The Packager module allows you to package content and configuration. A package can contain content from any Magnolia CMS workspace such as websites, image resources and DMS assets. You can also package physical files in the webapp's file system folder. Packages are ideal for backup, installing files on another instance, and replicating content to an instance that you can not access through a subscriber.

• Download
• Installing
• Uninstalling
• Usage
• Creating a package
• Defining properties
• Defining rules
• Downloading a package
• Uploading a package
• Installing a package
• Package status

Download

Download the Packager module from Magnolia Store or Nexus repository.

Installing

Packager is an enterprise module bundled with the Enterprise Edition and typically already installed. Go to Magnolia Store > Installed modules in AdminCentral to check. To install the module individually, see the general module installation instructions.

Uninstalling

See the general module uninstalling instructions and advice.

Usage

Creating a package

To create an empty package:

1. Go to Packager menu in AdminCentral.
2. Click New.
3. Double-click the package name and change untitled to a more meaningful name.
4. Double-click the full name and describe the purpose of the package.

Defining properties

In an emergency it is important to immediately find the package you want to restore. Provide a meaningful description in package properties. Describe what the package is used for and when to deploy it.

To define package properties:

1. Select a package and click Open.
2. Click Edit definition.
3. On the Properties tab, fill the following fields:
• Package title
• Description. Purpose and usage instructions for a package. For example, "Demo-project pages and DMS assets. Excludes members area. Use to backup and recover the website."
• Restart. Check the box to force automatic restart of the Magnolia instance once the package has been uploaded. This is the case when you upload Java libraries or new dialogs.
• Release notes. Use release notes to identify when in the site lifecycle the package was created. It helps identify the restore point. For example "Release 1.9 before site redesign".
4. Click Save.

Defining rules

Defining package rules means selecting the pages, files and folders you wish to include in the package. The content is not added to the package yet, just its location is identified. The adding happens only when you download the package. The download process will read the package rules (nodes/paths) and download the package with the most current content.

To define package rules:

1. Select a package and click Open.
2. Click Edit definition.
3. Go to the Access Control List tab.
4. Select a workspace from the drop down list. The list contains all Magnolia CMS workspaces and files which allows you to browse the webapp directory on the file system.
5. Include or exclude the item. This is an ACL-like definition. For example, you can include a website but exclude a section of it. When you exclude a node it will be excluded also at install time. This means that excluded nodes will not cause a deletion of target data even if they don't exist in the package. See Installing a package below.
6. Select the node only or also all its child nodes.
7. Click Choose and select a node from the workspace or file from the file system.
8. Optional: Click Add for more rules for the same repository.
9. Click Save.

The content paths you chose to include and exclude are summarized in the Package field. The Statistics tab displays all content included in the package. This is a drilldown view that displays also the child nodes if you chose to include them.

Downloading a package

Downloading means packing content into the package as defined in the rules. The system reads nodes defined in the rules and adds their content in compressed form to a new .mgnl file. The .mgnl file is written to the disk.

To download a package:

1. Right-click a package and select Backup.
2. Click OK at the confirmation prompt. The system downloads the content and creates the package.
3. Save the file to a disk.

The resulting .mgnl file name follows the convention <package name>_<yyymmdd>.mgnl, for example demo-project_20110718.mgnl. You can rename the package file.

Uploading a package

Uploading means transferring content from a .mgnl file on a disk to a package in the packager workspace. This does not install the package content onto the system yet.

To upload content to a package:

1. Right-click a package.
2. Select Upload.
3. Browse to the .mgnl file.
4. Click Upload.

Package status changes to yellow to indicate content has been uploaded.

Installing a package

To install a package:

1. Select the uploaded package and click Open.
2. Go to the Statistics tab.
3. Verify that the changes listed on tab are acceptable. Pay attention to the deleted nodes in particular. See example below.
4. Go to the Package tab.
5. Click the Install package button to copy the package's content to the site.

If you checked the Restart box when creating the package, the Magnolia CMS instance will be restarted after the package installation has completed.

Example

On the Statistics tab you see that 2 nodes will be deleted! A new page /website/demo-project/about/subsection-articles/new-article was created after the package backup was taken. The page and associated metadata nodes will be deleted when the package is installed. After installing the package you will have the same nodes that existed at the time the package was downloaded.

Package status

	Status	Description
	New	New package without content. You can download content into the package. Date shows last modification.
	Uploaded	Package has been uploaded but is not installed. Date shows upload date.
	Installed	Package is installed. Date shows install date.