Publish content from the WCMS

• Overview
• Step one: Confirm Transport settings
• Step two: Confirm Destination settings
• Step three: Publish from the WCMS
• Troubleshoot publishing

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Overview

Publishing generates static web content from the WCMS (Web Content Management System) and uploads it to a web hosting server or database server. Unpublishing removes the file from the web hosting server or database server while keeping it within the WCMS. The option to unpublish content appears when deleting content from the WCMS.

Step one: Confirm Transport settings

A Transport represents a server to which content can be published. The WCMS will publish to any web hosting server or database server.

Transports cannot be edited in the WCMS due to security restrictions. WCMS site managers can create and edit Transports using the Manager Tools on the WCMS website.

Confirm that your Transport settings are correctly configured. You will need information about your web hosting server or database server to correctly configure your Transport. This information includes server hostname, server port, server directory, protocol, username, and password.

Sitehost Transport settings

The WCMS allows for publishing to any web or database hosting service. The most common web hosting service is IU Sitehosting (Sitehost).

Sitehost is an SFTP connection using port 22. The hostname for the Sitehost test server is ssh.sitehost-test.iu.edu. The hostname for the Sitehost production server is ssh.sitehost.iu.edu. The server directory is /groups/[ACCCOUNT], where [ACCOUNT] represents your group account name. The username is your group account name. The password is your group account password. Sitehost uses Secure FTP (SFTP), but it does not use Passive FTP (PASV).

Sitehost - Production

Type: FTP Transport
Host Name: ssh.sitehost.iu.edu
Port: 22
Server Directory: /groups/[ACCOUNT]/
Username: [ACCOUNT]
Use Secure FTP (SFTP): Yes
Use Passive FTP (PASV): No

Sitehost - Test

Type: FTP Transport
Host Name: ssh.sitehost-test.iu.edu
Port: 22
Server Directory: /groups/[ACCOUNT]/
Username: [ACCOUNT]
Use Secure FTP (SFTP): Yes
Use Passive FTP (PASV): No

Step two: Confirm Destination settings

A Destination represents the location on a server where content is published. The WCMS will connect to a web hosting server or database server using information from the Transport, and the Destination will tell the WCMS where to publish content on that server.

Create and edit Destinations in the Manage Site area of your WCMS site. Navigate to Manage Site > Destinations from within the WCMS. You can select Add to create a new Destination or select a Destination to edit.

Confirm that your Destination settings are correctly configured. You will need to know the directory to which content is to be published. A Destination is connected to a single Transport. Confirm you are selecting a Transport from your site when selecting your Transport. Applicable groups are those groups that can see and use the Destination.

Sitehost Destination settings

Sitehost uses the web directory to host web accessible content. Set the Destination's "Directory" field to web. Applicable groups are those groups that have access to publishing to this Destination. A web URL is not needed. Leave the box labeled "Publish ASCII characters instead of Unicode" unchecked.

Step three: Publish from the WCMS

You are ready to publish when your site's Transports and Destinations are configured correctly. UITS recommends that you publish to a test server before publishing to a production server. See Troubleshoot publishing for help when publishing doesn't work as expected.

Follow these steps to publish:

1. Choose the asset you would like to publish.
2. Select Publish.
3. A dialog box will appear. Check the box next to the desired Destination.
4. Select Publish.

Your site will now be added to the publishing queue. The more content published at one time, the longer publishing will take. It may take several minutes to publish an entire site.

Do not publish your entire site unless it is necessary. Publish only the content that you have created or edited.

Troubleshoot publishing

There are several possibilities as to why your site does not publish. The following steps will help you diagnose common site publishing issues.

Check your notifications

The WCMS gives a summary of each publishing job in your notifications. Any publishing errors are displayed here.

1. Navigate to the Dashboard.
2. Select View All Notifications.
3. Choose the most recent publish notification.

Check Transport configuration

Test your Transport connectivity by completing the following steps in the WCMS:

1. Navigate to Manage Site > Transports.
2. Open the pop-up menu for the Transport you would like to test.
3. Choose Test Connection.
4. Select Start Test.

Check Destination configuration

A Destination requires a correctly configured Transport. Log into your hosting environment and see if your files are publishing to the location defined in your Destination. Test your Destination connectivity by completing the following steps in the WCMS:

1. Navigate to Manage Site > Destinations.
2. Open the pop-up menu for the Destination you would like to test.
3. Choose Test Connection.
4. Optionally: Select the number of files and size of files to test.
5. Select Start Test.

Common error messages and misconfigurations

• The error message "Auth Cancel" means your Transport password is incorrect. Update your Transport password using the WCMS Manager Tools.
• IU Web Framework sites may report a broken link of the file _includes/site-title. You can ignore this message.
• Confirm your Destination is pointed to the correct Transport. The Destination may be pointed to a Transport from a different site or the wrong server (for example, Sitehost-test when it should be Sitehost production).
• There are two common reasons as to why a Destination does not appear for publishing. Confirm the user attempting to publish is in a group that is assigned to the Destination's Applicable Groups. Confirm the Destination is enabled.

Web Services Support

If publishing is not working as expected, contact Web Services Support (sct2@iu.edu) for assistance.