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Creating and Deploying a Configuration

This chapter describes how to create and deploy a configuration of an end-to-end integration that consists of the modeling metadata and profile data you created.

This chapter contains these topics:

• Configuration Overview

• Creating a Configuration

• Deploying a Configuration

• Discarding a Configuration

• Exporting a Configuration

• Chapter Summary

  Note: When creating and deploying a configuration, you do not need to manually restart the adapter framework or integration manager.

Configuration Overview

This section contains these topics:

• What is a Configuration?

• Configuration Creation Overview

What is a Configuration?

A configuration consists of a complete, validated, and consistent set of modeling metadata and profile data in Oracle Application Server ProcessConnect. This set is identified based on the business processes that you design. The identification of modeling metadata and profile data included in the set depends on the lifecycle state of the agreements for the profile data and on the business processes for the modeling metadata.

Creating a configuration means you intend to deploy the business process that has been designed. Deployment of a configuration results in Oracle Application Server ProcessConnect being ready to perform actual business as designed.

See Also: Chapter 3, "Oracle Application Server ProcessConnect Concepts"

Configuration Creation Overview

You must use the Oracle Application Server ProcessConnect user interface tool to perform the following configuration tasks:

1. Create and validate a configuration of an integration that consists of the following:
   • Modeling metadata consisting of interactions, business processes, datatypes, event types, transformations, roles, and condition expressions

   • Profile data consisting of agreements (trading partner or application), parties (trading partners or applications), adapters, organizations, cooperations, delivery, security, and endpoint details

   When you create a configuration, the integrity of the modeling metadata and profile data is validated to ensure that it is consistent and complete. If validation is successful, the configuration is created.

   You can deploy the configuration immediately after validation or at a later time. Options are also available for discarding (deleting) the configuration or exporting the modeling metadata and profile data that comprise a configuration to an XML file.

2. Deploy the configuration from the design-time repository to the runtime repository. All business processes in the design-time repository are included in this configuration. Only one configuration can be deployed at a time. Therefore, any currently-running configuration is automatically quiesced and retired. You can also stop a running configuration instead of quiescing it.

   See Also: The following chapters for additional details about configuration and validation concepts: "Create and Deploy a Configuration" "Viewing the State of Modeling Metadata and Profile Data on the Details Page"

Creating a Configuration

Follow these instructions to create a configuration:

To create a configuration:

1. Click Deployment.

   The Configuration page appears. All current configurations and their state appear in the Configurations section and all business processes included in configurations and their state appear in the Business Processes section.

   

   Text description of the illustration deploy_initial.gif

   When you create a configuration, all business processes and their deployable units are included in the configuration. A configuration consists of a set of deployable units, one for each business process. Each deployable unit corresponds to a complete, validated, and consistent set of related modeling metadata and profile data for a business process.

   For example, if you created two separate end-to-end integrations, each with their own business process, both are included in your configuration. If configuration creation is successful, both can be deployed. Ensure that any business processes that you create are part of a completely created, end-to-end integration of modeling metadata and profile data.

   Note: Only approved agreements can be included in the deployment unit and, therefore, in the configuration. Configuration creation is successful with at least one agreement in the approved state. If you have more than one agreement in your business process, ensure that all are in the approved state. If you fail to approve the second agreement, the configuration is created without this agreement and the corresponding parties are unable to deliver messages.

   The state of a configuration displays in the State column of the Configurations section:

   Configuration State	Description
   Validated	The modeling metadata and profile data of an integration have been successfully validated to ensure that it is correct and complete and a configuration has been created. The configuration is ready for deployment. Only valid configurations can exist; invalid configurations cannot be created.
   Active	The business processes included in the configuration are available for execution of business in the Oracle Application Server ProcessConnect runtime repository. Incoming messages are accepted based on your design in each of the business processes and processed accordingly.
   Discarded	A configuration has been discarded. This occurred when you selected the Discard button on the Configuration page.
   Retired	A configuration has been quiesced and retired. This occurs when you deploy another configuration. This action causes any currently-running configurations to be quiesced and retired.

   The state of business processes included in a configuration displays in the State column of the Business Processes section:

   Business Process State	Description
   Validated	The business process is part of a configuration that has been successfully validated to ensure that it is correct and complete and a configuration has been created. The configuration is now ready for deployment.
   Deployed	The business process is part of a configuration that has been successfully deployed to the runtime repository.
   Draft	The business process has been modified after it was part of a discarded or deployed configuration.

2. Click Create.

   The Create Configuration page appears.

3. Enter a unique and recognizable name for the configuration in the Configuration Name field. A configuration name can be no more than 30 characters in length. If you enter a previously-used name for a configuration that is currently deployed or has been discarded, you receive an error and are prompted to enter a different name.

4. Click Apply.

   The Creating Configuration page appears. Messages display onscreen indicating that a configuration is being built and validated to ensure correctness and completeness of the modeling metadata and profile data in your integration. Configuration creation can take some time based on the complexity of your integration.

5. See the following section based on whether or not configuration creation is successful:

   If Configuration Creation Is...	See Section...
   Successful	"Successful Configuration Creation and Validation"
   Unsuccessful	"Unsuccessful Configuration Creation and Validation"

Successful Configuration Creation and Validation

If configuration creation and validation are successful, the following message displays at the top of the page:

Creation and validation of configuration name successful

where name is the configuration name you entered in Step 3 of "Creating a Configuration".

The Configuration page displays Validated in the State column for both the configuration (Approving V1 in this example) and its business process(es) (approving-BP in this example).

Text description of the illustration deploying2.gif

At this point, you cannot update or delete the following modeling metadata and profile data in a successfully created and validated configuration:

• Adapters

• Adapter interactions

• Agreements (trading partner or application)

• Applications

• Trading partners

You receive an error if you attempt to make changes. If you must make changes, first deploy or discard the configuration.

See one of the following sections based on the task you want to perform next:

To...	See Section...
Deploy a configuration	"Deploying a Configuration"
Discard a configuration	"Discarding a Configuration"
Export a configuration	"Exporting a Configuration"

Unsuccessful Configuration Creation and Validation

If configuration creation and validation are unsuccessful, the Validation Results - Deployable Business Process page appears. The following example is of an error that occurred because there was no approved agreement included in the configuration:

Text description of the illustration deploy_unsuccess.gif

The following error message types can appear:

• A Collection is invalid error message with a specific error

• An error message describing the reason for failure, for example:

  AIP-16020: The business process name must have at least one agreement.
  
  

  where name is the business process name.

  AIP-16012: Parameter : name is unique for object Configuration. The name for 
  the configuration is already used. Even if discarded, you can't use it.
  
  

  This error occurred because the configuration name had been previously used.

  AIP-16386: The business role name must have at least one outbound data flow 
  group associated with it.
  AIP-16661: The port name of role name must be owned by a data flow group 
  that contains another port connected to a different role
  
  

  This error occurred because the business role has a role port without a data flow group to a transformation binding role. You must create this data flow group.

• Out-of-memory errors that occur if the OC4J instance is running with a low amount of heap size and there are other concurrent users. The heap size can be increased from within Oracle Enterprise Manager.

• Other validation error messages. Some of the more common user errors include the following:
  • You forget to update the SetParty step.

  • You forget to approve all the agreements in the defined business process.

  • You create interactions for testing and forget to delete them, resulting in validation errors.

The Validation Results - Deployable Business Process page now becomes the default deployment page that appears when you select the Deployment tab, and remains so until you correct the error. After you correct the error and want to try creating the configuration again, select Return To Deployment on this page. This displays the main Deployment page shown in "Creating a Configuration". You can attempt to create a configuration again.

See Also: "Design Tool Performance" for instructions on increasing the heap size in Oracle Enterprise Manager

Deploying a Configuration

This section contains these topics:

• Configuration Deployment Overview

• Deploying a Validated Configuration

Configuration Deployment Overview

Configuration deployment consists of deploying the designed and validated business processes and the corresponding set of modeling metadata and profile data to the runtime repository. Corresponding adapters are started and available to send and receive messages.

Whenever a new, initiating message is received, it is accepted and a new coordination is created. This event and message are therefore processed within the context of a coordination. All subsequent events created belong to this coordination. For a given business process, there are as many coordinations as the number of initiating, inbound messages received. Correlated events do not result in creation of a new coordination; instead, events are accepted within an existing coordination. After the event is processed, the coordination is closed.

For this Oracle Application Server ProcessConnect release, only one active configuration is permitted at any given time. Deployment of a new configuration results in the quiescing of the old, currently-running configuration. Quiescing is a state in which a configuration accepts only noninitiating events and messages. This state essentially lets the ongoing business complete processing in accordance with the old configuration. After all coordinations in a quiescing configuration are closed (that is, all events and messages are processed), the configuration is retired.

You can also stop a quiescing configuration by clicking the Abort Quiescing Configuration button that displays onscreen, which aborts the current event and message processing and deploys the new configuration. This results in all open coordinations being aborted in the quiescing configuration.

After the old configuration is retired, the new configuration becomes active. All adapters used in the old configuration are automatically stopped as part of the adapter framework process and the adapters used in the new configuration are automatically started. If some adapters are common to both the old and new configurations, they are automatically restarted.

See Also: "Runtime Instance Behavior" "Role Runtime Behavior" Chapter 18, "System Management with Oracle Enterprise Manager" for instructions on manually starting and stopping the adapter framework through Oracle Enterprise Manager or Oracle Process Management and Notification (OPMN)

Deploying a Validated Configuration

To access the page for deploying a configuration, a successfully validated configuration must exist. See "Successful Configuration Creation and Validation" for an example of the Configuration page that appears.

Follow these instructions to deploy a configuration:

To deploy a configuration:

1. Click Deploy.

   The Deployment page appears.

2. Select a business intelligence logging level from the BI Reporting Level list:

   Level	Description
   High	Creates instance data for all roles, ports, steps, transition instances, and event instances. High (the default selection) enables you to create detailed business reports about a configuration through the Reports tab, but can also have an impact on runtime performance.
   Medium	Creates role, step, and port instance data. Data flow and control flow instance data is not created.
   Low	Creates simple role data (that is, roles with only one step). Process role, composite step, port, and data flow instances data are not created. Pass-through steps are ignored. Low provides better performance. Note: All reports may not run successfully, as only a minimal amount of modeling metadata and profile data is available for creating reports when Low is selected.

3. Click Apply.

   The Deploying Configuration page appears and displays deployment progress.

   Only one configuration can be active at a time. Therefore, any currently running configuration is automatically quiesced and retired. You also have the option of aborting the running configuration instead of quiescing it by clicking the Abort Quiescing Configuration button that displays onscreen. These are the two methods for stopping a deployed configuration.

   If deployment is successful, the Configuration page displays the Last Deployment field with the date at which the configuration was deployed. The State field of the Configurations section displays Active for the deployed configuration. The State field of the Business Processes section displays Deployed for the deployed business process(es) of the active configuration.

   

   Text description of the illustration deploying3.gif

   Deployment can be unsuccessful. For example, system errors or out-of-memory errors can cause deployment to fail.

   You can now manage and create reports about your deployed configuration.

   See Also: Chapter 18, "System Management with Oracle Enterprise Manager" Chapter 23, "Creating Reports"

Discarding a Configuration

You can discard a configuration that is no longer needed or because you want to change the modeling metadata or profile data included in the configuration. To access the page for discarding a configuration, a successfully validated configuration must exist. See "Successful Configuration Creation and Validation" for an example of the Configuration page that appears.

Follow these instructions to discard a configuration:

To discard a configuration:

1. Click Discard.

   The configuration is discarded and is no longer available for deployment. The status of the configuration changes to Discarded in the State column. The modeling metadata and profile data that comprise the configuration (such as the business process or a trading partner agreement) are not deleted.

Exporting a Configuration

You can export the modeling metadata and profile data that comprise a configuration to an XML file to send to an approver for review. To access the page for exporting a configuration, a successfully validated configuration must exist. See "Successful Configuration Creation and Validation" for an example of the Configuration page that appears.

Follow these instructions to export a configuration to an XML file:

To export a configuration:

1. Click Export.

2. Enter a file name to which to export the modeling metadata and profile data that comprise a configuration when prompted.

   Export can take some time based on the size of the configuration.

   You can later re-import the modeling metadata and profile data that comprise a configuration as follows:

   1. Click the Administration tab.

   2. Click Management.

   3. Click Browse in the Import section to access the file to import.

   4. Select the file.

   5. Click Import.

      The modeling metadata and profile data that comprise the configuration are re-imported, but the status of its business process reverts to Draft in the State field. You must recreate the configuration.

      See Also: "Exporting and Importing Integrations" for details about importing an integration

Common User Errors

The following are common deployment user errors.

• Ensure that any business processes that you create are part of a completely created, end-to-end integration of modeling metadata and profile data. This is because when you create a configuration, all business processes and their deployable units are included in the configuration.

• Only approved agreements can be included in the deployment unit and, therefore, in the configuration. Configuration creation is successful with at least one agreement in the approved state. If you have more than one agreement in your business process, ensure that all are in the approved state. If you fail to approve the second agreement, the configuration is created without this agreement and the corresponding parties are unable to deliver messages.

• Ensure that you delete any interactions that were created for testing purposes. If you do not, you receive validation errors when attempting to create a configuration.

Chapter Summary

This chapter describes how to create and deploy a configuration (the complete, validated, and consistent set of modeling metadata and profile data). It also discusses error messages you can receive when creating a configuration, as well as how to discard configurations and export configurations to a file.