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Syndication between installations

Sharing content between Exponential installations with the syndication extension - one-way and two-way syndication, feeds over SOAP, the export_feed and import_feed cronjob parts, protecting the source, operating it…

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Address: https://doc.exponential.earth/exphelp/viewer/help/integrators/syndication-between-installations.md

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Syndication between installations

This page is for integrators whose landscape has several Exponential installations that must share content: a group site and its member sites, a portal network, a central product catalog published on several shops. The syndication extension (required by the root composer.json as ~1.3.14) exports part of one installation's content tree as a feed and lets another installation import it, kept in step by cron. The feature page is syndication; every option is in the specification.

Warning

.htaccess slows down every request. When .htaccess files are enabled (AllowOverride anything but None), let alone used, Apache looks for them and reads and evaluates them on every request, in every directory of the path, and page loading times go up drastically (measured). The only real fix is to switch the feature off for the virtual host: AllowOverride None in the HTTPS virtual host, and the rules in the virtual host's own configuration as mod_rewrite rules. That is far faster in production speed tests and well worth the time it takes to optimize a production configuration. Switch over right away: copy the rules of the example HTTPS virtual host into your virtual host (with the static cache, also staticcache_offload.conf), set AllowOverride None, run apachectl configtest, reload Apache and test the site. The same rules for other servers: nginx, LiteSpeed, Caddy, IIS, Velocity (built in); where virtual host rules go in a control panel: Plesk, cPanel, DirectAdmin, ISPConfig. On LiteSpeed or OpenLiteSpeed, the server's own page cache can also answer anonymous visitors and crawlers without PHP: Page caching with LiteSpeed and OpenLiteSpeed.

Contents

  1. How it works
  2. Setting it up
  3. Protecting the source
  4. Operating it
  5. Syndication or something else
  6. Checklist

How it works 

 main installation                                   second installation
 -----------------                                   -------------------
 export feed (a subtree)                             import (feed address + target node)
   |  cronjob part export_feed                          ^  cronjob part import_feed
   v                                                    |
 cached XML + binary files, one file per object  --->  SOAP request to the main installation
 served through index_soap.php (EnableSOAP=true)
  • One-way syndication: shared content or authentication data between separate databases and client sites.
  • Two-way syndication: each side exports and imports, for forums, portal networks and large e-commerce networks.

Setting it up

On both installations:

  1. Install the extension's tables (sql/mysql.sql, or share/db_schema.dba for every database since 1.3.1) and activate it.

  2. Switch the SOAP server on for the exporting side, in settings/override/soap.ini.append.php:

    [GeneralSettings]
EnableSOAP=true

[ExtensionSettings]
SOAPExtensions[]=syndication

  3. Let the SOAP server through the exporting side's web server. It is index_soap.php since Exponential 6.0.15 (soap.php before; that name only forwards now): uncomment RewriteRule ^index_soap\.php - [L] in .htaccess, or add the line to the HTTPS virtual host, or a location = /index_soap.php in nginx. curl -i https://<host>/index_soap.php must answer "only understand POST methods", not 404 or a page of the site. The lines for each server and the full test are on the SOAP entry script is now index_soap.php.

On the main installation: open /syndication/menu, choose Export, then New Feed, and complete the wizard. A subtree source includes the subtree root. Schedule the export part; every 3 minutes is suggested:

php runcronjobs.php export_feed

On the second installation: open /syndication/menu, choose Import, give the feed's server address (https://export.example.com/index_soap.php, or .../soap.php when the main installation runs 6.0.14 or older) and the node that receives the content, and run the import part by hand first:

php runcronjobs.php import_feed

Review the first import, then schedule it. After the first run, imports are faster.

Protecting the source

Since 1.2.0 the import sends a login and password, so the exporting site's SOAP endpoint can sit behind HTTP access control. Give them in the server address (https://<login>:<password>@<host>/) or in the Login and Password fields of the import's first step. The port defaults to 443 for https. Keep these credentials out of version control, and restrict index_soap.php (and soap.php, while any import still calls it) to the addresses of the importing installations at the web server.

Operating it

The Syndication start page in the administration shows what is exported and imported, when each cronjob part last ran, and what needs attention (a feed without a source, an import without a location, failed items, SOAP off). Export all active feeds and Fetch all active imports start the cronjob code in the background with progress on the page.

From the shell (php bin/php/console list ext:syndication):

php bin/php/console ext:syndication:status
php bin/php/console ext:syndication:export --dry-run
php bin/php/console ext:syndication:import --import=3 --fetch-only

Syndication or something else

SituationChoose
Installations share a subtree continuouslysyndication
A partner site only shows headlinesAn RSS export (feeds)
Move a site or a subtree onceA package (packages)
Another system that is not Exponential reads the contentThe REST API or expservices
One installation serves several sitesNot syndication at all: siteaccesses of one installation (multi-site planning)

Checklist

  • To do: Tables installed and the extension active on every installation involved.
  • To do: EnableSOAP=true and SOAPExtensions[]=syndication on each exporting installation.
  • To do: The SOAP endpoint protected (HTTP authentication, address restriction, HTTPS).
  • To do: export_feed and import_feed scheduled; the first import reviewed by hand.
  • To do: Monitoring on the parts' last run (the Syndication start page, ext:syndication:status).

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