Adding a web services server in the designer

Edit online
Draft comment:
This topic is shared by BAW, CP4BA. Last updated on 2025-03-13 12:15
You can add one or more web services servers to your process application. Each web services server describes the location of a web service endpoint and can be referenced by external services that you use to invoke a web service. This reference enables the sharing of configuration information for invoking web services that start the same endpoint, eliminating the need to configure similar information multiple times. In addition, if you need to change the information that is associated with a particular endpoint, you can change the web services server information and the updated information can be used by any external service that references the web services server.

About this task

The web services server can be configured with policy sets and bindings. Policy sets simplify the configuration of web services by providing reusable configurations. A web services policy set defines a set of configuration properties to be associated with a web service integration or endpoint. A policy set follows the WS-Policy specification External link opens a new window or tab. One example of how policy sets can be used is to configure WS-Security for your web service endpoint or outbound web service integration. WS-Security provides SOAP message-layer security with the following tokens and elements:
  • Security tokens: Security tokens contain authentication information that flows with the message.
  • Signature elements: Digital signature information for all or part of the message verifies that the original request is not modified.
  • Encryption elements: Messages can be encrypted, either completely or partially, so that only the intended recipient can read it.

Procedure

  1. Open the process application in the designer.
  2. Select the Servers tab from the Process App Settings editor.
  3. In the Servers section, click +. In the Details section, enter a meaningful name for the server. In the Type field, select Web Service Server. Add a meaningful description of the server in the Description field. This field is optional
  4. Enter the server binding properties for the Default environment:
    • The Default settings are used if nothing is specified for the other environments. You can have several environment types, which are added by clicking +. The other environment types that you can add are as follows:
      • Development: The environment where you develop your services.
      • Test: The environment where you test your services.
      • Staging: The environment where you deploy your services for pre-production testing.
      • Production: The environment where your services are deployed for use by your organization.
      You can modify the environment type after deployment by using the updateBPMConfig administrative command. See Modifying the IBM Workflow Server environment type.
    • WSDL URL: The URL of the web service. For example: http://mycorporation.com/webservice/financialstatements?wsdl. You can enter a URL or discover a URL.
      Note: Specifying a URL that is computed at run time by using a JavaScript expression in the <#= #> syntax, as described in Syntax for text with embedded JavaScript is deprecated. If you have URLs that are environment specific (for example, for test and production), add a configuration for each environment as described previously. At runtime, change the URL in the Servers tab of the snaphot in the Process Admin Console, or change it by using the wsadmin command BPMSetWebServiceServerProperties.
    • For protected services, click Protected WSDL and enter a userid and password.
      Important: Because the endpoint is not read from a protected WSDL, you must select Override Endpoint and specify the endpoint address manually.
    • Select Discover to discover a web service and generate an external service.
    • Select View to view the WSDL source code of a WSDL file.
    • Override Endpoint: If selected, you can override the WSDL URL field using the fields beneath the check box. This selection can be useful if you use different endpoints for development and testing, for example.
      • Endpoint Address: The URL of the web service you want to use. You can use the same format as the WSDL URL field that you are overriding.

        In this field, you can specify a value that is computed at run time, by using a JavaScript expression in the <#= #> syntax, as described in Syntax for text with embedded JavaScript.

      • Endpoint Port: If there are multiple ports that are defined in the WSDL file and there is a specific port for the web service that you want to use, then enter the port name in this field.
      Note: If the endpoint address uses the https protocol, make sure that the certificate is trusted. If necessary, add it to the trust store related to the default ssl configuration.
    • Dynamically load WSDL at run time: Determines whether the WSDL is loaded at run time, for External Services that were discovered in Business Automation Workflow V18.0.0.2 or later. For External Services that were discovered in earlier releases, you might still see dynamic loading of WSDL at run time even if this field is unchecked.
    • Authentication: Specifies the type of authentication. Authentication ensures that the parties in a transaction are who they claim to be.
      • None: No authentication is required.
      • HTTP Authentication: User name and password are passed in a header element of a message.

        You can also specify a user name that is computed at run time by using a JavaScript expression in the <#= #> syntax, as described in Syntax for text with embedded JavaScript.

      • UsernameToken (password in plaintext): The username token passes the user name and password. The password is in text.
      • UsernameToken (password in digest): The username token passes the user name and password. The password is in digest form, which means it is a hash value. A hash value for a user name and password makes these values more difficult to detect.
    • Username: The user name that is registered at the server.

      You can also specify a user name that is computed at run time by using a JavaScript expression in the <#= #> syntax, as described in Syntax for text with embedded JavaScript.

    • Password: The password that is registered at the server.
    • Client certificate alias: The alias for the client certificate; that is the alias name in the keystore that identifies where the client certificate is located. For more information, see Setting up message-level encryption.
    • Sign request: Select if you require messages from the client to be signed.
    • Expect encrypted response: Select if the client expects an encrypted response message.
    • Server certificate alias: The alias for the server certificate; that is the alias name in the keystore that identifies where the server certificate is located. . For more information, see Setting up message-level encryption.
    • Encrypt request: Select if you require the request message to be encrypted.
    • Expect signed response: Select if you want to verify a signed response message from the server.
    • Use Policy Set: This selection means that a policy set is used to define the configuration and security requirements for the web service.
      • Policy Set: Specifies the name of the application policy set. Click Select to choose the policy set. The list that you will see depends on the policies available on the server. Some default application policy sets include: WSHTTPS default, WSAddressing default, and Username WSSecurity default. You can also create more application policy sets in the WebSphere® Application Server Administrative Console. Deselecting a policy set also removes the policy binding.
      • Policy Binding: Specifies the name of the general client policy set binding, which contains system-specific configuration parameters like username and password information. Click Select to choose the policy binding. The list you see depends on the policy set bindings available on the server. Default policy set bindings include: Client sample and Client sample V2. You can also create more policy set bindings in the WebSphere Application Server Administrative Console. Deselecting removes the policy binding.
    Note: Server settings are typically configured during development, but they may differ between environments (such as using different endpoints or credentials) and can change over time. These settings can be updated at runtime—for example, through the operations REST APIs. For details, see REST API programming. To apply the same settings to another version, refer to Synchronize snapshots.
  5. Click Save or Finish Editing.
    For details about declaring variables for the client-side human services, see Declaring variables