Zaizi Alfresco Solution: Implementing Alfresco as a Content Platform

8/2/2019 Zaizi Alfresco Solution: Implementing Alfresco as a Content Platform

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Implementing Alfresco as a Content Platform

Benjamin Chevallereau


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SummaryZaizis Background

Alfresco Platform

Context and problematic

How to solve it in the

development phase

quality phase

development phase

packaging phase

deployment phase

maintenance phase

Conclusion


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Zaizi

Zaizi is a consultancy and systems integratorspecialising in assemblingsmart content solutionsusing Alfresco, Liferay, Ephesoft and Solr.

Our team have experience building and delivering a widerange of enterprise solutions including document andweb content management systems, portals andcorporate extranets on Alfresco.

We are an Alfresco certified Platinium Partner, EphesoftPlatinium Partner and Red Hat Enterprise Linux ReadyPartner.


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The Zaizi Advantage

Specific focus on Open Source Enterprise Content management.

Our engineers have architected, implemented and reviewed most ofthe major Alfresco and Liferay deployments in Europe.

Provided expert assistance to other system integrators.

Most active in the Alfresco community.

Contributed code to Alfresco for inclusion in core product.

Some of our engineers used to work for Alfresco.

Recommended by Alfresco & Liferay for the most challenging

of implementations.


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Zaizi is a Global company


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Alfresco Platform


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Context

Company

Company Company

Dept A Dept B Dept A Dept B Dept C

New york Paris Chicago London Singapore



Questions that need to be asked

How to develop ?

How to package ?

How to test ?

How to maintain ?



Development phase

Use a version control system

It seems trivial, but its a common mistake to modify directly files in the

deployed folder corresponding to Alfresco.

Should be linked to an issue and bug tracker like JIRA.

Alfresco has made Spring the core foundation of its architecture.So, SpringSource Tool Suite seems to the best tool to develop onAlfresco.

JRebel is a JVM-plugin that makes it possible for Java developers

to instantly see any code change made to an app withoutredeploying. It allows to save a lot of time!!

Use a Maven repository to easily create new module, to packageit and to deploy it locally or remotely.

Version ControlSystem

DevelopmentWorkstation



Best Practises

Always use the extension mechanism provided by Alfresco usingextension folders during the development part.

Always package as AMP or JAR and test again after: Its usual to

forget some files during these steps...

Package configuration files related to the same part in a sameAMP module to increase the reusability of these modules.

Always test extension locally, using, for example JUnit.

Dont forget to use namespaces everywhere its possible:

Content model

JAVA classes

...

Use Maven archetypes to create new extension.





Testing and quality phase

We use Maven to package locally and to deploy locally orremotely.

We use Unit and JMeter locally and remotely to:

Test that everything is running;

We use sonar for code quality to:

Check that coding rules are respected;

Launch unit tests;

Check standards metrics.

The use of Selenium can be used as smoke test beforeJUnit tests to check the good healthy of the server.





Best Practises



All developers should define a JUnit test for each module.

These tests should be executed on each developmentworkstation and on a testing server.

One or several JMeter scenarios should be defined forperformance tests.


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STS Projects


Packaging phase

Create an Eclipse project per module.

Package a coherent set ofcustomisation in a same package,called an AMP : Alfresco ModulePackage.

Aggregate all AMPs in a same RPM

to deliver in a specific project.


AMP

Genera

te



Best Practises

STS Projects


AMP

Genera

te

Its important to understand the

extension mechanism provided byAlfresco.

AMP modules or JAR files can be

used to package customisationdepending of the customisationnature.

Maven can be used to create RPMincluding several modules. Thesecombination can be unique for a

company or a department.

Of course, these package must betested entirely to avoid conflictsbetween modules.



Deployment phase

Dept A Dept B Dept C

Singapore

Dept A Dept B

London

Chicago

New York

Paris

A RPM module contains several AMPmodules developed and testedindividually. These module contains, ofcourse, Alfresco and Share too.

After packaging and deploying RPM inMaven, we use puppet :

To install all pre-requisites,

To configure Tomcat, Apache andall third-party tools.

To deploy easily using a modulemanagement tool like YUM.

Using this process, we increase thereusability of our modules through thecompany and their departments.



Best Practises


Singapore

Dept A Dept B

London

Chicago

New York

Paris

Use Maven as a module repository.

Provide 2 RPMs per Alfrescoinstance : Alfresco and Share.

Use a standard module managementtool to deploy RPMs like YUM.

Use puppet to manage the globalprocess of deployment:

Configuration,

Deployment,

...



Maintenance and monitoring phase


Singapore

Dept A Dept B

London

Chicago

New York

Paris

JMX

The JMX interface allows SystemAdministrators to access Alfresco Enterprisevia a standard JMX console.

Alfresco provides a lot of beans to executetasks like:

Start a new synchronisation,

Empty cache,

...

AppDynamics and JMeter can be used tomanage performance of Alfresco or servers.
http://java.sun.com/javase/technologies/core/mntr-mgmt/javamanagement/http://java.sun.com/javase/technologies/core/mntr-mgmt/javamanagement/



Best Practises


Singapore

Dept A Dept B

London

Chicago

New York

Paris

JMX

In production, JMX should be used withcaution. Modifications are not persisted after aserver restart.

In production, JMX is very useful toenable/disable logs to identify a problem, or tostart some automatic jobs.

In development and test phase, JMX can beused to define the right configuration of aserver dynamically.

AppDynamics and JMeter should be used tomonitor servers but to identify someperformance problems too.


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Big picture


Development Workstation

STS Projects

AMP Generate

DeptA

DeptB

DeptA

DeptB

DeptC

Singapore

London

Chicago

New York

Paris

JMX


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Contact us

Benjamin Chevallereau, Solutions ArchitectZaiziLimited222 Westbourne Studios242 AcklamRoadLondon W10 5JJ

Phone: +44 20 3582 8330Mobile: +44 77 80472123Email: [email protected]:

bchevallereauzwww.zaizi.com

Thank You
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

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Zaizi Alfresco Solution: Implementing Alfresco as a Content Platform