Setting up a Personalization server on WebSphere Application Server

The WebSphere® Portal product installs and configures Personalization software by default. However, you can choose to install Personalization to an instance of WebSphere Application Server. When Personalization is installed in this way, it is referred to as the Personalization Server. The Personalization Server enables you to deploy applications that have been developed with IBM® WebSphere Application Server, serve personalized content to users, and record site metrics, without requiring that WebSphere Portal also be present on the server machine. While business rules may be run from any WebSphere Application Server installation, a full WebSphere Portal installation is still required as a workspace for authoring rules and campaigns.

The stand-alone Personalization Server is not supported on WebSphere Portal. However, you can install the Personalization Server on another machine running a different operating system and deploy applications developed with WebSphere Portal on that machine.

Planning for the Personalization Server
You might want to use the Personalization rules engine in an environment outside of WebSphere Portal. For example, you could use Personalization in a Web service that provides a personalized XML content stream. Alternatively, you could use it to generate an RSS feed. In these cases, Personalization is used as a service that is consumed by other software components on other servers.
Installing and removing a stand-alone Personalization Server
You can install a stand-alone Personalization server to a new IBM WebSphere Application Server profile, which allows you to deploy WebSphere Application Server specific applications, serve personalized content to users, and record site metrics without requiring an active IBM WebSphere Portal server.

Parent topic: Installing