Static export

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The static export is an advanced OpenCms feature, that allows to gain an important performance improvement by mirroring pages and other resources into the real file system of the server.

This can be used to

• improve the performance of a dynamic site: by exporting all images to the document root of the web server, the performance can be improved, since the web server can serve these images directly, i.e. without calling the JSP container.
• Create a full static copy of a website that can be run completely without OpenCms or that can be stored on a CD-Rom.

The static export comes in two variants:

• the static export on demand creates a copy of a resource in the RFS (Real File System) the first time this resource is requested while browsing the online project.
  So following requests will be resolved faster by just displaying the previous created RFS-copy of the resource, instead of creating each time dynamically every resource, an operation that may involve complex logic and expensive database access.
• the after-publish static export writes out pages after a  content was published, so that the RFS contains a full copy of a site.
  This after-publish export can also be initiated by starting it in the database management in the administration view of the workplace.

When using the static export, OpenCms automatically adjusts all links to exported resources or to dynamically generated pages.

 Advanced export rules can be defined to meet more complex export requirements, e.g. to defines dependencies if specific resources are modified in OpenCms.