Deployment Guide

Introduction

This document describes how to deploy BEA AquaLogic Service Bus configurations in a production environment. The following sections introduce key concepts and tasks for deploying AquaLogic Service Bus in your organization:

This document focuses on the deployment phase of the AquaLogic Service Bus software lifecycle. For a general overview of AquaLogic Service Bus, see BEA AquaLogic Service Bus Concepts and Architecture.

For information about configuring AquaLogic Service Bus, see the documentation available at the following URL:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13171_01/alsb/docs20/index.html

Deployment Goals

AquaLogic Service Bus combines intelligent message brokering with service monitoring and administration to provide a unified software product for implementing and deploying your Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). When deploying AquaLogic Service Bus configurations, consider the following goals:

High Availability. A deployment must be sufficiently available and accessible, with provisions for failover in the event of hardware or network failures.
Performance. A deployment must deliver sufficient performance at peak and off-peak loads.
Scalability. A deployment must be capable of handling anticipated increases in loads simply by using additional hardware resources, rather than requiring code changes.
Security. A deployment must sufficiently protect data from unauthorized access or tampering.

You can achieve these goals and others with every AquaLogic Service Bus configuration.

Key Deployment Tasks

Deploying AquaLogic Service Bus may require that you complete some or all of the following tasks:

Define the goals for your AquaLogic Service Bus deployment, as described in Deployment Goals.

Deploy your AquaLogic Service Bus configuration in a cluster. To do so, you must first design the cluster, and before you can start designing, you need to understand the components of a AquaLogic Service Bus deployment. Understanding AquaLogic Service Bus Clusters provides descriptions of these components that will help you design the best possible environment for your configuration. For the procedure to deploy a highly available AquaLogic Service Bus configuration, see Configuring a Clustered Deployment.

Set up security for your AquaLogic Service Bus deployment as described in Securing Inbound and Outbound Messages in the BEA AquaLogic Service Bus User Guide.

Roles in AquaLogic Service Bus Deployment

To deploy an integrated solution successfully, a deployment team must include people who perform the following roles:

One person can assume multiple roles, and all roles are not equally relevant in all deployment scenarios, but a successful deployment requires input by people in each role.

Deployment Specialists

Deployment specialists coordinate the deployment effort. They are knowledgeable about the features of the AquaLogic Service Bus product. They provide expertise in designing the deployment topology for an ESB solution, based on their knowledge of how to configure various AquaLogic Service Bus features on one or more servers. Deployment specialists have experience in the following areas:

Resource requirements analysis
Deployment topology design
Project management

WebLogic Server Administrators

WebLogic Server administrators provide in-depth technical and operational knowledge about WebLogic Server deployments in an organization. They have knowledge of the hardware and platform, and experience managing all aspects of a WebLogic Server deployment, including installation, configuration, monitoring, security, performance tuning, troubleshooting, and other administrative tasks.

Database Administrators

Database administrators provide in-depth technical and operational knowledge about database systems deployed in an organization. They have experience in the following areas:

Hardware and platform knowledge
Expertise in managing all aspects of a relational database (RDBMS), including installation, configuration, monitoring, security, performance tuning, troubleshooting, and other administrative tasks

Key Deployment Resources

This section provides an overview of resources that can be modified at deployment time:

Note: The term resource is used in this document to refer to technical assets in general, except in discussions of security where it is used to refer only to those underlying WebLogic Server entities that can be protected from unauthorized access using security roles and security policies.

WebLogic Server Resources

This section provides general information about WebLogic Server resources that are most relevant to the deployment of a AquaLogic Service Bus solution. You can configure these resources from the WebLogic Server Administration Console or through J2EE and WebLogic resource descriptors.

WebLogic Server provides many configuration options and tunable settings for deploying AquaLogic Service Bus solutions in any supported environment. The following sections describe the configurable WebLogic Server features that are most relevant to AquaLogic Service Bus deployments:

Clustering

To increase workload capacity, you can run WebLogic Server on a cluster: a group of servers that can be managed as a single unit. Clustering provides a deployment platform that is more scalable than a single server. For more information about clustering, see Understanding AquaLogic Service Bus Clusters.

Java Message Service

The WebLogic Java Message Service (JMS) enables Java applications sharing a messaging system to exchange (create, send, and receive) messages. WebLogic JMS is based on the Java Message Service Specification version 1.0.2 from Sun Microsystems, Inc.

JMS servers can be clustered and connection factories can be deployed on multiple instances of WebLogic Server. For more information about WebLogic JMS, see the following topics:

Understanding WebLogic JMS in Programming WebLogic JMS
Configuring Clustered WebLogic JMS Resources and Monitoring JMS Statistics and Managing Messages in the Configuring and Managing WebLogic JMS.

EJB Pooling and Caching

In an AquaLogic Service Bus deployment, the number of EJBs affects system throughput. You can tune the number of EJBs in the system through either the EJB pool or the EJB cache, depending on the type of EJB.The following table describes types of EJBs and their associated tunable parameter.

Table 1-1 Parameters for Tuning EJBs

EJB Type	Tunable Parameter Name	Tunable Parameter Description
Message-Driven Beans	`max-beans-in-free-pool`	The maximum number of listeners that pull work from a queue.
Stateless Session Beans	`max-beans-in-free-pool`	The maximum number of beans available for work requests.
Stateful Session Beans	`max-beans-in-cache`	The number of beans that can be active at once. A setting that is too low results in `CacheFullExceptions`. A setting that is too high results in excessive memory consumption.
Entity Beans	`max-beans-in-cache`

For more information about controlling throughput, see "Server Self-Tuning for Production Environments" in New and Changed Features in WebLogic Server Environments in Designing and Configuring WebLogic Server Environments.

JDBC Connection Pools

Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) enables Java applications to access data stored in SQL databases. To reduce the overhead associated with establishing database connections, WebLogic JDBC provides connection pools that offer ready-to-use pools of connections to a DBMS.

JDBC connection pools are used to optimize DBMS connections. If you are using the AquaLogic Service Bus JMS Reporting Provider, you can tune AquaLogic Service Bus performance by configuring the size of JDBC connection pools. A setting that is too low results in delays while AquaLogic Service Bus waits for connections to become available. A setting that is too high results in slower DBMS performance.

For more information about WebLogic JDBC connection pools, see:

"How Connection Pools Enhance Performance" in Performance Tuning Your JDBC Application in Programming WebLogic JDBC
"Connection Pool Features" in Configuring JDBC Data Sources in Configuring and Managing WebLogic JDBC.

Execution Thread Pool

The execution thread pool controls the number of threads that can execute concurrently on WebLogic Server. A setting that is too low results in sequential processing and possible deadlocks. A setting that is too high results in excessive memory consumption and may cause thrashing.

The number of execute threads also determines the number of threads that read incoming socket messages (socket-reader threads). This number is, by default, one-third of the number of execute threads. A number that is too low can result in contention for threads for reading sockets and can sometimes lead to a deadlock.

Set the execution thread pool high enough so that all candidate threads run, but not so high that performance is hampered due to excessive context switching in the system. Monitor your running system to determine empirically the best value for the execution thread pool.

Note: Most production applications require an execution thread count greater than the default value. A thread count of 50 is a commonly used value. Be sure to adjust your JDBC connection pool to match your thread count value.

J2EE Connector Architecture

The WebLogic J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA) integrates the J2EE Platform with one or more heterogeneous Enterprise Information Systems (EIS). The WebLogic JCA is based on the J2EE Connector Specification, Version 1.0, from Sun Microsystems, Inc.

For information about the WebLogic J2EE-CA, see J2EE Connector Architecture in Programming WebLogic Resource Adapters.

AquaLogic Service Bus Configuration Resources

AquaLogic Service Bus configuration resources contain environment-specific settings that you will want to change or tune when deploying the configuration to a new domain. The following sections describe the resources that you may need to reconfigure after deploying a configuration.

WSDLs

AquaLogic Service Bus uses WSDL (Web Service Definition Language) to describe proxy services and business services. WSDL is used to describe what a Web service can do, where it resides, and how to invoke it.

You can base the definition of proxy services and business services on existing WSDL files, and complete the configuration of the services using the AquaLogic Service Bus Console. WSDL files used as the basis for the definition of services are stored as AquaLogic Service Bus resources. These resources are unlikely to require update when deployed to a new environment, because AquaLogic Service Bus does not use the URLs in these WSDL files at run time.

Note: AquaLogic Service Bus creates a new WSDL file for each HTTP proxy service. You can view the contents of this WSDL file by appending ?wsdl to the endpoint for the service. For example, when running the AquaLogic Service Bus Examples Server (Start—>All Programs—>BEA Products—>Examples—>AquaLogic Service Bus—>Start Examples Server), you can view the WSDL for the loadgateway2 proxy service at http://localhost:7001/crejws_basic_ejb/loadgateway2?wsdl.

Business Services

Business services are AquaLogic Service Bus definitions of the enterprise information services with which you want to exchange messages. Business services in a production environment could specify multiple endpoints (URLs) for load balancing purposes and high availability. For information on how to add endpoints to a business service, see "Viewing and Changing Business Services" in Business Services in the AquaLogic Service Bus Console Online Help. For information on how to update the value of existing endpoints, see "Finding and Replacing Environment Values" in Using the Change Center in the AquaLogic Service Bus Console Online Help.

Proxy Services

Proxy services are AquaLogic Service Bus definitions of intermediary Web services that AquaLogic Service Bus implements locally on WebLogic Server. While the majority of the metadata that defines a proxy service can be deployed without change in a new environment, there is some information you may need to update:

Proxy service message flows route messages to named destinations (business services, other proxy services, and so on). Message routing definitions may need to be updated in a new environment. For information on how to configure this resource appropriately for your environment, see "Viewing and Changing Message Flow" in Proxy Services in the AquaLogic Service Bus Console Online Help.
Definitions of proxy services for File, FTP, and Email message types must specify a single managed server for deployment of polling runtime components in a cluster. The Managed Server drop-down list appears in the AquaLogic Service Bus Console in clustered AquaLogic Service Bus domains only. For information on how to edit the Managed Server value for a proxy service, see "Viewing and Changing Proxy Services" in Proxy Services in the AquaLogic Service Bus Console Online Help.
Proxy service definitions can include directory names that may need to be updated for a new environment. For information on how to configure this resource appropriately for your environment, see "Finding and Replacing Environment Values" in Using the Change Center in the AquaLogic Service Bus Console Online Help.
Proxy service definitions include references to other AquaLogic Service Bus resources. It is important to verify the validity of these references in a new environment.
JMS queues and connection factories in the proxy service URL may need to be updated. For more information, see "JMS Queue and Topic Destination Tasks" and "JMS Connection Factory Tasks" in Configuring JMS System Resources in Configuring and Managing WebLogic JMS.
Each proxy service relies on an instance of WebLogic Server Work Manager for its dispatch policy. You can tune the Work Manager instance to meet the requirements of your production environment. For more information, see Using Work Manager to Optimize Scheduled Work in Designing and Configuring WebLogic Server Environments.

For more information about proxy services, see Proxy Services in the AquaLogic Service Bus Console Online Help.

Schemas

A schema is a document that defines valid content for an XML document. Schemas are used to add XML information to messages exchanged in AquaLogic Service Bus. These resources are unlikely to require update when deployed to a new environment.

Service Accounts

AquaLogic Service Bus uses service accounts to provide authentication when connecting to a service or server. For information about using this resource appropriately in your production environment, see "Transport Security for JMS, Email, FTP, and Files" in Securing Inbound and Outbound Messages in the BEA AquaLogic Service Bus User Guide.

Proxy Service Providers

AquaLogic Service Bus uses proxy service providers to supply credential-level validation to proxy services. The following types of security are available:

SSL client authentication
Digital signature
Encryption
Web services security X509 token

For information about how to configure this resource appropriately for your environment, see Proxy Service Providers in the AquaLogic Service Bus Console Online Help.

WS-Policies

AquaLogic Service Bus uses Web Service Policies (WS-Policies) to associate Web service security policy with proxy services and business services. For information about how to configure this resource appropriately for your production environment, see "Web Service Policy" in Securing Inbound and Outbound Messages in the BEA AquaLogic Service Bus User Guide.

These resources are unlikely to require update when deployed to a new environment.

XQuery and XSLT Transformations

Transformation maps describe the mapping between two data types. AquaLogic Service Bus supports data mapping using either XQuery or the eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) standard. These resources are unlikely to require update when deployed to a new environment.

MFLs

Message Format Language (MFL) is a BEA proprietary language used to define rules to transform formatted binary data into XML data. MFL documents are unlikely to require update when deployed to a new environment.

Relational Database Management System Resources

AquaLogic Service Bus relies on database resources for storing message reporting data by the JMS Reporting Provider. Database performance is a factor in overall AquaLogic Service Bus performance. For information about database tuning requirements associated with AquaLogic Service Bus applications, see the BEA AquaLogic Service Bus Release Notes.

For additional information on turning your database, see your database vendor's documentation.

Hardware, Operating System, and Network Resources

Hardware, operating system, and network resources play a crucial role in AquaLogic Service Bus performance. Deployments must comply with the hardware and software requirements described in the BEA AquaLogic Service Bus Release Notes.