Resource adapters collection

Use this panel to perform the following actions on stand-alone resource adapters: view the list of resource adapter instances, install additional resource adapter archives (RAR), create additional resource adapter instances from installed RARs and delete resource adapter instances.

A resource adapter can be provided as a stand-alone adapter or as part of an application, in which case the resource adapter is referred to as an embedded adapter. Refer to related task, Installing resource adapters within applications, for more information on embedded resource adapters. A resource adapter is an implementation of the Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) Connector Architecture (JCA) specification. Enterprise applications can use a resource adapter to access resources outside of the application server including relational databases like DB2®, online transaction processing (OLTP) systems like CICS®, and enterprise information system (EIS) like SAP and PeopleSoft. A resource adapter can provide an EIS with the ability to communicate with message-driven beans (MDB) that are configured on the server. Resource adapters are provided by IBM® or third party vendors. A resource adapter implementation is provided in a resource adapter archive file; this file has an extension of .rar.

To view this administrative console page, click Resources > Resource Adapters > Resource adapters.

To display a list of all of the resource adapters that are defined for a specific scope, select that scope.

To view the stand-alone resource adapters that are provided with the application server, select the Show built-in resources checkbox in the Preferences section.

To view additional information about, or to change the settings of a specific resource adapter, click the resource adapter name.

To perform an action on a specific resource adapter, select the checkbox for the resource adapter name and click the appropriate button as the following describes.

Install RAR

Install a resource adapter archive. Installs the files associated with a RAR to the node specified in the scope menu. Additionally, a resource adapter instance is created from the RAR at node scope.

You can upload a RAR file from the local file system, or specify a RAR file on a remote file system. The RAR file must be installed at the node level.

New

Create an new resource adapter instance from an installed RAR.

To create additional resource adapter instances at scopes other than node, select the desired scope for the new resource adapter, and click New. In the subsequent screen, enter a name for the new resource adapter and select the installed RAR from which to create the adapter. Complete any of the optional fields as needed. You cannot create a new resource adapter instance at the node scope.

Delete

Delete the selected resource adapter.

Update RAR

Update the selected resource adapter. Update a resource adapter archive (RAR) file when you determine that a resource adapter, or a set of resource adapters, needs to be updated with a different version or implementation.

Different versions or implementations of resource adapters can include different settings, therefore, updating your adapter might be beneficial if you require a specific set of configuration options. You can update the resource adapter for all of the nodes in a cell or all the nodes in a cluster. If some of your nodes are earlier than Version 7.0, the RAR update is not supported until those nodes are migrated to Version 7.0 or later.

Name

Specifies the name of the resource adapter.

Description

Specifies a text description of the resource adapter.

This description is a free-form text string to describe the resource adapter and its purpose.

Scope

Specifies the level at which this resource adapter is visible. For general information, read about administrative console scope settings.

Some considerations that you should keep in mind for this particular panel are:
  • Changing the scope enables you to see which resource adapter definitions exist at that level.
  • Changing the scope does not have any effect on installation. Installations are always done under a scope of node, no matter what you set the scope to.
  • When you create a new resource adapter from this panel, you must change the scope to what you want it to be before you click New.