This note is a work in progress. I've got it to work. But performance is a big problem. We can't deploy it unless I am able to reduce the average response time from 5+ seconds down to less than 500 milliseconds per page.

Configure the database

Here is my note on Configure Liferay-4.4.2 with Glassfish Bundle to Use MySQL on Gentoo

Configure the portal admin account

The default admin account is test@liferay.com with password "test". Change that ASAP.

1. Open localhost:8080, login as "test@liferay.com", password is "test".
2. Goto "My account", and change this omniadmin account name and password to something else, and then save.
   Logout and re-login with the new account name and password to verify the change is correct.

Change the Glassfish application server's admin account

1. Open localhost:4848, login as "admin", password "adminadmin"
2.  

Speed it up

Create a file portal-ext.properties, and place anywhere in the Classpath. Add the following values:

    last.modified.check=false
    theme.css.fast.load=true
    javascript.fast.load=true
    portlet.css.enabled=false
    velocity.engine.resource.manager.cache.enabled=true
    com.liferay.portal.servlet.filters.layoutcache.LayoutCacheFilter=true

Reference:

http://wiki.liferay.com/index.php/Performance

Change the default theme and layout

Reference:

• Introduction to Themes
• Introduction to Layout Templates

After login as admin, find the "Plugin" tab and click on it. (I only found it once so far. Can't find it anymore.) Then find the "Theme plugins" tab and click on it. Search for one existing theme that you like. Then click on that theme, and then click on "Install" button.

Setup the mail system

1. Open localhost:4848 to enter glassfish admin console.
   The default username is admin and the password is adminadmin.

   Go to Resources/JavaMail Sessions and create a JavaMail resource with the name mail/MailSession if it doesn't exists. 

 References:

• Liferay Portal 4.3 - Customization Guide