Configuring the Event Manager CEP module

In IBM InfoSphere Identity Insight, CEP refers to the complex event processing tools packaged with the product. These tools are the components within Event Manager that extend identity and relationship resolution to process event transactions and generate event alerts. This section provides information on how to configure the CEP tools to work specifically with Event Manager.

Architecture

The CEP component of Event Manager consists of two tools:

Eclipse^tm-based Rule Author tool: The Eclipse-based complex event processing Rule Author tool is the component that you use to configure and export event rules in the cep.xml file. The event rules file determines how events are processed and what triggers an event alert.; When you install IBM InfoSphere Identity Insight, you also install a compressed file containing the Rule Author tool and its User's Guide. However, you must first uncompress the tool files before you can begin configuring event rules.
Complex event processing engine (CEP engine): The complex event processing engine (CEP engine) is the component that processes incoming event data against the event rules configured in the cep.xml file.; When the pipeline receives data formatted using the EVENT data segment of an incoming UMF document, it sends that data to the CEP engine for event processing. After the CEP engine evaluates the event data against the configured cep.xml file, it sends the results back to the pipeline. If the event data meets or exceeds any configured event rule, the CEP engine also sends back a signal to the pipeline to generate an event alert. Whether or not an event alert is generated, the final event data that the pipeline receives is written to the entity database.; The CEP engine is installed by default with IBM InfoSphere Identity Insight.

These complex event processing components are part of a specific version of IBM Active Middleware^tm Technology that are included within Event Manager. These complex event processing components are included in your product purchase.

The cep.xml file

The cep.xml file contains the event rules and other settings necessary to process event data and generate event alerts. The Event Manager functionality in the pipeline and the CEP engine can only process events against the event rules file named cep.xml. This file is in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format, because data that comes into the pipeline is formatted in Universal Messaging Format (UMF), a format based on XML.

A starting cep.xml file is included with your product installation that contains the many of the required configuration settings that Event Manager needs to work with the CEP engine. You can import the starting cep.xml into a CEP project, and then configure the event business rules..

Note: Before you import the cep.xmlevent rules file and make any changes or export that file, make a back up copy of the original and store the original file in another directory. Consider using a versioning or source control system whenever you modify the event rules file.

Additional resources for CEP

For more in-depth usage information about using the Eclipse-based Rule Author tool, refer to the User's Guide for the tool. The guide, named AMT3.0.UserGuide.PDF, is located atinstall_path/cep/.