This topic applies only to the IBM Business Automation Workflow Advanced configuration.

Creating an IBM Workflow Center server

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This topic only applies to BAW, and is located in the BAW repository. Last updated on 2025-03-13 12:15
An IBM® Workflow Center server (also known as a playback server) can be used to test integration modules that are contained in a process application or toolkit on Workflow Center. The server can also be used to display the current status of the process application or toolkit on Workflow Center, such as whether the process application or toolkit is deployed and started. When you import a process application or toolkit into IBM Integration Designer from the Workflow Center, a Workflow Center server is created automatically in the Servers view.

Before you begin

There is generally no need to create a Workflow Center server manually unless the existing server has been deleted.

Before a Workflow Center server can be automatically or manually created, you may need to obtain the relevant administrative connection information from your system administrator, including the administrative user name and password. If you cannot obtain the administrative user name and password, open the Integration Designer Preferences window and expand Business Integration, then select Process Center and clear the Automatically create a Process Center server when needed check box. This will prevent you from being continually prompted to specify the user name and password whenever Integration Designer attempts to automatically create a Workflow Center server, such as when you import a process application into the workspace.

About this task

Integration Designer automatically detects any connected Workflow Center and creates and displays a Workflow Center server for each Workflow Center in the Servers view. All process applications and toolkits are displayed under their associated Workflow Center servers. If you add or remove a Workflow Center connection, the Servers view is automatically updated to add or remove the associated server and the workspace is automatically updated to reflect the new state of the process applications and toolkits.

When a process application is imported into the workspace, an administrative connection to the Process Center server is created. If the Process Center is running on a network deployment environment, then the administrative connection is created for the IBM BPM deployment manager. If the user name and password for the Process Center is the same as for the administrative connection for the deployment manager, then the Process Center server is automatically created in the Servers view. Otherwise, a New Server dialog box opens and prompts you to specify the administrative user ID and password. If you do not know the user ID and password and you cannot obtain them from the system administrator, select the Do not automatically create a Process Center server check box and click Finish. This will prevent you from being continually prompted to specify the user name and password when Integration Designer attempts to automatically create a Workflow Center server.

If you have removed a Workflow Center server from the Servers view, you can retrieve the server by right-clicking the process application in the Business Integration view and then selecting Refresh from Process Center.

Note: In order to successfully publish or deploy from Integration Designer to a Workflow Center server, the version of both tools must be exactly the same.

If you are connected to a Workflow Center but there is no corresponding Workflow Center server in the Servers view, you can manually create a Workflow Center server by completing the instructions in the following procedure.

Procedure

  1. Ensure that the Workflow Center is running.
  2. In Integration Designer, click the Servers tab to open the Servers view.
  3. In the Servers view, right-click anywhere in the view and select New > Server. The New Server wizard opens to the Define a New Server page.
  4. Define the new Workflow Center server by completing the following steps:
    1. In the Select the server type list box, select IBM Workflow Center.
    2. In the Server's host name field, ensure that the correct host name is specified for the Workflow Center server (playback server) that you want to create.
    3. In the Server name field, accept the default name or type in another name for the server.
    4. Click Next.
  5. Specify the connection settings for the Workflow Center by completing the following steps:
    1. If you want to set the host name, HTTP port, user ID, and password with the URI settings for the default Workflow Center, click Use Default Workflow Center. (To view or change the Workflow Center URI settings, select Window > Preferences to open the Preferences window, then expand Business Integration in the tree view and select Workflow Center.)
    2. If you want to set the host name, HTTP port, user ID, and password with the URI settings for a different (non-default) Workflow Center, specify the URI, as well as the user ID and password used to log into the Workflow Center, in the Workflow Center URI, User ID, and Password fields.
    3. If you want to attempt to establish a connection to the Workflow Center to verify that your connection settings are correct, click Test Connection.
    4. Click Next.
  6. Although the correct host name and ports are automatically determined and set for the Workflow Center server, you must specify the remaining connection settings by completing the following steps:
    1. Select the Security is enabled on this server check box if you want to specify that the server has security enabled. (The check box is selected by default.)
    2. In the User ID and Password fields, specify the administrative user name and password that are used for your Workflow Center server. If you do not know the administrative user name and password, contact your system administrator. (By default, the fields are pre-populated with the user ID and password that are used to log in to the Workflow Center.)
    3. Click Finish.

Results

The new Workflow Center server is displayed in the Servers view. Any process application or toolkits that reside in the workspace and that are installed on the server are shown nested under the server.