User Permissions

Enable the Allowed to manage aliases permission for user groups that need to create, manage, and modify aliases.

Configure user group permissions in Administration > Users/Groups. See User Group Reference for complete permission details.

URL Pathing

URL pathing determines how normalized DITA content displays in website URLs and navigation. Choose whether to use alias-based URLs or standard asset-based URLs on the DSS.

URL types:

DITA Asset URLs

Reflect the DITA content's location in the Assets Manager.

DITA Alias URLs

Reflect the alias placement in the Site Tree.

The DITA publishing pipeline automatically generates asset URLs when publishing DITA assets. When you enable alias pathing, aliased DITA assets receive additional alias URLs. Site navigation automatically uses alias URLs, but users can also access normalized DITA content through asset URLs.

Configure these URL pathing settings in the publishing target's Structured URL Settings section via the Info tab:

Enable alias URL pathing

Enables alias-based URL generation for published DITA content.

When selected, the following occurs during the next DITA pipeline publish:

• CMS generates alias and asset URLs for DITA content.
• Site navigation and resolved DITA cross references, related links, etc. link to alias URLs instead of DITA asset URLs.

When cleared:

• CMS only generates asset URLs for DITA content.
• Site navigation and resolved DITA cross references, related links, etc. link to DITA asset URLs.
• Aliases function only as navigational placeholders without URL generation.

Use case: Select this option when you want user-friendly URLs that match your site's information architecture rather than your asset management structure.

Include alias containers in URLs

Determines whether DITA maps are included in alias URL generation and display as navigable pages on the DSS.

When selected:

• CMS generates alias URLs for maps.
• Users can navigate to maps as landing pages or table-of-contents pages on the DSS. The maps render navigation links to their referenced topics and submaps.
• Alias URLs for topics include the map structure in their path hierarchy.

When cleared:

• CMS excludes maps from alias URL generation, allowing for shorter, flatter URL structures for topics.
• Alias URLs for topics omit map containers in their path structure.
• Maps function only for processing and organization, not as navigable pages.

Use case: Select this option when you want DITA maps to serve as navigable landing pages and when you need hierarchical alias URL structures that reflect map organization.

Version Notes: CMS 10.6.492

This setting is available only in CMS 10.6.492. In previous CMS 10.6 versions, the DITA publishing pipeline uses DITA maps for processing but always excludes them from alias URL pathing generation.

See Configuring Publishing Targets for complete publishing target configuration details.

Custom DTD Support

Alias support for DITA document types that use custom DTDs requires additional configuration.

1. See Integrating Custom DTDs for integrating custom DTDs into the CMS.
2. See [[Enabling Aliases for Custom DITA Document Types]] for configuring custom DTD alias support.

Without custom DTD alias support configured, the DitaAliasSchemaConfigurations not found for Public ID error displays when creating aliases for DITA assets that use custom DTDs.

Alias Management

After completing the alias requirements, users can create and manage aliases:

• Creating aliases: See Creating DITA Aliases for requirements and steps.
• Updating aliases: See Aliased DITA Asset Updates to update aliases with corresponding DITA asset changes.

Next Steps

After completing alias configuration, consider the following:

1. Test alias creation with sample DITA content.
2. Publish aliased DITA assets using the DITA publishing pipeline.
3. Verify URL pathing behavior on the DSS.
4. Train users on alias management procedures.
5. Configure rendering requirements if not already completed—see DITA Rendering Configuration.