Connections from Workflow Center to Workflow Server
To establish and work with connections between IBM® Workflow Center and IBM Workflow Server, you should understand the typical behavior of the connections and know where to update the connection settings.
- Behavior
- Settings
- Other sources of information
Behavior
When Workflow Center attempts to establish a connection to Workflow Server, the connection information is looked up in the database of the Workflow Center server and the communication goes directly from Workflow Center to Workflow Server. Workflow Center always uses HTTP to communicate with Workflow Server.
Information stored in the LSW_SERVER table is updated with each heartbeat (unless the server is taken offline). If you have two servers in a cluster set for online, they both set the same row value at the heartbeat interval. If they contain different values, the row continuously changes. If the two servers use different host names, the stored URL will change with each server heartbeat. Aside from changing the hostname in the Workflow Center console and the connections spread across them, the stored URL is also used by other components. If the Take Server Offline button is used, the incoming heartbeat with the same install ID is ignored until the server is turned back online from Workflow Center.
Settings
The following table lists settings that are used in connections between Workflow Center and Workflow Server:
| Setting | Description | Business Automation Workflow or IBM Business Process Manager 8.5.0.1 or later | Prior to IBM Business Manager 8.5.0.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server ID | The server ID from the LSW_SYSTEM table. | InstallationGUID | |
| Name/Description/Type | The name, description, and environment type of the server. They are
derived from the 99Local.xml file and they are only specified on Workflow Server. There are four environment types:
development, test, staging and production. You can modify the name and environment type of the server using the BPMConfig command, as described in the topic BPMConfig command-line utility. |
server-name, server-description, and environment-type | server-name, server-description, and environment-type |
| Address | The address value is set using the endpoint support. The specific scenario
HEARTBEAT_DESIGNATED_DEPLOYMENT_ENDPOINT is used and the default scenario INTERNAL is used for the
teamworks.war web application. The useHTTPSURLPrefixes setting is not needed
when the virtual host is not used because the full URL (including the protocol) is now included in
the Address setting. The setting for the virtual host info at the deployment environment level is documented in the topic Configuring endpoints to match your topology. The default transport is HTTP prior to IBM Business Process Manager 8.5.5.0 and it is HTTPS in Business Automation Workflow and in IBM Business Process Manager 8.5.5.0 and later. |
BPMVirtualHostInfo | server-host and server-port and deploy-snapshot-using-https |
| User/PWD | The user and password used for all remote actions run on Workflow Server from a Workflow Center connection. The default is DeAdminAlias. | BPMAuthor | repository-server-designated-user-auth-alias |
| Installer Group ID | The ID of the installer group. The group only needs to exist on Workflow Center and does not need to exist on Workflow Server. Specifies the name of a group whose members are authorized to perform installations on Workflow Server. Workflow Server passes the specified group name to Workflow Center. When a Workflow Center user attempts to install to an online Workflow Server by selecting the Deploy button, Workflow Center performs a check to ensure that the user is a member of the specified group. On Workflow Center, a user can create process applications and human services, as well as use JavaScript APIs to look up any internal group and add members. For this reason, an internal group should not be specified for the Workflow Center Install setting. Instead, the specified group should exist in the user registry, either LDAP or a file-based registry. Information about security configuration properties and roles is found in the following topics: |
processCenterInstall | process-center-install-group |
| PortalWebMessagingTopicConnectionFactory | PortalWebMessagingTopicConnectionFactory is the connection factory user
for the communication between the Process Inspector and Workflow Server. Specify a provider endpoint value for each
messaging cluster member by using a comma-separated list, as shown in the following
example:The host_name variable is the externally accessible host name for the IBM Business Automation Workflow server. The port_number variable is the SIB_ENDPOINT_SECURE_ADDRESS port. The provider endpoints will be set correctly by the BPMConfig command. A problem only occurs if you manually change the port numbers (for example, if you attempt to reuse port numbers that are already in use). |
PortalWebMessagingTopicConnectionFactory | PortalWebMessagingTopicConnectionFactory |
Other sources of information
Other relevant information is found in the following topics: