Adding a web services server

You can add one or more web services servers to your process application. Each web services server describes the location of a web service endpoint and can be referenced when you define an outbound web service integration. This reference enables the sharing of configuration information between web service integrations that starts the same endpoint, eliminating the need to configure similar information multiple times. In addition, if you need to change the information that is associated with a particular endpoint, you can change the web services server information and the updated information can be used by any web service integration that references the web services server.

Before you begin

To perform this task, you must be in the IBM® Process Designer desktop editor.

Also, the policy set and bindings must be configured by a system administrator.

About this task

The web services server can be configured with policy sets and bindings. Policy sets simplify the configuration of web services by providing reusable configurations. A web services policy set defines a set of configuration properties to be associated with a web service integration or endpoint. A policy set follows the WS-Policy specification. One example of how policy sets can be used is to configure WS-Security for your web service endpoint or outbound web service integration. WS-Security provides SOAP message-layer security with the following tokens and elements:
  • Security tokens: Security tokens contain authentication information that flows with the message.
  • Signature elements: Digital signature information for all or part of the message verifies that the original request is not modified.
  • Encryption elements: Messages can be encrypted, either completely or partially, so that only the intended recipient can read it.

Procedure

  1. Open the Process Designer desktop editor.
  2. Open a process application.
  3. Select the Servers tab from the Process App Settings editor. You see the Process App Settings editor when you first click Open in Designer from a newly created process application in the Process Center. Alternatively you can select Process App Settings from the drop-down list on the toolbar in Process Designer.
  4. Beneath the Servers heading click Add. Beneath the Server Details heading, enter a meaningful name for the server. From the drop-down list in the Type field, select Web Service. Add a meaningful description of the server in the Description field.
  5. Beneath the Server Locations heading, enter the following information:
    • Environment Type: The environment of the web service server. Add the server location information (host name, port, context path, whether it is a secure server, repository name, user ID, and password) for each environment type. These environments are described in the IBM Business Process Manager overview. If you do not provide values for these environments, the values from the default environment type are used.
      • Default: If you do not provide values for the following environment types, default values are used.
      • Development: The environment where you develop your services.
      • Test: The environment where you test your services.
      • Staging: The environment where you deploy your services for pre-production testing.
      • Production: The environment where your services are deployed for use by your organization.
    • WSDL URL: The URL of the web service. For example: http://mycorporation.com/webservice/financialstatements?wsdl. You can enter a URL or browse to retrieve a URL.
      • Select Browse to launch the Registry Explorer.
        1. Select a registry type from the list and select a registry URL or enter a new one.
        2. For protected services, click Is Protected and enter a userid and password. Click Next.
        3. Enter the name of the web service and click Search services. You can include wildcard characters in the name. For a Universal Description Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry use the percent sign (%) and for a WebSphere Service Registry and Repository (WSRR) registry use an asterisk (*).
        4. Select a web service, click Next to see the detailed information and then click Finish.
        If you use the Registry Explorer, the WSDL URL, Protected WSDL, Username, and Password fields are populated automatically. If you enter the URL manually, you must provide the other information about the WSDL file. You can use text in the fields or text that is wrapped by <# ... #> control characters; that is, as JavaScript code.
      • Select View to view the WSDL source code of a WSDL file.
      • Select Discover to verify that the URL is correct. The Discovery Status field shows Successfully Discovered.
    • Discovery Status: Confirms if you have made a connection to the server and successfully read the WSDL file.
    • Override Endpoint: If selected, you can override the WSDL URL field using the fields beneath the check box. This selection can be useful if you use different endpoints for development and testing, for example.
      • Endpoint Address: The URL of the web service you want to use. You can use the same format as the WSDL URL field that you are overriding.
      • Port: If there are multiple ports that are defined in the WSDL file and there is a specific port for the web service that you want to use, then enter the port name in this field.
      You can enter text in these fields or text that is wrapped by <# ... #> control characters; that is, as JavaScript code.
    • Security and Policy: Determines the type of security you use.
      • Use Basic Security: This selection means either no security or security through a combination of user name and password, digital signatures, and encryption certificates.
        • Authentication: Specifies the type of authentication. Authentication ensures that the parties in a transaction are who they claim to be.
          • None: No authentication is required.
          • HTTP Authentication: User name and password are passed in a header element of a message.
          • UsernameToken (password in plaintext): The username token passes the user name and password. The password is in text.
          • UsernameToken (password in digest): The username token passes the user name and password. The password is in digest form, which means it is a hash value. A hash value for a user name and password makes these values more difficult to detect.
        • Username: The user name that is registered at the server.
        • Password: The password that is registered at the server.
        • Client certificate alias: The alias for the client certificate; that is the alias name that identifies where the client certificate is located.
        • Sign request: Select if you require messages from the client to be signed.
        • Expect encrypted response: Select if the client expects an encrypted response message.
        • Server certificate alias: The alias for the server certificate; that is the alias name that identifies where the server certificate is located.
        • Encrypt request: Select if you require the request message to be encrypted.
        • Expect signed response: Select if you want to verify a signed response message from the server.
      • Use Policy Set: This selection means that a policy set is used to define the configuration and security requirements for the web service.
        • Policy Set: Specifies the name of the application policy set. Click Select to choose the policy set. The list that you will see depends on the policies available on the server. Some default application policy sets include: WSHTTPS default, WSAddressing default, and Username WSSecurity default. You can also create more application policy sets in the WebSphere Application Server Administrative Console. Deselecting a policy set also removes the policy binding.
        • Policy Binding: Specifies the name of the general client policy set binding, which contains system-specific configuration parameters like username and password information. Click Select to choose the policy binding. The list you see depends on the policy set bindings available on the server. Default policy set bindings include: Client sample and Client sample V2. You can also create more policy set bindings in the WebSphere Application Server Administrative Console. Deselecting removes the policy binding.
  6. Save your work. From the menu, select File > Save All.