Implementing WebSphere Business Integration Express for Item Synchronization

36 Implementing WebSphere BI Express for Item Synchronization

Series of commands that you execute from time to time but are not required to be

executed during the start-up of the agent can be stored in a work order file. You

can then use the batch command to execute the commands whenever this is

appropriate. Work order files also can be executed automatically. The agent can

be configured to monitor a directory for files with a given extension. (The default

extension is .wo.) When such a file is dropped in the correct directory, the agent

will read it and execute the commands.

Example 4-2 shows a sample work order file. It has an XML format where

individual commands are the data values of a command XML element. The

actual command can be any command that is supported by the agent. The actual

command does not look any different from what you would have typed in an

interactive session.

Example 4-2 Sample work order file

<xml>

<command> send http QA_a QA_b -fNedi\edifile.x12 -r1 -cE</command>

</xml>

In addition to file-based work orders, you can use a message queue. However,

the contents of the message should not be in the XML format that is shown in

Example 4-2. The contents of the message should be the command text only,

without the xml and command tags. Unfortunately, the response or output of the

command is not sent back as a reply message. The output of the command is

shown in the console view and in the log file, if activated.

Web-based status reporting can be turned on by executing the command start

GUI. The P2PAgent will then listen on port 80 for any HTTP requests. If a request

is received, it responds with the output of the status command. The standard

product does not offer a complete Web-based administration tool. However, this

functionality is available as an add-on product.

4.4 Load-balancing and multi-machine setup

For environments where many documents need to be sent and received, a single

machine might not be sufficient to handle all the workload. iSoft’s P2PAgent

provides a solution to this problem. The task of sending and receiving documents

can be split into three different roles:

򐂰 The Transport role: This is the task of encrypting, decrypting, signing and

verifying signatures, as well as sending and receiving documents. Encryption

and digital signature algorithms are mathematically-intensive operations.

Therefore, it is useful if these tasks can be spread over multiple machines.

Chapter 4. iSoft Peer-to-Peer Agent 37

򐂰 The Router role: This is the role that can perform software-based load sharing

between multiple computers that provide the Transport role. The Router

provides a single point-of-entry for data of a given Internet protocol. The

actual processing of the incoming data is then delegated to one of the

computers performing the Transport role. Figure 4-2 graphically shows this

inbound load-sharing technique.

Figure 4-2 Inbound load sharing as provided by iSoft’s P2PAgent

򐂰 The Admin role: This is the role that performs the outbound distribution in

addition to other services. Documents that have been prepared for sending to

trading partners are distributed by the Admin role to the computers that

provide the Transport role. In addition to this outbound load sharing, the

Admin role also provides administration services to manage trading partner

relationships, for example. Figure 4-3 on page 38 graphically shows how the

different roles work together. The EDI Generator role, for example, could be

provided by WebSphere Data Interchange.

Transport Transport Transport

Router

Internet

38 Implementing WebSphere BI Express for Item Synchronization

Figure 4-3 Outbound load sharing as provided by iSoft’s P2PAgent

In this redbook, we will focus on an implementation of iSoft’s P2PAgent where all

roles are performed by a single computer. For more information about setting up

a multi-machine implementation of the P2PAgent, please refer to the product

documentation of iSoft’s P2PAgent.

Admin

Transport Transport Transport

Internet

EDI

Generator