Deploying Oxygen XML Web Author
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Intended Audience

This section of the User Guide is meant to help system admins or others who are responsible for deploying Oxygen XML Web Author.

For integrators or system admins looking for information about integrating and customizing Web Author, see the Oxygen XML Web Author Customization Guide.

What is Oxygen XML Web Author?

Oxygen XML Web Author is a web-based editing platform that utilizes the advanced authoring technology of Oxygen XML Editor/Author to bring XML editing and reviewing to your mobile devices, as well as your desktop systems. It is supported on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X platforms and the most popular browsers.

Server Requirements

Even though the requirements are not very strict, you should consider the following metrics when provisioning the server for running the Oxygen XML Web Author:
  • A processor core can handle 50 to 100 active users.
  • Editing an average DITA file consumes about 10MB of RAM. However, the Oxygen XML Web Author includes a configurable caching mechanism that stores the oldest files to disk when memory resources become low.

Software Requirements

On the server side, the following applications are supported:
  • Servlet container:
    • Apache Tomcat 7 or 8
    • WildFly 10.0.0.Final
    • IBM WebSphere Liberty 8.5.5.8
  • Java Virtual Machine 1.8 or newer

Oxygen Data Directory and Other Important Deployment Notes

  • All Oxygen XML Web Author configuration files are stored in a single folder that can be shared amongst multiple servers in a distributed deployment. It can also be reused when you update the server to a new version or when stored on a shared file system to be used by multiple server instances.
    The default location of this folder depends on the distribution, as follows:
    Windows, Linux, and All Platforms Distributions
    OXYGEN_DATA_DIRECTORY = [OXYGEN_WEBAUTHOR_INSTALL_DIR]/tomcat/work/Catalina/localhost/oxygen-xml-web-author.
    Web Archive Distribution
    OXYGEN_DATA_DIRECTORY = Depends on the servlet container. For example, in Tomcat it is located in work/Catalina/localhost/oxygen-xml-web-author.

    However, the default location can be overridden by the oxygen.data.dir system property.

    Attention: If the Oxygen XML Web Author is started in security mode, you must set the oxygen.data.dir system property.
    Note: WildFly and WebSphere will erase the folder with configuration files upon restart. For these servers, you must set the oxygen.data.dir system property to a folder that persists across restarts.
  • It is recommended that you install the Oxygen XML Web Author in its own instance of Tomcat, without sharing it with other applications.
  • If you want to reload the application, you have to restart the server.