IBM App Connect components and resources

IBM® App Connect Enterprise as a Service provides tools and resources to create and deploy your integrations.

The actions that you can complete in App Connect Enterprise as a Service, and the options that you see in the user interface, depend on the role that you're assigned to. For example, a user who is assigned to a viewer role can see certain resources but can't create, delete, or modify them. So they can view the Templates page, but can't create a flow from a template. And they don't see options on the home page to create or deploy flows.

App Connect Designer

App Connect Designer is an authoring environment where you can develop, test, and deploy (run) flows. API developers can develop flows and share them with other users by using the built-in export and import functions for flows. You can also create event-driven flows in Designer, where an event in one application triggers your flow to complete actions in other applications. When you create a flow, you must set up accounts for each of the applications that the flow references. For more information, see Creating flows in App Connect Designer.

App Connect Designer has several views where you can monitor your flows, connect to your application accounts, and configure your flows. Access each view from the navigation pane.

  • The icon that represents the Designer home page The Designer home page shows the flows that you worked on recently. The home page provides links to create, import, and deploy a flow, download the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, and manage an API flow with IBM API Connect. If you deployed any flows, you can also see a summary of deployments.
  • The icon that represents the Design page The Design page shows the event-driven and API flows that you create in Designer. You can create, edit, export, and deploy your flows from this tab. If you're on the VPC hours plan, you can also test your flows from this tab.
  • The icon that represents the Manage page Use the Manage page to deploy integrations, create configurations, and import BAR files. For more information, see Deploying integrations.

    The Manage page contains tabs that list the integrations and configurations that you create and the BAR files that you import. Configurations provide environment-specific settings that your flows need when they're deployed. To deploy an integration that you created in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, you first package the integration as a BAR file in the Toolkit, then import that BAR file into App Connect Enterprise as a Service where you can deploy it. If you're on the VPC hours plan, the Manage page also lists the runtimes that you create.

  • The icon that represents the Monitor page The Monitor page shows the number of flow runs and latency values for your deployed integrations. If you're on the VPC hours plan, you can also see CPU and memory usage data for your integration runtimes. You can use the monitoring data to check that your integrations have the appropriate amount of resources. For more information, see Monitoring resources.
  • The icon that represents the template gallery The Templates gallery contains templates for common integration use cases. Use templates as a shortcut for creating event-driven or API flows. You can filter the list by searching for a particular application or action. Click a template to see more information about it and instructions for how to use it in a flow. When you create a flow from a template, the flow opens in the flow editor so that you can connect to your accounts and customize the flow for your needs. For more information, see Creating a flow from a template.
  • The icon that represents the logs Use the built-in log viewer to monitor your running flows and to view audit information. You can search and filter the logs, and choose the time period to show events. You can also download the logs as a JSON file. For more information, see Viewing log messages in the log viewer.
  • Icon that represents the Connect category The Connect category contains the following pages.
    • The Applications and APIs page lists the connectors and APIs that you can add to your flows, and the events and actions that are supported for each connector. You can connect to your application accounts here or you can connect to your accounts when you add a connector to a flow.
    • The Private networks page lists private network connections that App Connect Enterprise as a Service uses to connect securely to applications in your network. You can create, configure, rename, and delete private network connections here.
    • The Callable flows page lists callable flows that are configured to split processing between different flows or between App Connect Enterprise and App Connect Enterprise as a Service. You can also connect to a callable flow on a private network from the Callable flows page.
    • The Public API credentials page lists the credentials that you need to access the public API for your App Connect Enterprise as a Service instance. You can also generate client credentials here.
  • The icon that represents the Instance settings page Use the Instance settings page to control artificial intelligence (AI) features for your App Connect Enterprise as a Service instance.

Flows

A flow connects applications so that you can automate tasks or workflows. In App Connect Designer, you can create event-driven flows and API flows. In an event-driven flow, you can connect applications like Salesforce and SAP so that when an event occurs in one application, the other connected applications are updated automatically. An API flow allows requests to be submitted through a mobile or web application. The flow completes a sequence of defined actions, then returns a response that indicates whether the actions were successful. The flow can also return response data. You can create up to 100 flows in App Connect Designer.

You can also create message flow-based integrations in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, which you can package in BAR files to deploy to App Connect Enterprise as a Service. If you don't have App Connect Enterprise, you can get the Toolkit by downloading IBM App Connect Enterprise Evaluation Edition (previously known as App Connect Enterprise for Developers or Developer Edition). Download the Toolkit from the Designer home page.

For more information, see Types of flows.

Connectors

A catalog of connectors is provided with App Connect that you use to connect to your applications and complete actions in them. You can access the catalog of connectors on the Applications and APIs page of the App Connect Designer. You can also import connectors that other App Connect users develop. On the Applications and APIs page, you can connect to your application accounts and you can see what events and actions are supported in the applications. The following types of connector are available.
Basic connectors

IBM develops and supports basic connectors, which are available to use in your integrations in production at no extra cost. Basic connectors are typically technology connectors, such as email, HTTP, JDBC, REST, and LDAP.

Premium connectors Premium connector label

IBM also develops and supports premium connectors. Your use of premium connectors isn't restricted when you use them in a trial subscription of App Connect Enterprise as a Service. You can also use them without restriction to develop and test flows in App Connect Designer or the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit. However, when you deploy your integrations, you must pay for the connectors that you use. Premium connectors typically integrate business-critical enterprise applications like SAP, Workday, and Salesforce. You can purchase add-on premium connectors in packs of three.

  • You don't need to specify which connectors you want to use when you purchase a connector pack.

    Each three-pack of connectors entitles you to deploy any three premium connectors of your choice to your App Connect Enterprise as a Service subscription. You don't need to specify which connectors you want to use when you buy the add-on packs. When you deploy your flows, you can deploy flows that contain only your entitled number of different premium connectors.

  • A three-pack of connectors entitles you to use that number of connectors across all instances of App Connect Enterprise as a Service.
    If you provision separate service instances under your subscription to represent different environments or geographical regions, the premium asset pack is available to all instances. For example, if you purchase a three-pack of premium connectors and deploy a flow that includes only Salesforce connectors to all three environments, you're using one connector from your entitlement of three.
    The diagram shows that a 3-pack of connectors can be used across 3 instances in your subscription.

Premium connectors are available in both App Connect Enterprise as a Service and the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.

  • In App Connect Enterprise as a Service, the premium connector label Premium connector label denotes premium connectors on the Applications and APIs page. For a list of premium connectors in App Connect Enterprise as a Service, see How-to guides for applications.
  • In the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, all discovery connectors are premium connectors. The following connectors are also premium connectors.
    • IBM ODM
    • IBM Sterling C:D
    • Oracle JD Edwards
    • Oracle PeopleSoft
    • Oracle Siebel
    • Salesforce
    • SAP
    For a list of connectors and discovery connectors in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, see Built-in nodes in the App Connect Enterprise documentation.
  • Connectors for different products from the same company (such as Salesforce or Microsoft) are counted as separate connectors. For example, if you deploy a flow with a Salesforce connector and a Salesforce Marketing Cloud connector, you're using two connectors of your entitlement.
  • If you deploy separate Designer and Toolkit flows that both contain Salesforce connectors, you're using one connector of your entitlement. If you deploy a flow that contains a Salesforce event and a Salesforce action, you're using one connector of your entitlement.

You can purchase premium connector packs from the AWS Marketplace by clicking View purchase options.

Community connectors

App Connect users develop community connectors and share them in the IBM Automation Explorer. You can import community connectors to use in App Connect. When you add a community connector to the Applications and APIs page, it is marked with a community connector icon Community connector icon. If you need support with a community connector, use the App Connect community to ask questions.

You can also develop your own connectors, which you can then share with the community in the Automation Explorer. To find out how to use the Connector Development Kit to develop your own connectors, see Overview of the IBM Connector Development Kit.

Integration runtimes

If you're on the VPC hours plan, an integration runtime runs your integrations. An integration can be developed in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, or it can be developed as a flow in App Connect Designer. You deploy an integration by running it in an integration runtime. To deploy a flow that you developed in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, you package it as a BAR file, then import that BAR file to App Connect Enterprise as a Service. To configure a runtime with environment-specific settings, secrets, or data, create one or more configurations to apply to the associated BAR file when you deploy it. For more information, see Deploying integrations on the VPC plan. You can also see which App Connect Enterprise resources are supported in BAR files that you deploy to App Connect Enterprise as a Service in Supported resources in imported BAR files.

After you deploy an integration runtime, you can enable tracing to help to diagnose problems. For more information, see Collecting trace for deployed flows. You can also monitor the CPU and memory usage data for your integration runtimes to check that your runtimes have the appropriate amount of resources. For more information, see Monitoring resources.

If you're on the flow runs plan, you don't need to configure integration runtimes.