. You can also see when pages were most recently changed and by whom. Create HTML Copy of Organization Web Site Creating a static HTML copy of an organization Web site is not totally unlike the above example. 1. Create a channel in Admin mode, where you define the properties for the content that you want to be mirrored. In this first stage you define the root page of a channel, channel type (tree, list, search), and a possible language if you need to mirror multi-language pages to a single language system. 2. Define the settings for the mirroring destination and select destination type HTML. Name the destination and state a target folder on the server, where the ASPNET account has access rights. Enter a virtual folder or another root folder where the files will be available.

6 6 Content Mirroring in EPiServer 3. Activate mirroring from the Action window. When you open the Approve mirroring updates window from the Action window, you can see which pages will be pushed to the destination site. You can also see when pages were most recently changed and by whom.