Upgrading your IBM Case Manager system using an external IBM Content Navigator

This approach is the only approach for production environments. It is the recommended approach for all environments, because it augments IBM Case Manager with IBM Business Automation Workflow while keeping the IBM Case Manager environment as it is. It uses an external IBM Content Navigator that can be shared by other IBM products.

About this task

This upgrade requires IBM Case Manager and a new installation of Business Automation Workflow on a separate server.

During the upgrade process, you will

1. Back up your source databases.
2. Update your IBM Content Navigator and Content Platform Engine.
3. If you haven't already, install and configure Business Automation Workflow.
4. Configure Business Automation Workflow to use your Content Platform Engine.
5. Configure Business Automation Workflow to use your IBM Content Navigator.
6. Run the case configuration tasks.
7. Update custom extension packages and custom case widgets if you are using them.
8. Restart the deployment environment.

1. Back up your IBM Case Manager databases, including the databases for the IBM Content Navigator, the design object store, and the target object store; for example, ICNDB, DOSDB, and TOSDB.
2. Update your IBM Content Navigator and Content Platform Engine to the version supported by Business Automation Workflow.
   See IBM Business Automation Workflow detailed system requirements. For instructions, see Upgrading IBM Content Navigator and Upgrading Content Platform Engine.
3. Optional: If you have already installed Business Automation Workflow and created a deployment environment, skip this step. Otherwise, install Business Automation Workflow and configure the Business Automation Workflow deployment environment with no IBM Content Navigator or Content Platform Engine feature enabled.
   1. Choose a sample properties file from the Workflow_install_root\BPM\samples\config\externalicnexternalcpe directory, based on your database and the type of deployment environment you want.
      For a development environment, choose a properties file with bpm.de.environment=Process Center. For a production environment, choose a file with bpm.de.environment=Process Server. These files do not contain the IBM Content Navigator or Content Platform Engine database configurations.
   2. Modify the properties file using your real environment values.
      Pay special attention to the following properties and make sure that they are configured correctly:

      • Set the ECMTechnicalUserAlias as the user from the LDAP shared user repository that will be used as the administrator for the object store, for example:

        ###########################################
           # ECM technical user authentication alias #
           ###########################################
           bpm.de.authenticationAlias.2.name=ECMTechnicalUserAlias
           bpm.de.authenticationAlias.2.user=admin
           bpm.de.authenticationAlias.2.password=admin
        

      • Modify the network shared directory that will be used by the external IBM Content Navigator, for example:

        # The network directory shared among multiple process servers in the deployment environment.
           bpm.de.caseManager.networkSharedDirectory=${WAS_INSTALL_ROOT}/CaseManagement/properties
        

        For setting up a network shared directory, see step 4 in Configuring IBM Business Automation Workflow with an external IBM Content Navigator.
   3. Create the Business Automation Workflow deployment environment using the BPMConfig command-line utility.
      Follow the instructions for your database type under the following link:

      • Configuring profiles and creating a network deployment environment on Linux
      • Configuring profiles and creating a network deployment environment on Windows
   4. Start the environment and run a deployment environment health check.
      Follow the instructions in Starting your environment and Verifying the status of your environment using the Health Center.
4. Configure Business Automation Workflow to use your previous Content Platform Engine. Follow the instructions in Configuring an existing external Content Platform Engine.
5. Configure Business Automation Workflow to use your IBM Content Navigator.
   1. Follow the instructions in Configuring IBM Business Automation Workflow with an external IBM Content Navigator.
   2. Restart the Business Automation Workflow deployment manager profile.
   3. Synchronize the custom profiles with the deployment manager profile.
      For each custom profile, run the following command on the custom node:

      custom_profile_install_root/bin/syncNode.bat dmgr_hostname dmgr_soap_port -user de_admin_user -password de_admin_password

   4. Start the custom profiles.
   5. Start the deployment manager environment.
   6. Restart the IBM Content Navigator environment.
      Important: Make sure that the Business Automation Workflow server is available before you restart the IBM Content Navigator environment.
6. Run the Business Automation Workflow Case configuration tool to deploy the case plug-ins onto the IBM Content Navigator server.
   For information about the Case configuration tool, which is located under Workflow_install_root/CaseManagement/configure/, see the topic for your environment:

   • Workflow Center: Running the development environment case configuration tasks
   • Workflow Server: Running the production environment configuration tasks

   Important:

   • For the Configure Business Rules task, specify the same path that you used in IBM Case Manager.
   • Make sure that the Network Shared Directory property value in the Edit Development Environment Profile Properties wizard is the same as the one that you set in the Business Automation Workflow properties file. If you want to change this network shared directory value, then after you change the value in the wizard, you must also rerun the BPMConfig command, for example:

     BPMConfig  -update -profile DmgrProfile -de De1 -networkDirectory new network directory -component CaseManager

   1. Optional: If you are using custom extension packages, update them.
      1. Update the previous case resource path with the absolute path for the IBM Content Navigator in the Extension.json file. For example, use https://ICN_hostName:ICN_portNumber/navigator/plugin instead of /navigator/plugin.
      2. Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) settings for this custom extension package, for example, manually place the reference to a CORS filter servlet in the web.xml file in the IBM Content Navigator, and set the Access-Control-Allow-Origin: https://Workflow_hostName:Workflow_portNumber header in the CORS filter.
      3. In the Business Automation Workflow Case configuration tool, run the Deploy & Register Extensions Package task to deploy the custom extension package plug-in to the IBM Content Navigator.
         1. Right-click the task and select Enable Task.
         2. Enter and check the properties.
         3. Run the task.

      For more information about how to specify the CORS filter, see CORS Filter.
   2. Optional: If you are using case custom widgets that refer to IBM Case Manager resources, you must update the implementation code because, after augmentation, the resources are located on the remote Business Automation Workflow computer instead of the IBM Case Manager computer.
      1. Update the previous case resource path with the absolute path for the remote Business Automation Workflow Case Client in the custom plug-in. JAR file. For example, use https://Workflow_hostName:CaseClient_portNumber/ICMClient/icm instead of /ICMClient/icm. Make this replacement in each place that refers to case resources.
      2. Enable CORS settings for this custom widget, for example,
         1. Manually place the following CORS filter Servlet in the web.xml file in the custom widget EAR file:

            <filter>
            	<description>Handling Cross Origin Resource Sharing</description>
            	<display-name>CORSFilter</display-name>
            	<filter-name>CORSFilter</filter-name>
            	<filter-class>com.ibm.casemgmt.cors.filter.CaseCORSFilter</filter-class>
                  </filter>
                <filter-mapping>
            	<filter-name>CORSFilter</filter-name>
            	<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
                </filter-mapping>

         2. Put the casecors.jar file in the custom widgets application EAR lib folder. You can get the casecors.jar file from the following directory:

            Workflow_install_root/BPM/Case/lib/

      3. In the Business Automation Workflow Case configuration tool, run the Deploy & Register Custom Widgets Package task to deploy the Case custom widget plug-in to the IBM Content Navigator.
         1. Right-click the task and select Enable Task.
         2. Enter and check the properties.
         3. Run the task.

      For more information about how to specify the CORS filter, see CORS Filter.
7. Restart the Business Automation Workflow deployment environment.
8. To avoid accidentally editing solutions in the previous version of Case Builder after they are already upgraded, remove the previous CaseBuilder app.
   1. In the WebSphere administrative console for IBM Case Manager V5.3.3 (https://case533_computer:9043/ibm/console) go to Applications > All Applications, select CaseBuilder and click Remove.
   2. Save the changes to the WebSphere® Application Server configuration, and restart the WebSphere Application Server profile.

Results

All the desktops that you previously had are augmented to the Business Automation Workflow environment and you can continue to use them as before. The default desktop is baw. You can change the desktop in the IBM Content Navigator administration console.

The following image shows a typical topology with an external IBM Content Navigator.

The Case Navigator plug-ins are available through the following URLs:

• Workflow Task: https://Workflow_hostName:SSL_port/teamworks/navigator-plugins/workflow-icn-plugin.jar
• Case Client: https://Workflow_hostName:SSL_port/ICMClient/ICMClient.jar
• Case API: https://Workflow_hostName:SSL_port/ICMClient/ICMAPIPlugin.jar
• Case Administration: https://Workflow_hostName:SSL_port/ICMClient/ICMAdminClientPlugin.jar
• Case Monitor Dashboard: https://Workflow_hostName:SSL_port/ICMClient/ICMMonitor.jar

Note: The Content Engine Applet support plug-in (CPEAppletsPlugin.jar) can be directly loaded from the Content Engine.

Now that Business Automation Workflow is configured with an external IBM Content Navigator, both Process Designer in Case Builder and case forms are disabled. See Enabling the case management features to enable them.