Create a new portal

When creating a new portal, a wizard will lead you through numerous dialogs. In each dialog, you will be asked to define settings and make decisions. These primarily concern the following points:

• Portal name

• Portal template selection

• Database selection

• Front-end web server selection

• Details of the search server

Once you have gone through all the dialogs, you will reach the "Summary" dialog. You can change the information you have entered there if necessary.

Start the portal creation process

A portal can only be created directly on the Intrexx server. There are several options available to you.

	You can create a portal via the Intrexx Portal Builder You can find this in the Intrexx program group (Windows).
	You can create a portal directly after installing Intrexx. To do this, activate the checkbox "Create portal".
	In the Portal Manager, you can create a portal in the "Start" module via the "File" menu item > "New portal...". Or press Ctrl+N. Note that this function is only available in the Integrated Portal Manager.
	You can also create a portal from the command line. The buildportal.bat file is available for this purpose. This can be found at the following location: <intrexx-installation-directory>\bin\windows

General settings

Once you have started the portal creation process, you will be in the "General settings" dialog.

Portal name

Provide the portal with a unique name here.
When you create a portal, Intrexx uses the name entered here for the portal directory on the portal server. Portal-specific files are stored in the portal directory.
The portal name does not correspond to the URL used to access the portal in the browser. You define the URL in the front-end web server. (For more information, see Add website in IIS.)

Portal directory

All of the portal's files can be found in the portal directory on the Intrexx portal server. When you enter a portal name, the name for the subdirectory is automatically formed from the portal name.

Portal log directory

The directory where the portal log files are stored is stated here. The same applies here: When you enter a portal name, the name for the subdirectory is automatically formed from the portal name.

Portal template

Click on "Next" to go to the "Portal template" dialog.
You can choose between "Predefined", "Online" and "Local".

Standard

Online

Local

Portal template - Default

Select the default template here, this will create an empty portal without example data.

Portal template - Online

Here you can select portal templates that are made available online by Intrexx. If you select one of the online templates, it will be downloaded from Intrexx GmbH and used to create the portal.
The online Intrexx templates and the applications, processes and layouts they contain can be used as a basis for your portal. Please note, however, that the templates contain preconfigured processes and design elements that you will need to adjust.
If you activate "Display templates for older versions as well", you can choose a template from an older version of Intrexx.

Portal template - Custom

This option allows you to use an exported portal as a portal template. This imports the previously exported portal.

You can search for the portal export file by clicking on the Browse button.

For detailed information on importing portals, see section Import portal a portal.

Database server

Click on "Next" to go to the "Database server" dialog.

Select the database server for your new portal.

The subsequent dialogs where the connection to the database server is configured varies from database to database.
In this guide, PostgreSQL will be used as an example.
Select "PostgreSQL" and click on "Next" to go to the "PostgreSQL connection data" dialog.

PostgreSQL connection data

Database name

The name of the database can be edited here.

Port number

Enter the communication port for the database.

SSL

Define whether the connection to the database server should be encrypted or not.
You can select "No SSL" while creating the portal and then configure an encrypted connection to the database server later as needed.
If you configure an encrypted connection and select "SSL with certificate validation", you need to add the certificate to the corresponding place on the database server before creating the portal.
Once the portal has been created, you need to add the certificate to the Intrexx portal server for the encrypted connection to the database to work correctly.

Login

Enter the username of the database user.

Password

Enter the password of the database user.

Connection database

If you do not want to create a new database, you can select an existing database here.

CockroachDB mode

If you are using CockroachDB, you can activate CockroachDB mode here.

Click on "Next" to go to the "PostgreSQL database settings" dialog.

PostgreSQL database settings

New database

A new database is created with this option.

Use existing empty database

An existing database is used with this option.

Database name

The name of the database can be edited here.

Encoding

Select the encoding (character set) for the new database here. The preset (UNICODE - UTF 8) can be kept in most cases.

Click on "Next" to go to the "Front-end web server (reverse proxy / load balancer)" dialog.

Front-end web server (Reverse proxy / Load balancer)

In this dialog, you can define which front-end web server (reverse proxy) should be used for communications between the Intrexx portal server and the browser.

For detailed information on using frontend web servers, see the section Using a reverse proxy.

Internet Information Services (IIS)

Intrexx provides a graphical user interface for configuring Internet Information Services.

Use IIS if you are working in a Windows environment.

More information about using Internet Information Services (IIS) is available in the chapter Windows - Configure IIS (Internet Information Services).

Please note that to use a front-end web server, you need to add a corresponding entry in your DNS server (A or AAAA record). More information about this is available in the chapter Define hostnames in DNS.

NGINX

Intrexx provides a graphical user interface for configuring NGINX.

Use NGINX if you are working in a Linux environment.

More information about using NGINX is available in the chapter Linux - Configure NGINX.

Please note that to use a front-end web server, you need to add a corresponding entry in your DNS server (A or AAAA record). More information about this is available in the chapter Define hostnames in DNS.

No front-end web server

Select this option if you do not want to configure a front-end web server (reverse proxy) for your portal.

Please note that this option can only be recommended for test and development portals.
More information about this option is available in the section No front-end web server.

Manual setup

You have the ability to manually configure communications between embedded Tomcat and the browser. In doing so, you forgo the dialog-supported configuration that is available for the "Internet Information Services (IIS)", "NGINX" and "No front-end web server" options.

Further technical specifications for the manual setup can be found in the following files. This are included with Intrexx.

• <portal directory>\tomcat\conf\server-https-default.xml

• <portal directory>\tomcat\conf\server-http-default.xml

• <portal directory>\external\htmlroot\WEB-INF\web.xml

• <intrexx-installation-directory>\samples\web-tls-configuration\nginx\portal-internet.conf

• <intrexx-installation-directory>\samples\web-tls-configuration\nginx\portal-remote.conf

• <intrexx-installation-directory>\samples\web-tls-configuration\nginx\portal-intranet.conf

Get in contact with the Intrexx Support Center if you need more information.

This guide will use Internet Information Services (IIS) as an example of a front-end web server.
Click on "Next" to go to the "Front-end web server: Internet Information Services (IIS)" dialog.

Front-end web server: Internet Information Services (IIS)

IIS website

Select the website that you added to IIS for your portal earlier. Do not use the "Default Web Site" from IIS.

Embedded Tomcat Port

The port that you used in the previous version of Intrexx will be shown here. You can leave this port as it is.

Please note: The port 1337 is predefined for a new installation.

Base URL of the portal

The base URL needs to be entered here.
By default, the displayed base URL is derived from the website binding information in the Internet Information Service (IIS). These are the "Type" and "Hostname" specifications. (Please refer to the section Add website in IIS.)

Please make sure that this ends with a slash (/). It is essential that this is correct so that your portal can be accessed in the browser.

Solr search server

Each portal has a search function. "Solr", Apache's search server, is the infrastructure that provides this feature.

In this dialog, you determine whether you want to apply the default Solr settings or a custom configuration.

Intrexx version 12.0.0

Default settings for Solr installed by Setup

By default, the Solr search server is installed in standalone mode. The Solr search server is installed on the same server as the Intrexx Portal Server. The default user and password are used for authentication on the Solr search server.

If you are using only one instance of the Solr search server, i.e. you are not using SolrCloud, you can usually select the default setting.

Custom Solr configuration

Select this option if you want to configure custom settings for the Solr search server. This is especially the case if you want to make authentication changes to the Solr search server.

For detailed information about the Custom Solr Configuration, see the section Custom Solr configuration.

Intrexx version 12.0.1

As of Intrexx 12.0.1, you have the option of using OpenSearch or Elasticsearch as a "preview feature" for the portal search.

OpenSearch/ElasticSearch

You have the option of using OpenSearch or Elasticsearch for the portal search.

OpenSearch and Elastiksearch are not included in the scope of delivery. A separate installation with the Docker image of OpenSearch or Elastiksearch is recommended.

Further information on this can be found in the following sections:

• OpenSearch / Elasticsearch

• Search - Settings in the "Tools" module

Click on "Next".

Summary

In this dialog, you can change the information you have entered again. Click on the blue colored headings.

General properties

Opens a dialog where the portal name and directory can be edited.

Web server

Opens a dialog where the web server settings can be edited.

Advanced settings

Opens a dialog where the ports, search engine and other settings can be modified.

Portal template

Opens a dialog in which the portal template and the default portal language can be changed.

After you have clicked on Portal template, the "Portal template" dialog box is displayed.

Click on "Next".

The "Language" dialog box is displayed.

Here you can change the default language of the portal.

Database

Opens a dialog where the database can be changed.

Advanced settings

Opens a dialog where the ports, search engine and other settings can be modified.

Click on "Start" to start the portal creation and open the "Creating portal" dialog.

Creating portal

Show messages

Click here to view the list of messages about the portal creation.

Show tasks

Goes back to the original view.

Click on "Finish" to go to the "Success" dialog.

Success

Show portal in browser

Opens the portal you just created in the browser.

The portal could look like this, for example: