Use the TCPIPClientInput node to create a client connection to a raw TCP/IP socket, and to receive data over that connection.
This topic contains the following sections:
For information about configuring the TCPIPClientInput node, see Configuring the TCPIPClientInput node.The TCPIPClientInput node opens connections to a remote server application that is listening on a TCP/IP port. The connections are not made directly by the node but are obtained from a connection pool managed by the IBM® Integration Bus integration server. The integration server uses the default TCPIPClient configurable service to determine which attributes are used for the socket connection. However, if the configurable service is set on the node, the configurable service is used for all the properties, including the host and port number.
You can configure the broker to use SSL for TCP/IP nodes; see SSL and the TCP/IP nodes.
When a connection is opened by the connection pool, it is sent to a TCPIPClientInput node (if the Open terminal of the node is connected). The input event is sent to only one TCPIPClientInput node on the connection.
By default (as set in the configurable service), no client connections are made by the input node. The node relies on the creation of client connections by output or request nodes. In this mode of operation, an input node is never started until an output or request node starts an interaction.
You can change the mode on the configurable service to create a pool of client connections ready for processing. To use this function, minimumConnections must be set to a value larger than zero. The integration server then ensures that the specified number of connections are always available by creating them at the start, and continuing to create the connections until the minimum value is reached.
This behavior is different from the TCPIPServerInput node, which does not attempt to make a minimum number of connections. For more information, see TCPIPServerInput node.
The client node also has a maximum value, which limits how many connections it can create. More connections than the minimum value can exist as a result of output nodes creating connections.
When connections are available, the second criterion is met when there is at least one byte of data to be processed; otherwise, the connection closes. In either case, the connection is given to the node and the event is processed.
The first record of data is detected in accordance with properties on the node and then sent to the Out terminal. If an error occurs, including a timeout waiting for data or the closure of a connection while waiting for the full record, the data is sent to the Failure terminal. If the connection closes and there is no data, a message is sent to the Close terminal. Although the message has no data, the local environment does have details of the connection that closed.
For both data and close events, the following local environment is created:
Location in local environment | Description |
---|---|
$LocalEnvironment/TCPIP/Input/ConnectionDetails/Type | The client. |
$LocalEnvironment/TCPIP/Input/ConnectionDetails/Hostname | The host name used to make a connection. |
$LocalEnvironment/TCPIP/Input/ConnectionDetails/Port | The port number used to make a connection. |
$LocalEnvironment/TCPIP/Input/ConnectionDetails/OpenTimestamp | The time stamp when the connection was first opened. |
$LocalEnvironment/TCPIP/Input/ConnectionDetails/CloseTimestamp | The time stamp when the connection was closed (null if not yet closed). |
$LocalEnvironment/TCPIP/Input/ConnectionDetails/SequenceNumber/InputRecord | The sequence number of the message received on this connection. The first record has a sequencing number of 1; the second record has a sequencing number of 2, and so on. |
$LocalEnvironment/TCPIP/Input/ConnectionDetails/SequenceNumber/OutputRecord | The sequence number of the message sent on this connection. The first record has a sequencing number of 1; the second record has a sequencing number of 2, and so on. |
$LocalEnvironment/TCPIP/Input/ConnectionDetails/Id | The ID of the socket being used. This ID is an internal identifier used by the message broker to uniquely identify a connection. |
$LocalEnvironment/TCPIP/Input/ConnectionDetails/ReplyId | The reply ID that has been stored on this connection. The value can be any text string. |
When the node has constructed the record from the connection stream it releases the connection back to the connection pool for use by other nodes. Properties on the Advanced tab show how that connection can be used by other nodes in the future. By default, the Advanced properties mark the input stream on the TCP/IP connection as being reserved, which means that no other input node can use it, until the current use of the message flow is finished. Alternatively, you can reserve the connection until it is unreserved by another node, or not to reserve it at all and permit any other node (or thread in this node) to use the connection straight away. Similar options are available on the output stream but it is kept unreserved by default.
Another node can access a reserved stream only if the ID of the connection is known. This behavior allows all the nodes in a message flow to access the same connection using the same ID while stopping any other flow acquiring the connection.
The TCPIPClientInput node is contained in the TCPIP drawer of the palette, and is represented in the IBM Integration Toolkit by the following icon:
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The terminals of the TCPIPClientInput node are described in the following table.
Terminal | Description |
---|---|
Open | The output terminal to which a message is routed
when a connection is first opened. Use the Open terminal if processing
is required when a connection is opened rather than when data first
arrives. The connection associated with the message is reserved from the general connection pool until propagation to the Open terminal has finished. However, the connection can be accessed using the connectionId specified in the local environment. Each connection that is created is sent to the Open terminal, including any connections that are created mid-flow by a TCPIPClientReceive node or TCPIPClientOutput node. If the Open terminal is not attached, open events are automatically made available in the connection pool. |
Failure | The output terminal to which the message is routed if an error occurs. This value includes failures caused by retry processing. Even if the Validation property is set, messages propagated to this terminal are not validated. |
Out | The output terminal to which the message is routed if it is successfully retrieved from an external resource. If no errors occur within the input node, a message received from an external resource is always sent to the Out terminal first. |
Close | The output terminal to which the message is routed if the connection closes. |
Catch | The output terminal to which the message is routed if an exception is issued downstream and caught by this node. Exceptions are caught only if this terminal is attached. |
The following tables describe the node properties. The column headed M indicates whether the property is mandatory (marked with an asterisk if you must enter a value when no default is defined); the column headed C indicates whether the property is configurable (you can change the value when you add the message flow to the BAR file for deployment).
The Description properties of the TCPIPClientInput node are described in the following table.
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Node name | No | No | TCPIPClientInput | The name of the node. |
Short description | No | No | A brief description of the node. | |
Long description | No | No | Text that describes the purpose of the node in the message flow. |
The Basic properties of the TCPIPClientInput node are described in the following table.
Property | M | C | Default | Description | mqsiapplybaroverride command property |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Connection details | Yes | Yes | A string containing either the host name and port number to be used, or the name of a configurable service. | connectionDetails | |
Timeout waiting for a data record (seconds) | Yes | Yes | 60 | Specifies how long the node listens on a connection for more data after the first byte of data has arrived. You can specify any length of time in seconds. | timeoutWaitingForData |
The Advanced properties of the TCPIPClientInput node are described in the following table.
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Close connection | Yes | No | No | Controls when the connection is closed, or if
it remains open. Valid options are:
|
Close input stream after a record has been received | Yes | No | Cleared | Specifies whether to close the input stream as soon as the data has been retrieved. When the connection input stream is reserved, no other node can use it without knowing the ID. This property is not selected by default. |
Input Stream Modification | No | No | Leave unchanged | Specifies whether to reserve the input stream
for use only by input and receive nodes that specify the connection
ID, or to release it at the end of the flow. Valid options are:
|
Output Stream Modification | No | No | Leave unchanged | Specifies whether this output stream is released
and returned to the pool for use by any output node. Valid options
are:
|
The TCPIPClientInput node Input Message Parsing properties are described in the following table.
Property | M | C | Default | Description | mqsiapplybaroverride command property |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Message domain | No | No | BLOB | The domain that is used to parse the incoming message. | |
Message model | No | No | The name or location of the message model in which the incoming message is defined. | ||
Message | No | No | The name or location of a global element that models an entire document of data, and is contained in your message model schema file. This list is populated with all available messages that are defined in the Message model that you have selected. | ||
Physical Format | No | No | The name of the physical format of the incoming message. | ||
Message coded character set ID | Yes | No | Broker System Default | The ID of the coded character set used to interpret the data being read. | messageCodedCharSetIdProperty |
Message encoding | Yes | No | Broker System Determined | The encoding scheme for numbers and large characters used to interpret the data being read. Valid values are Broker System Determined or a numeric encoding value. For more information about encoding, see Data conversion. | messageEncodingProperty |
The Parser Options properties of the TCPIPClientInput node are described in the following table.
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Parse timing | No | No | On Demand | This property controls when an input message
is parsed. Valid values are:
For a full description of this property, see Parsing on demand. |
Build tree using XML schema data types | No | No | Cleared | This property controls whether the syntax elements in the message tree have data types taken from the XML schema. |
Use XMLNSC compact parser for XMLNS domain | No | No | Cleared | This property controls whether the XMLNSC Compact Parser is used for messages in the XMLNS Domain. If you set this property, the message data is displayed under XMLNSC in nodes that are connected to the output terminal when the input MQRFH2 header or Input Message Parsing property, Message Domain, is XMLNS. |
Retain mixed content | No | No | Cleared | This property controls whether the XMLNSC parser creates elements in the message tree when it encounters mixed text in an input message. If you select the check box, elements are created for mixed text. If you clear the check box, mixed text is ignored and no elements are created. |
Retain comments | No | No | Cleared | This property controls whether the XMLNSC parser creates elements in the message tree when it encounters comments in an input message. If you select the check box, elements are created for comments. If you clear the check box, comments are ignored and no elements are created. |
Retain processing instructions | No | No | Cleared | This property controls whether the XMLNSC parser creates elements in the message tree when it encounters processing instructions in an input message. If you select the check box, elements are created for processing instructions. If you clear the check box, processing instructions are ignored and no elements are created. |
Opaque elements | No | No | Blank | This property is used to specify a list of elements in the input message that are to be opaquely parsed by the XMLNSC parser. |
The Records and Elements properties of the TCPIPClientInput node are described in the following table:
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Record detection | Yes | No | End of Stream | The mechanism used to identify records in the
input data. Valid options are:
|
Length (bytes) | Yes | No | 0 | The length of each record, in bytes, when Fixed Length record detection is selected. |
Delimiter | Yes | No | DOS or UNIX Line End | The type of delimiter bytes that separate, or
end, each record when Delimited record
detection is selected. Valid options are:
|
Custom delimiter (hexadecimal) | No | No | The delimiter bytes, expressed in hexadecimal, when Delimited record detection and Custom Delimiter are selected. This property is mandatory only if the Delimiter property is set to Custom Delimiter (Hexadecimal). | |
Delimiter type | Yes | No | Postfix | The location of the delimiter when Delimited record detection and Custom Delimiter (Hexadecimal) are
selected. Valid options are:
|
The Retry properties of the TCPIPClientInput node are described in the following table:
Property | M | C | Default | Description | mqsiapplybaroverride command property |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retry mechanism | Yes | No | Failure | How the node handles a flow failure. Valid options
are:
|
|
Retry threshold | Yes | Yes | 0 | The number of times to retry the flow transaction when Retry mechanism is Short retry. | retryThreshold |
Short retry interval | No | Yes | 0 | The interval, in seconds, between each retry if Retry threshold is not zero. | shortRetryInterval |
Long retry interval | No | Yes | 300 | The interval between retries if Retry mechanism is Short and long retry and the retry threshold has been exhausted. | longRetryInterval |
The Validation properties of the TCPIPClientInput node are described in the following table.
For a full description of these properties, see Validation properties.
Property | M | C | Default | Description | mqsiapplybaroverride command property |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Validate | No | Yes | None | This property controls whether validation takes
place. Valid values are
|
validateMaster |
Failure action | No | No | Exception | This property controls what happens if validation
fails. Valid values are:
|
The Transactions properties of the TCPIPClientInput node are described in the following table:
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Transaction mode | No | Yes | No | The transaction mode on this input node determines
whether the rest of the nodes in the flow are run under point of consistency.
Valid options are:
|
Property | M | C | Default | Description | mqsiapplybaroverride command property |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Additional instances pool | No | Yes | Use Pool Associated with Message Flow | The pool from which additional instances are
obtained.
|
componentLevel |
Additional instances | No | Yes | 0 | The number of additional instances that the node can start if the Additional instances pool property is set to Use Pool Associated with Node. | additionalInstances |
Property | M | C | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Events | No | No | None | Events that you have defined for the node are
displayed on this tab. By default, no monitoring events are defined
on any node in a message flow. Use Add, Edit,
and Delete to create, change or delete monitoring
events for the node; see Configuring monitoring event sources using monitoring properties for details. You can enable and disable events that are shown here by selecting or clearing the Enabled check box. |