Connections from IBM Process Server to Process Center
To establish and work with connections from IBM Process Server to Process Center, you should understand the typical behavior of the connections and know where to update the connection settings.
- Behavior
- Settings
- Other sources of information
Behavior
IBM Process Server connects to Process Center using an HTTP or HTTPS connection. It sends a periodic heartbeat to Process Center and uses the URL configured in the processCenterInternalUrl or processCenterUrl setting to access the Process Center and establish the connection.
When Process Server connects to Process Center, authentication is required. The user ID and password that are used for authentication are those that are specified for the authentication alias that is mapped to the IBM BPM Security role ProcessCenterUser.
When Process Server successfully establishes a connection to Process Center, it sends Process Center the following information (which Process Center stores in the LSW_Server table):
- Deployed snapshots and running instances
- The user ID and password that are used for Process Center to establish a return connection to Process Server. The user ID and password that are sent to Process Center are retrieved from the authentication alias that is mapped to the IBM BPM Security role BPMAuthor.
- Host and port information, which are used when the Process Center needs to connect for online deployment or to display a link to the Process Admin console for the Process Server.
The host and port information are retrieved from the default virtual host in WCCM. If the default virtual host is not defined in WCCM, the server information is obtained from the base WebSphere Application Server.
To define a virtual host in WCCM, see the instructions in the topic Configuring endpoints to match your topology. Note that a user can change the address by specifying an absolute value for the BPMURL scenario key HEARTBEAT_DESIGNATED_DEPLOYMENT_ENDPOINT. For example:
AdminConfig.modify(bpmurl,[['HEARTBEAT_DESIGNATED_DEPLOYMENT_ENDPOINT','https://myLocation:9043/teamworks']])When an address is changed by specifying an absolute value for the HEARTBEAT_DESIGNATED_DEPLOYMENT_ENDPOINT scenario key, the IBM BPM virtual host will not be used.
Settings
The following table lists settings that are used in connections between IBM Process Server and Process Center:
| Setting | Description | IBM BPM 8.5.0.1 or later | Prior to IBM BPM 8.5.0.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PC URL | Specifies the URL that IBM Process Server uses to connect to a pre-8.5.0.1 Process Center. It uses Form-based Authentication. A pre-8.5.0.1 Process Center supports only the PC URL setting and it does not support the PC Internal URL setting. To ensure that the Process Server can connect to a Process Center from any release of IBM BPM, this setting should always be specified. | processCenterUrl | repository-server-url |
| PC Internal URL | Specifies the URL that IBM Process Server uses to connect to an IBM BPM 8.5.0.1 or later Process Center. It uses Basic Authentication rather than Form-based Authentication. It has the same format as the PC URL, except that it also has the literal string Internal appended at the end for the context root. An 8.5.0.1 or later Process Center supports both the PC URL setting and the PC Internal URL setting. The PC Internal URL is the preferred method of communication and it is automatically used when it is available. To ensure that the Process Server can connect to a Process Center from any release of IBM BPM, this setting should always be specified. The setting should be set to the same host and port as the PC URL. | processCenterInternalUrl | Not applicable |
| Interval | The interval of the heartbeat that is sent from IBM Process Server to Process Center. It specifies the seconds between the heartbeats when connected to Process Center. To set the server to an offline state, specify a value that is less than or equal to 0 (zero), such as -1. To set the server to an online state, specify a value that is greater than 0 (zero), such as 60. | interval | repository-server-interval |
| PC User | The authentication alias that is used to
connect from IBM Process Server to Process Center. It must include
a user and password that are capable of being used to log in to the
Process Center. The default name is ProcessCenterUserAlias.
The value can be set using wsadmin commands or
the administrative console. The specified user does not need to be valid in Process Server. However, the user must be valid in Process Center. If both Process Server and Process Center share the same user registry, such as LDAP, then the user is valid in both environments. |
ProcessCenterUser | repository-server-user-auth-alias |
| Process Center Install Group | Specifies the name of a group whose members
are authorized to perform installations on Process Server. IBM Process
Server passes the specified group name to Process Center. When a Process
Center user attempts to install on Process Server, the Process Center
performs a check to ensure that the user is a member of the specified
group. On Process Center, a user can create process applications and human services, as well as use JavaScript APIs to look up any internal group and add members. For this reason, an internal group should not be specified for the Process Center Install setting. Instead, the specified group should exist in the user registry, either LDAP or a file-based registry. For information on deployment authorization requirements, see the topic Restricting installation access to runtime servers. |
ProcessCenterInstall | process-center-install-group |
Information about security configuration properties and roles is found in the following topics:
- Security configuration properties
- Configuration properties for the BPMConfig command
- IBM Business Process Manager roles
- Restricting installation access to runtime servers
IBM® Business Process Manager uses an authentication alias that is mapped to the ProcessCenterUser role to connect the Process Center to the Process Server. By default, the authentication alias is defaulted to the DeAdmin authentication alias. To change the authentication alias for the Process Center role using the administrative console, see Modifying authentication aliases. To change the authentication alias for the Process Center role using the command line, see Using wsadmin commands to customize the Process Server settings used to connect to Process Center in IBM Business Process Manager.
Typically, each Process Server in a runtime environment is connected to a Process Center; a single Process Center can be connected to multiple servers. You can install process application snapshots from the Process Center to one or more of these connected Process Servers.
For additional information on modifying settings and properties for connections between Process Server and Process Center, see the following topics:
Other sources of information
Other relevant information is found in the following topics: