Frequently asked Questions
Can I import an existing directory structure into the DMS?
You can easily import a complete file system structure by zipping the file structure and selecting "upload zip" from the context menu in the GUI of the DMS. The uploaded zip file will be uncompressed and the structure recreated inside the DMS.How can I display files from the DMS in the WCM?
We provide a simple "query-builder"-style paragraph as well as a tree selection to access the DMS from the WCM.In addition, this paragraph provides the option to build queries directly. The query paragraph gives some examples:
- jcr:path like '/myfolder/%'
Will show all Documents of folder 'myfolder' - type = 'pdf'
Will show all documents of type pdf - title like '%hello%'
Will show all documents containing 'hello' in their title
This way you can easily query on any meta data - even custom one
An example query paragraph gets installed when you install the DMS (called "DMS Search Result"). Additionaly, a DMS page is installed within the default website that shows some examples of how to use the paragraph.
How can I display the contents of a file inside a web page?
Currently no paragraph ships that displays the contents of a file inside a web page. Since most formats are proprietary, there is no general solution. It is straightforward to add custom paragraphs that parse and render non-proprietary formats. If you need these, please contact us.I thought the product is free?
Magnolia Enterprise Edition is a commercial product built by the same great team that brought you the Magnolia Community Edition. It offers significantly more features, the availability of professional support and an upgrade/migration path to new versions, which is exactly what you would want for mission critical enterprise content management.Is the source code for the Enterprise Edition available?
The Enterprise Edition is licensed via the "Magnolia Visible Source" license. The visible-source license allows you to modify the source code of Enterprise Edition for your own use, but disallows distribution or deployment of the binary. You need to buy an Enterprise Edition license for every server on which you run your modified Enterprise Edition. (Please see the license for exact details, this FAQ entry only sums up the points in plain English and is no replacement for the license).Do you have concurrent user licenses?
We have no concurrent licensing scheme. Our network agreement makes Magnolia Software available per server. You may create as many users as you like.How do you count dual (multi-) core processors?
We have revised our Network Agreement such that Magnolia Network Software requires one Network Agreement per server, not per CPU. Hence neither the number of CPU's nor the number of their cores is relevant in terms of the Network Agreement.Is there a separate charge for Magnolia Enterprise Edition public instance if it is running on a separate machine?
No, there is no separate charge as such. No matter how many machines you have, you count the number of servers and thus determine the price of the Magnolia Enterprise Edition. Please see the Magnolia Network Agreement for details of what exactly constitutes a "server" and how many licenses you may need to run Magnolia on your hardware.Is the Network Agreement fee paid annually or monthly?
The fee is paid annually in advance. It includes all updates and unlimited hours of support by Magnolia International (some restrictions apply, please see SLA-0 for details).Why is license information in some parts of the community edition?
There are nodes named "license" in the configuration for the dms, cache and mail. This is a remainder from the time when this code had to be licensed. You can ignore these nodes. Currently all of the Community Edition is open source and free to use.What is a "productive system" in terms of enterprise licensing?
A productive system is any server that is used within a process performed to publish content. Generally, a good indication will be if the server has daily backup or if content that will be published is going through this machine.For example, if you set up a system that will be used to test new functionality, but is not used to publish content to a public site, this is a test system, not a productive system.
If on the other hand your business process defines that content is published to a pre-live instance first, where it is reviewed before it is published, this server is considered to be a "productive system".
Do you provide developer licenses of the Enterprise Edition?
Each Network Agreement qualifies you to install Magnolia Network Software on up to 5 developer or test machines. (See also "What is a productive system").Can we embed Magnolia Enterprise Edition into our own application?
You will need an OEM agreement to ship the Enterprise Edition functionality as part of your software. Please contact us for details.Can I copy things from the Enterprise Edition and use it (for free) with the Community Edition?
The short answer is NO.The Magnolia Network Agreement (MNA) is a commercial license, i.e. you pay money for the right to use the Magnolia Enterprise Edition under the terms of the license. If you use or download the EE, you agree to the license terms. Please read the MNA to understand what you are into.
Copying anything from the Enterprise Edition does not change the fact that you use software that is licensed under the MNA, to which you are bound. The MNA gives you the right to test EE for 60 days (see license for exact terms), after which you have to delete every trace of it from your system, or pay the license fee
What happens if I discontinue the Network Agreement? Can I still use the software?
If you discontinue your Magnolia Network Agreement, you will loose the right to use it. The termination clauses defined in the license contracts will take effect.Do you provide a JCR/JSR-170 level 2 (read/write) connector?
Magnolia is an application built on top of the JSR-170 API. We strive to make Magnolia work with any available level-2 JCR (Java Content Repository). Since Magnolia itself is not a repository, we do not provide a connector to the repository. The repository itself will have that functionality, or else we could not use it.Is it possible to store the data in the filesystem? In a database?
The short answer is yes, you can.JSR-170 defines a repository API which abstracts from the actual storage mechanism. Magnolia is written in such a way that you can use any available JSR-170 level 2 compliant repository to store the data. This gives you the flexibility to choose the repository which suits you best – and switch it at any time should your requirements change.
By default we deliver Magnolia with the Jackrabbit repository, an open-source repository maintained by the Apache Group. Jackrabbit's persistence mechanism is pluggable, which means you can choose between many different implementations that persist the data - or even some that don't (in-memory repository).
Most relational databases can be used as a persistence mechanism today. Specifically, we have hear of using MySQL, DB2, BerkleyDB, Derby, Oracle and various others.
Can I access files that are managed by Magnolia from a file system?
This feature will be available by the end of 2006. We currently implement the WebDAV protocall to provides access to the files within Magnolia's Java Content Repository from your client system instead of using a web browser.Can I store blobs outside a database?
Yes, some of the persistence implementations below JackRabbit allow you to configure where BLOBs are stored - on the filesystem or in the database. However, that does not mean they are directly accessible through the file system, at least not in any meaningful way.Can users modify their own content and publish via work flow for authorization to a content manager?
Yes. Access control and workflow allow to resprict what a business user can do with the system. A standard 4-eyes workflow is delivered out-of-the-box and can be adapted to any possible needs.Is there sandbox capability?
Yes. Magnolia by default has a distributed architecture that consists of two systems - an authoring and a public instance. Changes in the authoring environment are published to the public instance via "activation of content", which starts a workflow. Thus the authoring environment is the "sandbox".Can I use LDAP/Active Directory for authentication?
Yes. Magnolia uses JAAS (Java Authentication and Authorization Service). The Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) is a set of APIs that enable services to authenticate and enforce access controls upon users. It implements a Java technology version of the standard Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) framework, and supports user-based authorization.Magnolia Enterprise Edition includes an LDAP login module which can be used to authenticate against any standard directory service providing an ldap protocol. The Magnolia LDAP module has a simple mapping file where you can map all attributes as defined on your directory service.
In Magnolia 3.0 you can chain JAAS login modules. By default we deliver LDAP authentication, JCR authentication and JCR authorization modules which you can replace with your existing modules (e.g. Kerberos).
Is there a way to import content from our current static website (custom scripts)?
Yes, there are many ways. One way is to use people to do the job manually. The advantage is that the content can then be quality assured on the way, and content that is irrelevant can be dropped during this process. Other ways include writing custom java code or providing XML exports that can then be imported. In the end its a question of how well your current content is structured and what the goal of the content migration is.What is Magnolia's ability to publish content in different formats for different devices (web, pda, wap, etc...)
There are at least two options, which can be complementary:- Based on the url's extension, you can use a different sub-template for rendering. This mechanism is directly supported by Magnolia. In essense, a template name referes to a number of different sub-templates, which are selected by Magnolia depending on your URL extension. Commonly, each sub-template is a separate JSP file.
- You can have "selectors" in your URLs, and these are passed to your template, which can use them to render content in different ways. E.g., /home.html and /home.wap.html would use the same template (JSP-file), but the template itself could decide to render certain parts of the content differently based on the selectors ("wap" in this case). A URL can have several selectors: /home.html has no selectors, /home.pda.html has just "pda" as a selector, and /home.iphone.pda.html has both "iphone" and "pda".
