10 Configuring and Using Oracle Enterprise Repository as the Oracle AIA SOA Repository

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 10.1, "Introduction to Using Oracle Enterprise Repository as the Oracle AIA SOA Repository"
Section 10.2, "How to Provide EBO and EBM Documentation Links in Oracle Enterprise Repository"
Section 10.3, "How to Access Oracle AIA Content in Oracle Enterprise Repository"

10.1 Introduction to Using Oracle Enterprise Repository as the Oracle AIA SOA Repository

Oracle Application Integration Architecture (AIA) leverages Oracle Enterprise Repository as its SOA repository solution, providing a centrally managed user interface for discovering and learning about the SOA assets in your Oracle AIA ecosystem.

Specifically, all prebuilt AIA design-time interfaces, including Enterprise Business Service (EBS) WSDL files, Application Business Connector Service (ABCS) WSDL files, Enterprise Business Object (EBO) XSD files, Enterprise Business Message (EBM) XSD files, and their underlying artifacts, relationships, and metadata are delivered via Oracle Enterprise Repository.

Beyond this, you also can publish run-time, deployed composites into Oracle Enterprise Repository. As such, Oracle Enterprise Repository can provide visibility and coverage across the span of the SOA design-time and run-time lifecycles.

Solution Packs

Solution packs are an Oracle Enterprise Repository mechanism used to deliver content in bulk. The prebuilt AIA SOA portfolio is shipped as a solution pack. You can import the solution pack into your on-premise Oracle Enterprise Repository instances to view, access, and evaluate the AIA SOA portfolio.

The importing of an AIA solution pack to Oracle Enterprise Repository is a task that is independent of the installation of AIA. If you intend to use Oracle Enterprise Repository in your enterprise, you can import an AIA solution pack before or after your AIA installation. In fact, you can even import an AIA solution pack without purchasing or installing AIA.

The importing of an AIA solution pack does require that you perform the prerequisite steps documented in Section 5.1, "How to Set Up Oracle AIA Content Harvesting."

For more information about performing these imports, see "Importing Items into Oracle Enterprise Repository" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User Guide for Oracle Enterprise Repository.

Note:

While the AIA solution pack import is in progress, ensure that no other activities occur on the target Oracle Enterprise Repository instance.

Once AIA design-time artifacts and deployed composites have been published into Oracle Enterprise Repository, your enterprise can search for, browse, and view them in Oracle Enterprise Repository. By keeping Oracle Enterprise Repository synchronized with your AIA ecosystem, you ensure that it can serve as the system of record for your business services and their topologies.

Potential users of Oracle Enterprise Repository as a SOA repository are active across the span of the SOA development lifecycle and include functional and business analysts, architects, developers, system integrators, and system administrators.

For example, a business analyst working on requirements for building a particular business process can use Oracle Enterprise Repository to determine which business capabilities are available in a particular integration area and then determine which additional capabilities may need to be built. The capabilities are delivered in the form of application-independent services and objects.

Additionally, solution architects can use Oracle Enterprise Repository during their functional analysis (using Project Lifecycle Workbench) to evaluate the potential for service reuse.

For more information about viewing Oracle AIA artifacts and composites in Oracle Enterprise Repository, see Section 10.3, "How to Access Oracle AIA Content in Oracle Enterprise Repository."

For more information about Project Lifecycle Workbench, see Chapter 3, "Working with Project Lifecycle Workbench."

10.2 How to Provide EBO and EBM Documentation Links in Oracle Enterprise Repository

Objective

AIA delivers HTML documentation for each EBO and EBM, which you can link to from respective EBO and EBM entry detail pages in Oracle Enterprise Repository.

To do this, set up an Oracle Enterprise Repository artifact store to enable Oracle Enterprise Repository to provide links to AIA EBO and EBM HTML documentation provided on an AIA web server.

If you do not perform this setup, the AIA Reference Doc link appears on EBO and EBM detail pages in the Oracle Enterprise Repository, but does not lead anywhere.

Actor

System administrator

How to provide EBO and EBM HTML documentation links in Oracle Enterprise Repository

Access the Oracle Enterprise Repository user interface (UI): http://<host>:<port>/oer. Click the Edit/Manage Assets link in the Assets menu to launch the Asset Editor.
In the Asset Editor, navigate to Actions, Configure Artifact Stores.

Click Edit to add a new AIA artifact store. The artifact store must be named AIA.

You must manually add this artifact store when setting up the Oracle Enterprise Repository for the first time.
In the Create a new Artifact Store dialog box, as shown in Figure 10-1, define the Hostname value for the AIA artifact store, which is the <host>:<port> value for the AIA web server installation. Define the Path value as /AIA/faces.

Together, the Hostname and Path values express the AIA location at which EBO and EBM HTML documentation can be accessed via the HTTP protocol.

Figure 10-1 Edit Artifact Store Dialog Box
Click OK.

10.3 How to Access Oracle AIA Content in Oracle Enterprise Repository

Objective

Access AIA content in the Oracle Enterprise Repository.

Prerequisites and Recommendations

Read relevant Oracle Enterprise Repository documentation and understand Oracle Enterprise Repository asset models and graphs.

For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware User Guide for Oracle Enterprise Repository.
Complete the steps covered in Section 5.1, "How to Set Up Oracle AIA Content Harvesting."
For prebuilt design-time interfaces delivered by AIA, import the solution pack into the Oracle Enterprise Repository.

For more information, see Section 10.1, "Introduction to Using Oracle Enterprise Repository as the Oracle AIA SOA Repository."
For custom-built individual composites that have not been deployed, run the AIA Harvester to publish them into Oracle Enterprise Repository.

For more information, see Section 5.2, "Harvesting Design-Time Composites into Project Lifecycle Workbench and Oracle Enterprise Repository."
For custom-built interfaces, run the AIA Harvester to publish them into Oracle Enterprise Repository.

For more information, see Section 5.3, "Harvesting Interfaces to Oracle Enterprise Repository in Bulk."
For deployed composites (part of deployed Process Integration Packs), run the AIA post-installation script to publish the run-time composite into Oracle Enterprise Repository.

For more information, see Section 5.4, "Harvesting Deployed Composites into Oracle Enterprise Repository."
If you want to provide links to EBO and EBM HTML documentation from EBO and EBM detail pages, complete the steps in Section 10.2, "How to Provide EBO and EBM Documentation Links in Oracle Enterprise Repository."

Actors

Business analysts
Solution architects
Developers
Functional analysts
Integration architects
Release engineers
System administrators
System integrators

To access Oracle AIA design-time artifacts and deployed composites in Oracle Enterprise Repository:

Access the Oracle Enterprise Repository to which your AIA design-time artifacts and deployed composites have been published.

Use Oracle Enterprise Repository search and browse functionality to locate AIA content.

For more information about using Oracle Enterprise Repository, see Oracle Fusion Middleware User Guide for Oracle Enterprise Repository.
To narrow your search to AIA asset types, select an AIA: <XYZ> value in the Type drop-down list box in the Search menu. For example, by selecting AIA: EBO, you can narrow your search to AIA EBOs only.

When viewing EBOs and EBMs in Oracle Enterprise Repository, you can click the AIA Reference Doc link as shown in Figure 10-2 to access HTML documentation about the content.

Figure 10-2 AIA Reference Doc Link

For more information about providing links to EBO and EBM HTML documentation from EBO and EBM detail pages in Oracle Enterprise Repository, see Section 10.2, "How to Provide EBO and EBM Documentation Links in Oracle Enterprise Repository."