The PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Deployment Process
Deploying a PTC Arbortext Content Delivery system requires the following steps:
• Installing PTC Arbortext Content Delivery
• Configuring the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery environment and installed components
• Configuring segments and collections
• Loading content into the system
The following sections provide details about these steps:
Installing PTC Arbortext Content Delivery
For this step, you plan your deployment and install the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery components. You also initialize and load the database.
For more information, refer to the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Deployment Guide.
Configuring the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Environment and Installed Components
Once the installation process has completed successfully, you configure your system. PTC Arbortext Content Delivery provides the Deployment Configurator utility to guide you through the process of creating and updating all of the configuration files required for deploying PTC Arbortext Content Delivery. It streamlines the post-setup configuration of all the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery deployment components. It also enables you to set up the configuration for the first time deployment, as well as changing the configuration at a later time.
The Configurator enables you to define the following things for your system:
• Configure the environment
The Configurator enables you to set or edit the relationship configurations between environment components, such as the following:
◦ Publisher server
◦ Multiple viewer servers
◦ Core servers
◦ Load balancers
◦ Database
◦ Enterprise identity management (LDAP) system
◦ License server
• Set, edit, or reset the Transform, Aggregate, and Load (TAL) configurations, such as the following:
◦ BOM filtration
◦ Shared and non-shared data
◦ Part relationships
◦ IMAN configuration
◦ Organization names
◦ Email notifications
◦ Offline configuration
For more information about the Configurator utility, refer to Using the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Deployment Configurator Utility in the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Deployment Guide.
Configuring Segments and Collections
A segment is a physical separation of content that contains one or more collections. A collection is a logical way to divide and load data into
PTC Arbortext Content Delivery. For more information about these and other
PTC Arbortext Content Delivery terminology, refer to
Terminology.
Before you configure segments and collections, it is recommended that you define your segmentation plan. You define your segmentation plan based on the data to be loaded into your system. This requires that you analyze the data and take into account different considerations. For more information about defining a segmentation plan, refer to Defining Your Segmentation Approach in the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Publishing and Loading Guide.
Once you have a segmentation plan, you must define the various collections and segments based on the Product Context defined in your data bundles. Configuring segments and collections requires the following steps:
1. Add the collection and its context to a segment.
This involves the following actions:
◦ Add your collection to the system using the Task Manager Add Collection task.
◦ Connect the collection to a predefined segment.
You can also add the segment at the same time you add the collection.
◦ Provide the contexts (one or more) to which the new collection will be connected.
◦ Configure each collection with the relevant data types.
When adding a collection, a set of predefined data types is available. You can modify this list if needed before adding the collection. You can also add additional data types to a collection after it is created. For more information, refer to Supported Data Types in the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Publishing and Loading Guide.
2. Deploy the collection to the system.
Once you have added your collections with the related segments and contexts, you next deploy the collections to the Publication Manager and selected sites. Sites can include your viewer server or servers (if available). You can do this from the Add Collection task by selecting the Deploy Collection to Sites check box. You can also use the Deploy Collection task to deploy a collection to the selected sites.
For more information on adding and deploying collections, refer to the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Publishing and Loading Guide.
Loading Content into the System
Once you have completed the system configuration and defined the desired segments, collections, and contexts, you are ready to load your data into the system. PTC Arbortext Content Delivery data is contained in bundles. You can load the following types of data bundles into PTC Arbortext Content Delivery:
• Transform and load data from Windchill Service Information Manager (SIM) and Windchill Service Parts (SP)
Windchill SIM and SP enable you to define and publish data bundles containing service and parts information defined in Windchill. Use the Task Manager Transform and Load task to load bundles containing SIM and SP data into the system. This task transforms and loads all of the bundles contained in the specified bundle input directory. You can load the data for multiple collections at the same time.
For more information, refer to Running PxTAL in the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Publishing and Loading Guide.
• Transform and load comma-separated values (CSV) data.
PTC Arbortext Content Delivery also enables you to load data defined in CSV files. Use the Task Manager Transform and Load CSV Data task to load CSV bundles into the system. A CSV bundle can include data for multiple collections.
For more information, refer to Using the CSV Loading Tool in the PTC Arbortext Content Delivery Publishing and Loading Guide.