14 Provisioning SOA Artifacts and Composites
This chapter explains how you can provision SOA Artifacts and Composites using Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control). In particular, this chapter covers the following:
Note:
In Enterprise Manager 12c Release 4, there is support to provision SOA 11g artifacts. Note that you cannot provision SOA 12c artifacts.
Getting Started with SOA Artifacts Provisioning
This section helps you get started with this chapter by providing an overview of the steps involved in provisioning SOA Artifacts and Composites. Consider this section to be a documentation map to understand the sequence of actions you must perform to successfully provision SOA Artifacts and Composites. Click the reference links provided against the steps to reach the relevant sections that provide more information.
Table 14-1 Getting Started with Provisioning SOA Artifacts and Composites
| Step | Description | Reference Links |
|---|---|---|
|
Step 1 |
Understanding the Deployment Procedure Understand the two Deployment Procedures that are offered by Cloud Control for provisioning SOA Artifacts and Composites. Know how the two Deployment Procedures function, what use cases they cover, what releases they support, and what core components they provision. |
To learn about the Deployment Procedure, see Deployment Procedures, Supported Releases, and Core Components Deployed. |
|
Step 2 |
Selecting the Deployment Procedure to Provision This chapter covers use cases for different SOA components. Identify the component you want to provision and understand the use cases that are covered. |
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Step 3 |
Meeting the Prerequisites Before you run any Deployment Procedure, you must meet the prerequisites, such as setting up of the provisioning environment, applying mandatory patches, and setting up of Oracle Software Library. |
To learn about the prerequisites for provisioning SOA artifacts and composites, access the reference links provided for Step (2) and navigate to the Prerequisites subsection. |
|
Step 4 |
Running the Deployment Procedure Run the Deployment Procedure to successfully provision SOA Artifacts and Composites. |
To provision SOA Artifacts and Composites, access the reference links provided for Step (2) and navigate to the Provisioning Procedure subsection. |
Understanding SOA Artifacts Provisioning
SOA artifacts deployment procedures support provisioning of SOA composites, Web Service policies, and policy and credential stores.
Following are some of the terms used in SOA artifacts provisioning:
SOA Composite
A SOA composite is a logical construct. Its components can run in a single process on a single computer or be distributed across multiple processes on multiple computers. A complete application might be constructed from just one composite, or it could combine several different composites. The components making up each composite might all use the same technology, or they might be built using different technologies.
SOA Infra Domain
The SOA Infrastructure domain is a WebLogic domain that contains soa-infra binaries, The SOA Infrastructure includes a set of service engines (Human Workflow, Decision Service, and Oracle Mediator) that execute the business logic of their respective components within the SOA composite application (for example, a Human Workflow process).
Web Services
A Web service is a program that can be accessed remotely using different XML-based languages. What this program can do (that is, the functionality it implements) is described in a standard XML vocabulary called Web Services Description Language (WSDL). For example, a banking Web service may implement functions to check an account, print a statement, and deposit and withdraw funds. These functions are described in a WSDL file that any consumer can invoke to access the banking Web service. As a result, a consumer does not have to know anything more about a Web service than the WSDL file that describes what it can do.
A Web service consumer (such as, a desktop application or a Java Platform, Enterprise Edition client such as a portlet) invokes a Web service by submitting a request in the form of an XML document to a Web service provider. The Web service provider processes the request and returns the result to the Web service consumer in an XML document.
WS Policies and Assertions
Policies describe the capabilities and requirements of a Web service such as whether and how a message must be secured, whether and how a message must be delivered reliably, and so on. Policies belong to one of the following categories: Reliable Messaging, Management, WS-Addressing, Security, and MTOM.
Policies are comprised of one or more assertions. A policy assertion is the smallest unit of a policy that performs a specific action. Policy assertions are executed on the request message and the response message, and the same set of assertions is executed on both types of messages. The assertions are executed in the order in which they appear in the policy. Assertions, like policies, belong to one of the following categories: Reliable Messaging, Management, WS-Addressing, Security, and MTOM.
Policy Stores
The Policy Store is a repository of system and application-specific policies and roles. Application roles can include enterprise users and groups specific to the application (such as administrative roles). A policy can use any of these groups or users as principals. A policy store can be file-based or LDAP-based. A file-based policy store is an XML file, and this store is the out-of-the-box policy store provider. An LDAP-based policy store can use either of the following LDAP servers: Oracle Internet Directory or Oracle Virtual Directory (with a local store adapter, or LSA).
Credential Stores
A Credential Store is a repository of security data (credentials) that certify the authority of users, Java components, and system components. A credential can hold user name and password combinations, tickets, or public key certificates. This data is used during authentication, when principals are populated in subjects, and, further, during authorization, when determining what actions the subject can perform.
Human Workflow
Human Workflow component is responsible for managing the lifecycle of human tasks, including creation, assignment, expiration, deadlines, and notifications, as well as its presentation to end users. It supports sophisticated dynamic task routing leveraging declarative patterns and tight integration with business rules. The three main sub-components of Human Workflow are a Task editor, Task Service Engine, and a Worklist application.
Oracle B2B
Oracle B2B provides the secure and reliable exchange of documents between businesses. For example, Retailer, Supplier, and Manufacturer. This type of eCommerce, B2B, represents mature business documents, classic business processes and industry specific messaging services and requires an architecture to manage the complete end-to-end business process. Together with the Oracle SOA Suite, Oracle B2B meets this challenge and provides an architecture enabling a unified business process platform, end-to-end instance tracking, visibility, auditing, process intelligence, governance, and security.
Deployment Procedures, Supported Releases, and Core Components Deployed
Cloud Control offers the following Deployment Procedures for provisioning SOA Artifacts and Composites:
| Deployment Procedure | Supported Releases | Artifacts Migrated |
|---|---|---|
|
SOA Artifacts Provisioning |
Oracle SOA Suite 11gR1 Patch Set 1 to Patch Set 4 (11.1.1.2.0) to 11.1.1.5.0) Oracle SOA Suite 12cR2 Patch Set 1 and Patch Set 2 (12.2.1.1) and (12.2.1.2) Patch Set 3 and later are not supported |
|
|
Deploy SOA Composites |
Oracle SOA Suite 11gR1 Patch Set 1 to Patch Set 4 (11.1.1.2.0) to 11.1.1.5.0) |
|
Note:
Provisioning of a gold image from the Software Library is not supported for Microsoft Windows Vista.
Note:
Cloning of human workflow artifacts and B2B artifacts are not supported. For information about cloning human workflow artifacts, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite. For information about cloning B2B artifacts, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle B2B. These guides are available at:
Note:
Provisioning from installation media or an existing domain is only supported for plain WLS domains. SOA and OSB are not supported.
Provisioning SOA Artifacts
This section describes how you can provision SOA artifacts. In particular, this section covers the following:
Provisioning SOA Artifacts from a Reference Installation
This section describes how you can provision SOA artifacts from one soa-infra domain to another.
Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the following prerequisites:
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Ensure that you meet the prerequisites described in Provisioning SOA Artifacts and Composites.
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Ensure that you have already provisioned Oracle SOA Suite 11g and its underlying Oracle WebLogic Server Domain.
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Ensure that all the components (not only the soa-infra domain) within the source and target Oracle WebLogic Server Domains are up and running.
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Ensure that the source and the destination soa-infra domains are of the same version.
To provision SOA artifacts (composites, web service policies, JPS configuration) from a reference installation, follow these steps:
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From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Procedure Library.
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On the Deployment Procedure Manager page, in the Procedure Library subtab, from the table, select SOA Artifacts Provisioning deployment procedure. Select Launch and click Go. Cloud Control displays the Select Source page of the Deployment Procedure.
Note:
You can also access this deployment procedure as follows:
From the SOA Infrastructure Home page:
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From the Targets menu, click Middleware.
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In the Middleware page, click on a target of type SOA Infrastructure.
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In the SOA Infrastructure home page, from the SOA infrastructure-specific menu, select SOA Artifacts Provisioning.
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On the Select Source page, do the following:
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Retain the default selection, that is, Provision from reference environment.
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Click on the torch icon against the Domain Name field. Search for the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain that you want to deploy the SOA artifacts from and select it. Ensure that the source Oracle WebLogic Server Domain is up and running.
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In the Credentials section, retain the default section, that is, Preferred Credentials so that the preferred credentials stored in the Management Repository can be used.
To override the preferred credentials with another set of credentials, select Override Preferred Credentials. You are prompted to specify the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain credentials and the Oracle WebLogic Administration Server host credentials. In the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain Credentials section, specify the administrator credentials that can be used to access the WebLogic Server Administration Console. In the Oracle WebLogic Administration Server Host Credentials section, specify the operating system credentials of the user who installed the Admin Server.
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Optionally, if you want to save the SOA artifacts as an image in the Software Library, select Save SOA Artifacts Gold Image in Software Library.
For example, in future, if you want to provision this particular version to other Oracle WebLogic Server Domains, then instead of using the reference installation, which could potentially be down, you can use the gold image you saved in the Software Library.
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Click Next.
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On the Select Destination page, do the following:
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Click on the torch icon against the Domain Name field. Search for the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain that you want to deploy the SOA artifacts to and select it. Ensure that the destination Oracle WebLogic Server Domain is up and running.
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In the Credentials section, retain the default selection, that is, Preferred Credentials so that the preferred credentials stored in the Management Repository can be used.
To override the preferred credentials with another set of credentials, select Override Preferred Credentials. You are prompted to specify the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain credentials and the Oracle WebLogic Administration Server host credentials. In the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain Credentials section, specify the administrator credentials that can be used to access the WebLogic Server Administration Console. In the Oracle WebLogic Administration Server Host Credentials section, specify the operating system credentials of the user who installed the Admin Server.
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Click Next.
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On the Select Artifacts page, do the following:
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In the Choose the type of SOA artifacts to provision section, select SOA Composites, Web Services Policies, and Java Platform Security Configuration.
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Click Next.
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On the SOA Composites page, do the following:
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Select the composites you want to provision and specify a configuration plan from the Software Library or a directory.
It is recommended that you place the configuration plan in a directory on destination machine. Alternatively, you can also place the configuration plan in any other shared location which is accessible from the destination machine.
If the composite already exists on the destination host, then select Overwrite to overwrite that existing composite with the composite from the source domain.
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Click Next.
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On the Web Services Policies page, do the following:
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In the Assertion Templates section, select the assertion templates to migrate.
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In the Web Services Policies section, select the policies to migrate.
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Click Next.
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On the Java Platform Security page, do the following:
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In the Migrate Policy Store and Credential Store section, select Migrate Policy Store and Migrate Credential Store.
To view a list of providers for the source and target, click Provider details link.
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Click Next.
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On the Human Workflow page, select all the workflow artifacts that you want to migrate such as Views, Flex Field Mappings, and Attribute Labels, then click Next.
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On the B2B artifacts page, select all the B2B artifacts that you want to migrate such as Trading Partners, Trading Agreements, and Document Protocols, then click Next.
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On the Schedule page, schedule the Deployment Procedure to run either immediately or later.
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On the Review page, review the details you have provided for provisioning SOA artifacts, and click Submit.
Provisioning SOA Artifacts from Gold Image
This section describes how you can provision SOA artifacts (composites, web service policies, JPS configuration) from a gold image stored in the Software Library. In particular, this section covers the following:
Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the following prerequisites:
-
Ensure that you meet the prerequisites described in Setting Up Your Infrastructure.
-
Ensure that you have already provisioned Oracle SOA Suite 11g and its underlying Oracle WebLogic Server Domain.
-
Ensure that the source and the destination soa-infra domains are of the same version.
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Ensure that you have already saved the gold image in the Software Library while provisioning the SOA artifacts from a reference installation.
To provision SOA artifacts from a gold image, follow these steps:
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From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then click Procedure Library.
-
On the Deployment Procedure Manager page, in the Procedure Library subtab, from the table, select SOA Artifacts Provisioning deployment procedure. Select Launch and click Go. Cloud Control displays the Select Source page of the Deployment Procedure.
Note:
You can also access this deployment procedure as follows:
-
From the SOA Infrastructure Home page:
-
From the Targets menu, click Middleware.
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In the Middleware page, click on a target of type SOA Infrastructure.
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In the SOA Infrastructure home page, from the SOA infrastructure-specific menu, select SOA Artifacts Provisioning.
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On the Select Source page, do the following:
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Select Provision from Gold Image.
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Click on the torch icon against the Gold Image Name field. Search for the gold image you want to provision the SOA artifacts from and select it.
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Click Next.
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On the Select Destination page, do the following:
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Click on the torch icon against the Domain Name field. Search for the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain that you want to deploy the SOA artifacts to and select it.
-
In the Credentials section, retain the default section, that is, Preferred Credentials so that the preferred credentials stored in the Management Repository can be used.
To override the preferred credentials with another set of credentials, select Override Preferred Credentials. You are prompted to specify the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain credentials and the Oracle WebLogic Administration Server host credentials. In the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain Credentials section, specify the administrator credentials that can be used to access the WebLogic Server Administration Console. In the Oracle WebLogic Administration Server Host Credentials section, specify the operating system credentials of the user who installed the Admin Server.
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Click Next.
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On the Select Artifacts page, do the following:
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In the Choose the type of SOA artifacts to provision section, select SOA Composites, Web Services Policies, and Java Platform Security Configuration.
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Click Next.
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On the SOA Composites page, do the following:
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Select the composites you want to provision and specify a configuration plan from the Software Library or a directory.
If the composite already exists on the destination host, then select Overwrite to overwrite that existing composite with the composite from the source domain.
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Click Next.
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On the Web Services Policies page, do the following:
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In the Assertion Templates section, select the assertion templates to migrate.
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In the Web Services Policies section, select the policy assertions to migrate.
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Click Next.
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On the Java Platform Security page, do the following:
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In the Migrate Policy Store and Credential Store section, select Migrate Policy Store and Migrate Credential Store check boxes.
To view a list of providers for the target, click Provider details link.
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Click Next.
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On the Human Workflow page, select all the workflow artifacts that you want to migrate like Views, Flex Field Mappings, and Attribute Labels, then click Next.
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On the B2B artifacts page, select all the B2B artifacts that you want to migrate like Trading Partners, Trading Agreements, and Document Protocols, then click Next.
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On the Review page, review the details you have provided for provisioning SOA artifacts, and click Submit.
Deploying SOA Composites
This section explains how you can deploy SOA composites. In particular, this section contains:
Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the following prerequisites:
-
Ensure that you meet the prerequisites described in Provisioning SOA Artifacts and Composites.
-
Ensure that you have already provisioned Oracle SOA Suite 11g and its underlying Oracle WebLogic Server Domain.
-
Ensure that the source and the destination soa-infra domains are of the same version.
The domain should have at least one managed server with the SOA Infrastructure application running. In the case of a SOA Cluster, the composites will be deployed to any one managed server in the cluster.
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Ensure that you have the SOA Composites either in the Software Library or in a file system accessible from the Admin Server host.
To provision SOA composites, follow these steps:
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From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Procedure Library.
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On the Deployment Procedure Manager page, in the Procedure Library subtab, from the table, select Deploy SOA Composites deployment procedure. Select Launch and click Go. Cloud Control displays the Select Destination page of the Deployment Procedure.
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On the Destination page, do the following:
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Click on the torch icon against the Destination Domain Name field. Search for the Oracle WebLogic domain that you want to deploy the SOA composites to, and select it.
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In the Credentials section, retain the default section, that is, Preferred Credentials so that the preferred credentials stored in the Management Repository can be used.
To override the preferred credentials with another set of credentials, select Override Preferred Credentials. You are prompted to specify the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain credentials and the Oracle WebLogic Administration Server host credentials. In the Oracle WebLogic Server Domain Credentials section, specify the administrator credentials that can be used to access the WebLogic Server Administration Console. In the Oracle WebLogic Administration Server Host Credentials section, specify the operating system credentials of the user who installed the Admin Server.
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Click Next.
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On the Source page, do the following:
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In the Composites section, click Add. Select Composites Source as Software Library or File System depending on where the composites are located. Select the Plan Source location and path.
If the composite already exists on the destination host, then select Overwrite to overwrite that existing composite with the composite from the source domain. If you want the composite that you are deploying now to be set as the default component, then retain the Force Default selection.
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In the Options section, select Verify adapter dependencies if you want to ignore the missing adapters in the destination domain and proceed with the provisioning operation. Each composite may refer to one or more adapters, and the composites may not run properly if the depending adapters are missing in the destination domain. However, if you select this option, you can ignore all such missing adapters.
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Click Next.
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On the Schedule page, schedule the Deployment Procedure to run either immediately or later.
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On the Review page, review the details you have provided for provisioning SOA composites, and click Submit.