Reassigning the IBM BPM content store

You can configure IBM® Business Process Manager to work with an existing external ECM system by reassigning the IBM BPM content store.

Before you begin

There are two ways of configuring IBM BPM to work with an existing external ECM system.
  • You can configure your IBM BPM deployment environment to use an empty object store in an external IBM FileNet® Content Manager installation. This configuration is useful if you set up a new IBM BPM deployment environment. For instructions, see Using a new object store.
  • You can configure your IBM BPM deployment environment to reassign the IBM BPM content store to the domain of an existing FileNet Content Manager installation. This configuration is useful if you already have an IBM BPM deployment environment setup. The instructions are in this set of steps.
These prerequisites are necessary to configure IBM BPM with an existing external ECM server by reassigning the IBM BPM content store.
  • On IBM FileNet Content Manager, a domain must be already set up. There might be multiple object stores already set up. When you configure IBM BPM with FileNet Content Manager, there is a one-to-one correlation between the IBM BPM server and the FileNet Content Manager object store.
  • As an application server, only WebSphere Application Server is supported. In addition, the WebSphere Application Server used by IBM BPM and the WebSphere Application Server used by FileNet Content Manager must have the same version.
  • The same Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) user repository must be used by both IBM Business Process Manager and FileNet Content Manager. It must be connected using Federated Repositories (also referred to as Virtual Member Manager (VMM)) in the WebSphere Application Server security configuration for both IBM BPM and FileNet Content Manager. The FileNet Content Manager domain must use Federated Repositories (VMM) as the directory configuration.

About this task

Note: You cannot reverse this configuration and return to using the IBM BPM content store. After you configure, you must always use the external ECM server.

Back up your system configuration and databases before you begin this configuration. This backup means you can roll back your configuration if needed. See Backing up and restoring administrative configuration files.

The steps that you must do to configure an existing FileNet Content Manager with the IBM Business Process Manager server are listed. For a complete description of reassigning an object store on FileNet Content Platform Engine, see Reassigning an object store.

Procedure

  1. Check the version level of the FileNet Content Manager. It must be a supported version to work with IBM BPM. See Planning for an external Enterprise Content Management server.
  2. Configure single sign-on (SSO) security for the external FileNet Content Manager, including the configuration of the user registry and trusted realm. To configure single sign-on security with a common user repository, see Configuring single sign-on for an external FileNet Content Manager.

    Check that the shared stand-alone Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server is connected by using Federated Repositories (VMM).

  3. Make the necessary updates to the IBM BPM authentication and authorization settings. See Preparing IBM BPM for an external ECM server configuration.
  4. Reassign the IBM BPM document store to the external ECM system.
    1. On the FileNet Content Manager server, create data sources for connecting to the ECM object store in the IBM BPM database. See Configuring the initial object store data sources by using the graphical user interface.

      When you specify the properties for the Configure Object Store JDBC Data Sources step, use jdbc/ECMDB for the JDBC data source name and jdbc/ECMDBXA for the JDBC XA data source name. Use the connection information from the IBM BPM database that was assigned for the EmbeddedECM capability when you configured your IBM BPM deployment environment. You can get these settings by checking the properties on the jdbc/ECMDB data source in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console of your IBM BPM deployment environment.

    2. Pause the Event Manager in the IBM BPM server if IBM BPM Express is used or the Event Manager in each application cluster member if a Network Deployment (ND) environment is used. Pausing the Event Manager temporarily stops the navigation of running instances. See Monitoring the Event Manager.
    3. Reassign the IBM BPM object store by using either the FileNet Deployment Manager graphical user interface or the command line interface. See Reassigning an object store.
      The source domain in the reassign operation is the IBM BPM document store. The target domain exists in the external ECM server that hosts the IBM BPM document store. When you specify the connection information for the source, note these values:
      • Port: use the WC_defaulthost port that is defined in your IBM BPM cluster member.
      • Account: use the technical user credentials as defined in step 3.
  5. Rename the reassigned object store and update the data sources.
    1. Log in to the Websphere administrative console on the FileNet Content Platform Engine server and update the data sources that were created in substep 4.a.
    2. Change the JNDI Name attributes. Default IBM BPM values for these attributes were used for the reassign operation to complete. These default values must be changed to allow another IBM BPM object store to be assigned to the same ECM domain in the future. For example, another IBM BPM deployment environment in the future might also be reassigned to the external ECM domain.
    3. Log on to the IBM Administration Console for Content Platform Engine on FileNet Content Manager.
    4. Update the connection information that references the data sources to match the updates in substep 5.a.
      1. Find the database configuration. Global Configuration > Administration > Database Connections > Database configuration for IBM BPM document store.
      2. Update the values for the JNDI data source and the JNDI XA data source. Update the Display Name value, as the FileNet Content Manager administrator must understand that it is the reassigned IBM BPM object store.
      3. Save your updates. Click Save.
    5. Rename the object store that was reassigned in step 4. Like the data sources, the object store name is changed so that other IBM BPM object stores can be assigned to the same external ECM system in the future.
      1. Open the docs object store.
      2. In the Properties tab of that object store, update the Symbolic Name and Display Name properties.
      3. Save your updates. Click Save.
  6. Running a command and then starting IBM Business Process Manager finishes the configuration. However, you must also verify that the configuration is working.
    1. Run the setBPMExternalECM admin command to configure IBM BPM to use an external ECM server.
      1. Shut down the IBM BPM deployment environment; for example, by using the BPMConfig command. BPMConfig -stop. See BPMConfig command-line utility. In the case of a Network Deployment (ND) environment, the deployment manager, and node agents can be left running. The FileNet Content Platform Engine must be running.
      2. Run wsadmin. In the case of an IBM BPM Express server or if you stopped the deployment manager of your Network Deployment (ND) environment, run wsadmin in local mode; that is, by using the parameter -conntype none.
      3. Run the setBPMExternalECM admin command. See setBPMExternalECM command. Use REASSIGN_OBJECT_STORE as the value for the -ecmEnvironment parameter.
      4. Save the configuration by invoking AdminConfig.save().
      5. In the case of a Network Deployment (ND) environment, synchronize the configuration of the nodes.
      6. Restart the IBM BPM deployment environment by using the BPMConfig command. BPMConfig -start. See BPMConfig command-line utility. If you stopped the deployment manager and node agents, you need to manually restart them.
    2. Check for errors in the IBM BPM logs. If you discover errors, resolve them and restart the IBM BPM server.
    3. Check the CMIS component in the Component Health Center to verify that your external ECM server is up and running. The switch to the external ECM server removes the IBM BPM content store configuration. Therefore, you cannot check the EmbeddedECM component anymore. Instead, check the CMIS component. The CMIS component also reports errors for the connection to the external ECM. See Component Health Center.
Parent topic: Configuring IBM BPM with an existing external ECM server