Using the ZMI

The ZMI is the basic interface that gives you access to Plone's underlying Zope interface.
Before Plone existed, the ZMI was the main way to access, edit, and manage a Zope site and its content. This was originally the Web interface for the content management system. Of course, nowadays Zope isn't really an out-of-the-box content management system but instead is an application that sits under a system such as Plone. After quickly playing with the ZMI, you'll see why it isn't suited as an interface to a content management system.

One thing the ZMI does provide is a simple interface to the underlying Plone and Zope infrastructure. You can find many of the basic features mentioned here  through Plone, but you'll need to use the ZMI eventually. If you haven't gone to the ZMI before, then you'll find that there are a few simple ways to get there; the easiest way is to log in as a user with the manager role, click plone setup, and then click Zope Management Interface.
You'll note that the address of the ZMI is the uniform resource locator (URL) of your Plone site with /manage on the end of it. You may have a problem with virtual hosting, which occurs with the Windows and Mac installers. Virtual hosting is the ability to have the Plone site as the root object rather than the root of your Zope instance. So, to get to the root, you need to access the manage port. On Windows, select Start - Plone - Plone - Manage Root. You'll note that this sets the address to http://localhost:8080/manage. For information on virtual hosting with your installation, see the specific documentation.

You'll need to get to the root of your Zope installation for two reasons. First, you'll need to get to the Zope control panel. Second, you'll need to get to the root of your Plone site to make, rename, and copy Plone sites. The Zope control panel gives you database information and access to products and other add-ons.

 TIP When dealing with the ZMI, I find having two different browsers open helpful. For example, I use Mozilla and Firefox. Besides, as a site administrator, it's always a good idea to have two different browsers to test that your changes work in more than one browser.