Installing WebLogic Integration - Business Connect
After installing WebLogic Integration - Business Connect you can complete some basic tasks and observe the application send test documents from a company to a partner in a simulated trading environment on a single computer.
This tutorial can help you become familiar with the operations of related components of WebLogic Integration - Business Connect, including the Server, Administrator, Tracker and Document Generator applications.
This tutorial is for users who are licensed to use the SMTP or HTTP transport available with ebXML protocol.
Note: We strongly recommend that you not engage in any real document trading with partners while using this tutorial. Also, if you quit this tutorial before finishing and do not plan to resume it, we recommend that you go to Exercise 7. Delete the Tutorial Profiles and delete the profiles you have created.
The following topics are provided:
Complete the exercises in order. Each exercise builds on the previous one.
Use this exercise to create two company profiles to use for testing. These profiles will be identical, except for the name and ID. You also will create a self-signed digital certificate for each profile. Certificates are used to provide security in document exchanges.
This is the longest and probably most important exercise in this tutorial. Please follow the instructions carefully.
The two company profiles you create in this exercise will have names and IDs of sender and receiver, respectively. Both profiles will have as the inbound transport either Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Simple Mail Transfer protocol (SMTP).
In a real trading situation, you normally have only one company profile. However, in this tutorial you will create two company profiles because you will simulate a two-way trading relationship on a single computer. Both profiles are needed for the simulation.
Before you can begin, you must have successfully installed the application.
Also before you begin, stop any system applications, other than Administrator, that might be running. This includes the Server, Tracker and Document Generator applications.
If your operating system is Windows, select Start
If your operating system is UNIX, ensure you have X Windows connectivity to the system where WebLogic Integration - Business Connect is installed. Log in to the account you created during installation. Run the following command to open the Login window (Figure 5-1):
installation_directory
/bin/admin
If you logging on for the first time, use the default user ID Administrator and leave the password blank. Click OK to log on.
When you have logged on the Company Profiles information viewer is displayed (Figure 5-2).
Leave the Administrator running throughout the tutorial.
Figure 5-2 Company Profiles Information Viewer
Figure 5-3 New Company Profile Dialog Box
Figure 5-4 Company Profile Identity Tab
Do not click OK after you have typed values in the fields. You will click OK to save and close the profile only after you have used other tabs and completed the profile.
Figure 5-5 Company Profile Inbound Protocols Tab
On the Inbound Protocols tab you select a business protocol and a transport method for receiving documents. WebLogic Integration - Business Connect supports the ebXML protocol and the following transports:
Figure 5-6 Add Protocol Window
If you selected HTTP, the HTTP Transport Options window opens (Figure 5-7). No action is required on this window. Click OK to close the window. After you click OK, the Inbound Protocols tab displays again. Do not click OK on this tab, but go to the next step.
Figure 5-7 HTTP Transport Options Window
If you selected SMTP, the SMTP Transport Options window opens (Figure 5-8). Type sender@mail.com
in the e-mail address field. (If you are creating the profile for the receiver profile, type receiver@mail.com
instead.) Click OK to close the window. After you click OK, the Inbound Protocols tab displays again. Do not click OK on this tab, but go to the next step.
Figure 5-8 SMTP Transport Options Window
Figure 5-9 Company Profile XML Tab
Upon clicking OK you are prompted to set up a certificate for the company. Click Yes to launch the certificate wizard (Figure 5-10). The default selection on the first window of the certificate wizard is to generate self-signed certificates. You will use the wizard to create a self-signed digital certificate for the profile. You will use all of the default selections in the wizard. Do not change anything.
If you click No when prompted to set up a certificate, the profile is saved and closed and is listed on the Company Profiles information viewer. To set up a certificate later, click Certificates on the left side to display the Certificates information viewer. Then click the name of the profile and click New to launch the certificate wizard.
Note: The System Directories tab shows the default paths on your file system for the directories where the system retrieves outbound documents and puts inbound documents. These directories are not created until you start the Server application. This is explained in more detail in Exercise 4. Start the Server Application.
Figure 5-10 First Window of Certificate Wizard
When the certificate has been generated, the Company Profile information viewer is displayed. The new profile is listed.
Click the Certificates icon on the left side to display the Certificates information viewer. The viewer lists the new certificate for the new profile. Click the Company Profiles icon to return to the Company Profiles information viewer.
Make sure the Company Profiles information viewer is displayed.
Click New to open the New Company Profile window. Type receiver
as both the name and ID of the profile you are creating. Go back and complete step 4. through step 14. to set up this profile and certificate.
Alternately, you can use the clone feature as a short way to create a profile that is similar to an existing profile. Click Clone to open the New Company Profile window. Type receiver
as both the name and ID of the profile you are creating. If you use SMTP as the transport (see step 11.), type receiver@mail.com
in the e-mail address field on the SMTP Transport Options window. Click OK and then go to step 13. to set up the certificate.
Use this exercise to export the two company profiles you created as XML files and then import them as partner profiles.
A company profile is a profile that you own that contains information about your company and the transport you want partners to use to send you documents. When you send a partner your profile, it becomes a partner profile on his system.
Figure 5-11 Exporting and Importing a Profile
In this tutorial you will simulate both sides of a trading relationship, so you will export both company profiles and then import both as partner profiles. These profiles will exist both as companies and partners at the same time on your system. This is not a situation you will experience in real trading with actual partners. This duality is solely for the purpose of this tutorial. In a real trading situation, you normally have only one company profile and one partner profile for each partner with whom you exchange documents. Also in a real situation, you would not import your own company profile as a partner profile.
Figure 5-12 Export Company Profile Window
Notice that you export only a copy of the profile. The original profile is still listed as an active profile on the Company Profiles information viewer.
Figure 5-13 Partner Profiles Information Viewer
Figure 5-14 Import Partner Profile Dialog Box
Use this exercise to designate partners as traders of binary documents. Unlike EDI and XML documents, the contents of binary documents do not specify senders and receivers. WebLogic Integration - Business Connect parses EDI and XML documents to determine senders and receivers. To trade binary documents, however, you must tell WebLogic Integration - Business Connect the partners whom you plan to send binary documents for the documents to be properly routed.
Figure 5-15 Partner Profile Window Binary Directories Tab
Use this exercise to start the Server application, which must be running for document trading to occur. This action also creates the file system directories that WebLogic Integration - Business Connect polls for documents. The Server application gets the documents from the directories and then packages and sends them to partners. Starting the Server application also creates the directories where documents sent by a partner are put after the system receives and unpackages them.
Note: When you create a company profile but before you start the the Server application, the Company Profile window System Directories tab shows the default paths for the file system directories. However, these directories are not actually created until the profile is saved and the Server application is running.
If your operating system is Windows, select Start
If your operating system is UNIX, run the following command:
installation_directory/bin/start_server
When you start the server on Windows, the Server Display window opens (Figure 5-16). This window has two tabs. The Agents tab shows active processes. The Transactions tab shows document activity. You can use a mouse to adjust the widths of the columns on the window.
Leave the Server running throughout the tutorial. On Windows, you can minimize the Server Display window but do not close it as that will close the Server application.
Figure 5-16 Server Display Window Agents Tab on Windows
The directories are created under the WebLogic Integration - Business Connect data directory. Figure 5-17 shows a tree in Windows Explorer of these directories. Notice that there are a directory and subdirectories for each company profile: sender and receiver.
Figure 5-17 File system Directories Tree in Windows Explorer
The following table explains how some of the directories are used.
Note: For users of the ebXML and RosettaNet protocols there is a document of particular importance. That is the message control document (MCD). An MCD is an XML document that contains a business message payload. Users of the ebXML and RosettaNet protocols will use test MCDs later in the tutorial.
Use this exercise to start the Server Monitor web page and the Tracker application. You will use these tools to view document trading activity later in the tutorial.
Note: At this point the Administrator and Server applications should be running. If not, restart them.
The Server application must be running for the Server Monitor page to display.
Figure 5-18 Partial view of Server Monitor Page
If your operating system is Windows, select Start
If your operating system is UNIX, ensure you have X Windows connectivity to the system where WebLogic Integration - Business Connect is installed. Log in to the account you created during installation. Run the following command to open the Login window (Figure 5-19):
installation_directory/bin/tracker
If you logging on for the first time, use the default user ID Administrator and leave the password blank. Click OK to log on.
When you have logged on the Alerts information viewer is displayed (Figure 5-20). Take a few minutes to explore and become familiar with the application.
Figure 5-20 Partial view of Alerts Information Viewer in Tracker
Use this exercise to send a message control document (MCD) from company sender to partner receiver. Use this exercise only if your protocol is ebXML.
Note: If you are coming back to this tutorial after a pause and you closed any WebLogic Integration - Business Connect applications, restart the Administrator, Server and Tracker applications, if necessary. Also, make sure the Server Monitor page is displayed in your web browser.
In this exercise you will configure several test MCDs and place them in the sender's XML-out directory. WebLogic Integration - Business Connect will retrieve the MCD and package and send the payload to the receiver. After receiving the payload, the receiver will send an MDN to the sender that acknowledges receiving the payload.
The following is an example of this data in the ebXML test MCD:
<mcd:RoutingInfo>
<mcd:SenderId type="urn:duns.com">Company1</mcd:SenderId>
<mcd:ReceiverId type="urn:duns.com">Company2</mcd:ReceiverId>
<mcd:MarketPlace/>
</mcd:RoutingInfo>
1ebxml.mcd
, 2ebxml.mcd
, 3ebxml.mcd
, and so on.data\sender\xmlout
.
Use this exercise to stop WebLogic Integration - Business Connect processes and delete the company and partner profiles that you created for this tutorial. We recommend deleting the profiles because they have no use beyond this tutorial and should be removed.
If your operating system is Windows, select Start
If your operating system is UNIX, log in to the account you created during the installation process. Run the following command:
At the Partner Profiles information viewer in Administrator, select a partner profile and click Delete. Then click Yes in the dialog box that appears to confirm you want to delete the profile.
If you are having trouble trading a document while doing the tutorial, the following are some tips for resolving problems.