Fundamentals Training Course

2 days.

The course will allow participants to understand what it is possible to do with the system and to make appropriate and informed decisions about when to deploy the technology and how to deploy the technology.

In order for participants to understand how development is carried out we also look at the alternative options of configuring, customizing and developing with Alfresco.

At the end of this course you should be able to:

• Understand the components of an Alfresco ECM system and their interactions
• Create and manipulate content in the repository
• Understand how Alfresco manages content and metadata
• Understand the Alfresco content model
• Create custom object types and aspects
• Describe the Alfresco security model
• Configure users, groups, and roles
• Understand repository configuration

This course is aimed at first time Alfresco users who are involved in an Alfresco project  and who intend to continue on an Alfresco learning pathway to become an Alfresco developer or Alfresco Certified Engineer.

This course is suitable for Project Managers, Technical Architects and Business Analysts who have a good grasp of current technology and have practical experience of configuring systems using XML.

Alfresco Fundamentals is a foundation course and can be followed without any previous Alfresco experience. However it is a requirement that you understand XML and are able to edit XML files for configuration of the system. You should be familiar with basic system administration of an operating system such as Linux or Windows.

In order to run the virtual machine your laptop needs to have some spare capacity. The machine requirements are:

Windows

• Standard x86-compatible or x86-64-compatible processor with a minimum of two cores. 733MHz or faster CPU minimum.
• Minimum 2GB of RAM (4GB RAM recommended).
• 1.7GB free disk space for VMware Player installation and at least 8GB for the Alfresco virtual machine

Macintosh

• Minimum 2GB of RAM (4GB RAM recommended) 
• 700MB free disk space for VMware Fusion and at least 8GB for the Alfresco virtual machine
• Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later; Mac OS X 10.6 or later

Introduction

Architecture and Technology

In this section we look at the basic building blocks of an Alfresco system, how the components fit together and the information required to build a system architecture for a production system.

• Architecture review
• Start-up and connecting
• Key architecture decisions
• Minimum configuration requirements
• Subsystems

User Interfaces

In this section we familiarize you with the Alfresco user interfaces so that you can understand strength and weaknesses of each and are able to create, edit and manipulate content in the repository.

• Standard interfaces
• Share
• The Share architecture

Users and Groups

In this section we will look at the creation and management of users and groups within Alfresco. We also look at the relationship between users and roles and the options for authentication within Alfresco.

• Users
• Groups
• Authentication
• Roles

Security and Permissions

Alfresco provides a very sophisticated and flexible security model, in this section we look at this model from a high level perspective. In order to provide a smooth user experience the security model is simplified through the use of roles and permission groups, we look at how these work and how you can easily manage security based on these methods.

• Overview and Concepts
• Authentication
• Roles/Permission Groups
• Managing permissions
• Permissions
• Low level permissions

Repository Configuration

Starting with basic principles and building on the knowledge gained in the Architecture Section we look at repository configuration and the tools available to an Alfresco System Administrator. Moving on we look at security covering users and groups, permissions and the use of external authentication such as LDAP.

• Understand how repo configuration is done
• What types of things can be configured
• Configuration boot-strapping
• Configuring Subsystems
• Advanced configuration
• Deploying extensions
• Best practices

Managing the Repository

Repository management consists of the tasks required to ensure that you have a reliable and well performing repository, as well as managing on-going tasks which may change the repository or require adjustment. The regular on-going tasks include monitoring health and usage of the repository and preventative maintenance. At other times you may need to install applications and change the times and frequency of scheduled jobs. Alfresco provides a very powerful way to add rules to folder to provide creative solutions for automating and managing your content, we will look at what you might use such rules for and how you can set these rules up as an administrator or developer.

• Installing applications
• Scheduled jobs
• Monitoring health
• Monitoring usage
• Preventative maintenance
• Managing content using rules

Content Model Overview

In order to use Alfresco content models developers need to be able to understand the terminology behind content models, understand what a content model is and the different way models may be implemented and bootstrapped. Finally we look at the way models are manifested to the user in the user interfaces

• Nodes, node ids
• Relationships, types, aspects, associations
• What is a content model
• Built in types and aspects
• Deploying a content model

Creating Content Models

In this section we learn how to create new content models and understand what can and can’t be done in a content model. We look at all the components of a content model and how to deploy and test new content models, best practices are covered as part of the development approach.

• Content models explained
• Types and properties
• Deploying content models
• Associations, aspects and constraints
• User Interface Manifestation
• Advanced Topics
• Best practices

Developing Applications in Alfresco

In this section we look at the different approaches to application development with Alfresco, the different APIs available and help you to decide on a good approach to application development.

• Application development choices
• Approaches to application development
• Source code