Managing BAR files

You can use the BAR file management functions to maintain the set of BAR files that are stored in the content server that is associated with your App Connect Dashboard instance.

About this task

The backup and restore function enables you to collectively export all BAR files to an archive file and subsequently use that archive to restore all the BAR files to your App Connect Dashboard instance. The backup and restore function is useful when deploying a new dashboard, and provides a full recovery mechanism.

As an alternative to creating an integration server from the Servers page, you can import a BAR file for storage, and then deploy it whenever you choose. You can also view the URL of the location where a BAR file is stored in the content server, update an existing BAR file, or delete a file if it's no longer needed.

Note:

If you are importing or updating a BAR file that was exported from an App Connect Designer authoring environment, you must ensure that the BAR file fulfilled the conditions for export within the authoring environment. For more information, see Exporting and importing flows from an App Connect Designer instance in your cluster and Exporting a flow to a BAR file from an App Connect Designer authoring environment.

Restriction: The content server imposes a limit of 100 MB on the size of a BAR file that you can upload or import. This limit also applies to the size of an archive backup (.tar.gz) that can be restored.

Procedure

  1. From the App Connect Dashboard UI, click the BAR files icon BAR files icon.

    The "BAR files" page opens, with a list of BAR files that have been deployed as integration servers, and any BAR files that have been imported, but not deployed.

    BAR files page
  2. Complete any of the following tasks:
    • To back up the collection of BAR files, click the Backup icon Backup icon. An archive (named ACE-BAR-Backup.tar.gz) of all the files is downloaded to your browser's configured location. You can subsequently use this archive to restore the files to the same or a different App Connect Dashboard instance.
    • To restore the BAR files that were backed up to an archive, click the Restore icon Restore icon. Add the ACE-BAR-Backup.tar.gz file to the Restore panel, and click Restore.

      The files are added with a Not deployed status, and can be separately deployed as integration servers from the Servers page or Integrations page.

    • To import a BAR file, click Import BAR. Add the file to the Drag and drop a BAR file or click to upload panel, and click Import. The file is added with a Not deployed status, and can be deployed as an integration server from the Servers page or Integrations page.
    • To view the URL of the location where a BAR file is stored in the content server, open the options menu Options menu for the file and click Display BAR URL. From the Display BAR URL panel, you can, if required, copy the supplied URL and use it to create an integration server from the Red Hat® OpenShift® CLI by setting spec.barURL to this URL.
    • To replace an existing BAR file with an updated file of the same name, open the options menu Options menu for the file and click Update BAR.

      Then add the updated file to the Update BAR panel and click Update. If the existing version of the BAR file is already deployed, any integration server deployments that are using that file are restarted on a rolling basis, because at least one replica is always running, to avoid downtime.

    • To delete a BAR file, open the options menu Options menu for the file and click Delete BAR. Confirm the deletion by clicking Delete.
      Note: You can only delete a BAR file if its "Deployed to" status is set to Not deployed.