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Alerts and SMS Request Listener

Alerts and SMS Request Listener discusses alerts and the SMS Request Listener in Wireless Edition. Each section of this document presents a different topic. These sections include:

Important:

In this document WE_HOME is the directory in which Wireless Edition is installed followed by the "panama" sub-directory. For example:

c:\ias10210\panama (Windows)
/private/ias10210/panama (UNIX)

Replace "WE_HOME" with the fully-qualified directory path.

3.1 Overview

Alerts, in the Wireless Edition, are time-based scheduled services. Alerts are executed when the scheduled time expires. The result, if any, after the service is executed, is delivered to the end user at the default alert address. The Wireless Edition can accept either email or phone numbers as the alert address. If the default alert address is an email address, the result is delivered as an email message. If the default alert address is a phone number, the result is delivered as a SMS. The alert and alert address can be created by end users through Wireless Edition personalization from the desktop computer or the device.

Services in Wireless Edition can be invoked through the HTTP protocol and through SMS. Users can invoke the services through SMS with the corresponding service name. However, currently only services without input arguments can be invoked through SMS. The result of the service execution is returned as another SMS. The capability is provided through the SMS Request Listener. [[Is this still true?]]

3.2 Alerts

Alerts, which are time-based scheduled services, are placed in the request queue when they are created. The result of the alert execution, if any, is placed in the notification queue. The alert functionality in the Wireless Edition requires the installation of the Oracle8i JOB and AQ options.

Important:

The aq_tm_processes parameter in the init.ora file must be set to at least "2" for the processing of asynchronous alerts in Wireless Edition.

3.2.1 Request Queue

The request queue stores all the alerts to be executed. The Wireless Edition processes an alert as follows:

An alert is created or updated with a start date and a specified interval when the user creates a time-based scheduled service. The alert is placed in the request queue.
When the specified time expires, the alert is activated and executed. The result, if any, is placed in the notification queue with the alert creator's default alert address. The alert with an updated next execution time is placed back in the request queue.
If the alert fails to be executed for any reason, the alert is not placed back in the request queue. It can only be reactivated by updating the start date through the Personalization Portal.

3.2.2 Notification Queue

The result of an alert execution, if any, together with the alert creator's default alert address, is placed in the notification queue. The Wireless Edition dequeues notification messages out of the notification queue. If the alert address is an email address, the result is sent out as an email message. If the alert address is a phone number, the result is sent out as SMS to the specified phone number.

3.2.3 Email-based Alert

If the result of a delivered alert is an email message, set the following entries in the Notification.properties file in the WE_HOME\server\classes\oracle\panama\core\admin directory:

# The smtp server hostname, mandatory <hostname>
mail.server.name=
# The mail domain name, set if SMTP server requires this <domainname>
mail.domain=
# The from mail address, mandatory <email address>
mail.from=
# The organization, optional <string>
mail.organization=
# The default mail subject, mandatory <string>
mail.subject=
# The Content-Transfer-Encoding, mandatory <string>
mail.content.transfer.encoding=

3.2.4 SMS-based Alert

If the result of a delivered alert is a SMS message, configure the Notification.properties file in the WE_HOME\server\classes\oracle\panama\core\admin directory.

3.2.4.1 SMS-C Server

Configure the following entries to specify the host on which the SMS-C is running:

# the hostname on which the SMS-C is running
sms.server.name=
# the port on the sms.server.name from which the SMS-C is listening the incoming 
SMS-message
sms.server.port=

Generally, the Wireless Edition uses direct TCP/IP communication to the SMS-C server when sending the SMS message. If the UCP protocol is selected, the Wireless Edition can also use the URL connection to the SMS-C server when sending the SMS message. In this case, provide the correct URL to the SMS-C server:

sms.server.url=

3.2.4.2 SMPP Protocol

If the SMPP protocol is used to communicate between the Wireless Edition

and SMS-C when sending the notification message, set:

sms.driver.class=oracle.panama.util.sms.SmsSMPPDriver

Set the following entries with the appropriate values:

# The SMPP system id <string>
#
sms.smpp.system.id=
#
# The SMPP system type <string>
#
sms.smpp.system.type=
#
# The SMPP client password <string>
#
sms.smpp.system.password=

3.2.4.3 SMS Protocol

When sending the SMS message, the Wireless Edition can use either the Universal Computer Protocol (either operation 01 or operation 51 command set), or the Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol to communicate with the SMS-C.

3.2.4.4 UCP Protocol

If the UCP protocol is used to communicate between the Wireless Edition and SMS-C when sending the notification message, set:

sms.driver.class=oracle.panama.util.sms.SmsUCPDriver

Also, specify which command set to use:

sms.ucptype=01 (for operation 01 command set)
sms.ucptype=51 (for operation 51 command set)

3.2.4.5 Flow-Control

Configure the following entries for the SMS-control:

# The max number of SMS chunks per message. <int>
#
sms.message.maxchunks=
#
# The maximum number of bytes per message. <int>
#
sms.message.maxsize=

3.2.4.6 Wireless Edition SMS System Account for SMS-C

If there is a dedicated SMS system account created at SMS-C for the Wireless Edition to send the SMS to, configure the following entries appropriately:

# Wireless Edition SMS System Account Id
sms.account.id
# The corresponding password
sms.account.password

3.3 SMS Request Listener

Note:

The following configuration is not required if the SMS Request Listener will not be provided to the end user.

The SMS Request Listener allows the invocation of any Wireless Edition service using a SMS message. The SMS Request Listener processes the SMS-based service invocation request and returns the result, if any, as a SMS message by performing the following:

Authenticate the user by finding the alert address with the actual phone number.
Invoke the service.
Place the result, if any, after invoking the service, in the notification queue.

To configure the SMS Request Listener:

Include oracle.panama.util.sms.SmsServer as another daemon thread in the locator.request.daemon.classes entry in the System.properties file in the WE_HOME/server/classes/oracle/panama/core/admin directory.
Configure the SMS protocol. See Section 3.2.4.3.
If the UCP protocol is used when configuring the SMS protocol, set:

sms.receiver.listener.mode=true

If the SMPP protocol is used when configuring the SMS protocol, set:

sms.receiver.listener.mode=false

If the UCP protocol is used, set the incoming listener port appropriately:

sms.receiver.listener.port=

3.4 Request and Notification Queue Pool

To improve the throughput for request and notification processing, configure the number of threads that process the corresponding queue.

3.4.1 Request Queue Thread Pool Size

To configure the thread pool size for the request queue, set the following appropriately in the AsynchRequest.properties file in the WE_HOME/server/classes/oracle/panama/core/admin directory:

# Thread pool size at startup
#
init.pool.size=
#
# Minimum Thread pool size
#
minimum.pool.size=

3.4.2 Notification Queue Thread Pool Size

To configure the thread pool size for the notification queue, set the following appropriately in the AsynchNotification.properties file in the WE_HOME/server/classes/oracle/panama/core/admin directory:

# Thread pool size at startup
#
init.pool.size=
#
# Minimum Thread pool size
#
minimum.pool.size=

3 Alerts and SMS Request Listener