Configuring the storage of events for Collector nodes

You can use a Collector policy to control the storage of events for Collector nodes.

About this task

Information about the state of in-flight messages is held on storage queues that are controlled by IBM® MQ. The storage queues that hold the state information are owned by the queue manager that is associated with the integration server.

If you are using message collections on an integration server that is managed by an integration node, you must install IBM MQ on the same computer as your integration node in order to use the capabilities that are provided by the Collector node. If you are using message collections on an independent integration server, you can use a remote default queue manager to control the system queues, without the need to install IBM MQ on the same machine as the integration server. Interactions between an independent integration server and IBM MQ can use a client connection to a remote queue manager, by using a default policy setting. For more information about using a remote default queue manager, see Using a remote default queue manager and Configuring an integration server to use a remote default queue manager.

If the integration server has the necessary permissions to create the default system queues, they are created automatically when a flow that contains Collector nodes is deployed. If the default queues are not created automatically, you can create them manually by running the iib_createqueues command, as described in Creating the default system queues on an IBM MQ queue manager.

By default, the storage queues used by all Collector nodes are:
  • SYSTEM.BROKER.EDA.EVENTS
  • SYSTEM.BROKER.EDA.COLLECTIONS

These queues are also used by the Resequence node.

However, you can control the queues that are used by different Collector nodes by creating alternative queues that contain a QueuePrefix variable, and by using a Collector policy to specify the names of those queues for storing events.

Follow these steps to specify the queues that are used to store event states, and to set the expiry for the collection:

Procedure

  1. Create the storage queues to be used by the Collector node.
    The following queues are required:
    • SYSTEM.BROKER.EDA.QueuePrefix.EVENTS
    • SYSTEM.BROKER.EDA.QueuePrefix.COLLECTIONS

    The QueuePrefix variable can contain any characters that are valid in an IBM MQ queue name, but must be no longer than eight characters and must not begin or end with a period (.). For example, SET1 and SET.1 are valid queue prefixes, but .SET1 and SET1. are invalid.

    If you do not create the storage queues, IBM App Connect Enterprise creates the queues when the node is deployed; these queues are based on the default queues. If the queues cannot be created, the message flow is not deployed.

  2. Create a Collector policy (see Creating policies with the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit).
    1. You can create a policy to be used with either a specific collection or with all collections in an integration server. If you are creating a policy to be used with a specific collection, ensure that the name of the policy is the same as the name that you specify in the Policy property on the Collector node.

      To specify a default Collector policy for all message flows that are deployed to an integration server, set the Collector property in the server.conf.yaml file to the name of a Collector policy. For information about setting properties in the server.conf.yaml file, see Configuring an integration server by modifying the server.conf.yaml file. If the default policy is in the default policy project, you do not need to specify the name of the policy project. If the default policy is in a non-default policy project, qualify the name of the policy with the name of the policy project in the format {policyProjectName}:PolicyName

    2. Set the Queue prefix property of the Collector policy to the required value.
    3. Optional: Set the Collection expiry property of the Collector policy to an appropriate value (for example, 60).
    If you delete a Collector policy, the storage queues are not deleted automatically when the policy is deleted, so you must delete them separately.
  3. In the Collector node, if the policy is to be used for a specific collection, specify the name of the policy in the Policy property on the Advanced tab; for example, myCollectorService.
    If you do not set the Policy property, and if there is a default Collector policy specified in the server.conf.yaml file, that policy is used instead.

What to do next

The properties for the policy are not used by the integration server until you restart or redeploy the message flow, or restart the integration server.