Importing integration solutions into IBM App Connect Enterprise on IBM Cloud

Use the App Connect Toolkit to develop an integration solution and package it into a broker archive (BAR) file. Import the BAR file into IBM® App Connect Enterprise on IBM Cloud® to deploy your integration solution to IBM Cloud.

Before you begin

Learn about the resources that you can include in your integration solution when you deploy it in App Connect Enterprise on IBM Cloud. For more information, see Developing integration solutions.

About this task

In App Connect Enterprise on IBM Cloud, you can import a BAR file that contains all the artifacts that make up your integration solution, then run the contents in an integration server on IBM Cloud. You can configure the size of an integration server, and define the number of replicas of an integration server to allow for high availability of the integration solutions. All replicas of an integration server share the same HTTP hostname, and HTTP traffic is spread between the integration servers. If one server fails or is restarted, the other replica servers continue to work. When App Connect Enterprise on IBM Cloud receives a system update, only one of the replicas is restarted at a time so that the other replicas can continue to handle requests.
Important: To avoid outages during App Connect Enterprise on IBM Cloud maintenance, you must configure replicas for high availability.

Procedure

To import a BAR file into App Connect Enterprise on IBM Cloud, complete the following steps.

  1. On the App Connect Enterprise on IBM Cloud dashboard, click New > Import a BAR file.
  2. Either click Add a BAR file to select the BAR file from your file system, or drag the BAR file from your file system.
  3. Set the number of replica integration servers that you need, where 1 represents one integration server.
    HTTP traffic is spread between these replicas. Therefore, for high availability, and to avoid outages during system maintenance on App Connect Enterprise on IBM Cloud, ensure that you set the number of replicas to at least 2.
  4. Set the size of the container.

    A BAR file is run by a single integration server with a specific capacity. When you deploy a BAR file, you can choose small container sizes so that the total capacity can be spread between smaller BAR files. The use of smaller BAR files provides more control of updating, starting, and stopping integration servers independently. You can see how much virtual processor core (VPC) of capacity is associated with each choice so that you can choose the appropriate size for your BAR file.

  5. Click Import.
    An integration server is created, and a tile is added to the dashboard to represent it. Initially, you see the status as ‘Preparing’, which means that the contents of the BAR file are being unpacked onto the integration server. When preparation is complete, the status shows as ‘Stopped’, indicating that the integration server is ready to be configured and started.
  6. To configure the integration, view its contents, or view logs, click the tile on the dashboard to open it.
    For example, you can change the name of the integration server and add a description. You can also change the size of the container and the number of replicas.
    To find out more about how you can configure the integration server, see the following topics.
  7. When you are ready to run your integration solution, click Start from the menu on the dashboard tile or in the integration server.