Staging Personalization rules to production

Use the steps in this file to move Personalization rules from a staging system to a production system. There are a number of methods for moving rules between servers, each suitable for different situations.

Choose one of the following methods to move rules:

Method: Export from source then import into destination

StepsAdvantages DisadvantagesUsers
  1. Use Export in the Personalization Navigator portlet on the source to export a nodes file.
  2. Use Import in the Personalization Navigator portlet on the target to import that file.
  • This method is the easiest way to move rules.
  • Uses a familiar export and import paradigm.
  • Cannot be scripted.
  • Requires Personalization Navigator portlet to be installed on the target server.
  • Development teams.
  • Quick, ad-hoc changes in small deployments and test environments.

Method: Publish using the Personalization Navigator portlet

StepsAdvantages DisadvantagesUsers
Use the Publish menu options in the Personalization Navigator portlet to publish the entire workspace or to selectively publish
  • Easy and quick to use. Once a publish server is configured, you can publish rules in two clicks.
  • This method does not require rules to be saved on the file system.
  • If publishing the entire workspace with smart delete, you can ensure two work spaces are the same.
  • No intermediate file is produced by the process, so there is no record of what was published other than log files.
  • This approach is driven from a graphical user interface, so it is not scriptable.
Business users with rule authoring responsibilities.

Method: Export from the source and then publish into the destination

StepsAdvantagesDisadvantagesUsers
  1. Use Export in the Personalization Navigator portlet on the source to export a nodes file.
  2. Use the pznload command line utility (pznload.sh and pznload.bat) to publish the nodes file that you exported to the target.
  • This method can an be scripted.
  • Allows your changes to be tracked, controlled, and the earlier versions to be reverted by maintaining copying of the nodes files and rerunning a script.
Requires use of a command line interface.
  • Administrators
  • Moving between staging and production environments

Rules

Notes:
  • If the rules are referenced by Personalization components, ensure the Personalization components are published and syndicated in Web Content Manager.
  • If the rules are referenced in pages or portlets, move the page and portlet definitions with XML Access or Release Builder. This is related to attribute based administration.