Retiring and Removed Services and Adapters

Periodically, IBM releases new services and adapters for Sterling B2B Integrator that improve performance, enhance features, or ensure compatibility with improved versions of other products.

In many cases, a single new service or adapter encapsulates all the functionality of two or three existing services or adapters. When this happens, the existing services or adapters are retired and replaced by the new service or adapter. If you are using services or adapters that are retired, you must replace them with the new services and adapters. The retirement process is gradual so that you have time to analyze the impact to your business processes and to plan a smooth migration to the replacement service or adapter.

Phase 1: Services and Adapters are Retired

The first step in the deprecation process is when IBM designates a service or adapter as a retired resource. The service or adapter is moved from its functional area stencil (such as Communications) to the Retiring stencil in the Graphical Process Modeler (GPM). Services and adapters in the Retiring stencil still work as they did before, but you should migrate to the replacement service or adapter before the next product release. Migrating to the new resource means that you must update any business processes that use the old resource so that they use the new resource.

Note: In some cases, a retired service or adapter is not moved to the Retiring stencil in the release in which it is designated retired. Use the documentation to determine whether a service or adapter is actually retired.

Phase 2: Services and Adapters are Removed from the Product

The second step in the deprecation process is when IBM removes the service or adapter from the product. The service or adapter is not installed as part of Sterling B2B Integrator, but is included on the installation DVD. It is removed from all stencils in the GPM. If you must continue to use a removed service or adapter, you must install it manually from the DVD. IBM will not provide patches or enhancements for the removed services and adapters.

To install a removed service or adapter manually from the DVD, use the InstallService.sh or InstallService.cmd scripts located in the /install_dir/bin/ directory of your Sterling B2B Integrator system.

Phase 3: Completely Retired Services

In the final phase of the retirement process, the service or adapter is no longer distributed on the installation DVD and is completely retired. To access a retired service or adapter, contact IBM Support.