WebSphere Adapters resources

After you run the Adapter Connection wizard and create a message flow, you must deploy the resources that are generated by adding them to an application, library, or BAR file.

To build an IBM® Integration Bus solution that integrates with an Enterprise Information System (EIS), such as SAP, Siebel, JD Edwards, or PeopleSoft, you need the following resources:
  • A message flow that contains at least one WebSphere® Adapters node
  • A library (created by the Adapter Connection wizard) that describes the logical model of the data, as defined by the EIS
  • An adapter, which includes two sets of information that are used by the WebSphere Adapters node in the message flow:
    • Connection information
    • Interface information

      The interface information contains a list of methods. For outbound adapters, methods define the operations or services that can be run on the EIS by the WebSphere Adapters request node. For inbound adapters, the method defines callout functions or events from the EIS that cause the WebSphere Adapters input node to propagate a message through the message flow.

      For each method, the information consists of the name of the method, and the name and namespaces of the message types that are used for input and output. To run the method successfully, the message types must be defined in the library.

Iterative deployment

The message flow can be coded with knowledge of the logical model of the data that is exchanged with the EIS (for example, where Mapping nodes are used to transform the data), but it can also act as a gateway to the EIS, where no transformation of data takes place. When the flow acts as a gateway, you need to be able to run new operations or respond to new events in the EIS without changing or reloading the resources that are already deployed.

You can use iterative deployment to deploy the resources that are required to support the new methods, without affecting any resources that are already deployed. Iterative deployment is possible by using primary and secondary adapters. The primary adapter for a WebSphere Adapters node contains its connection information and part of its interface; the secondary adapters contain the rest of the interface.

You can store a secondary adapter in the same library as the primary adapter, or a different library. If the library that contains the primary adapter is referenced by an application or library, you can reference the project that contains the secondary adapter from the same application or library, or from a different application or library.

You must stop any message flow that references a primary adapter before you redeploy the primary adapter. However, you do not need to stop the message flow when you deploy the secondary adapter. During deployment of the secondary adapter, the primary adapter provides connection information, and the secondary adapter supplies additional interface information.