When you split message flow processing between IBM® App Connect Enterprise and
IBM App Connect Enterprise as a
Service, you must configure a connectivity
agent.
Before you begin
These instructions assume that you installed App Connect Enterprise on
premises, and that you provisioned an instance of App Connect Enterprise as a Service.
About this task
When you split processing between
App Connect Enterprise and
App Connect Enterprise as a Service, your flows communicate by using a Switch server and
connectivity agent. The Switch server, which routes data, is managed for you by
App Connect Enterprise as a Service. The connectivity agent contains the certificates that your
flows require to communicate securely with the Switch server. A connectivity agent must be running
in the
App Connect Enterprise integration server where you deployed your on-premises
message flows.
The Switch server is already created in App Connect Enterprise as a Service. You must
download an agent configuration file from the cloud, and use it to configure the on-premises
connectivity agent. Your callable flows use this agent to communicate with each other securely,
through the Switch server.
Procedure
To prepare the environment to split processing between IBM App Connect Enterprise and App Connect Enterprise as a Service, complete the
following steps.
-
In App Connect Enterprise as a Service, click Callable flows
.
If you have not configured callable flows before, the list will be empty.
-
Click Connect callable flows.
A dialog box opens to set up your agent.
-
Click Download the configuration and save the agent configuration file
(agentx.json) to convenient location, and then use it to configure the
on-premises integration servers.
Copying the
agentx.json file, to the on-premises server's
iibswitch/agentx directory.
- For an independent integration server: work
directory/config/iibswitch/agentx
- For an integration server under an integration node:
$MQSI_WORKPATH/config/Node_name/Server_name/iibswitch/agentx
For each affected integration server, the agent should automatically establish a connection to
the Switch server. For example, in the App Connect Enterprise console for an independent
integration server you should see the following
messages:
The connection agent for remote callable flows has established a connection to the Switch server with URL 'wss://ibm-sw-lfcxnlolwumbamsnq.eu-gb.ace.ibm.com:443/'.
The integration server component 'agentx' has been started.
Similarly, in the Windows Application log, you should see the following messages for an
integration server (N101ISAA) under an integration node
(NODEIPL01):
( NODEIPL01.N101ISAA ) The connection agent for remote callable flows has established a connection to the Switch server with URL ''wss://ibm-sw-lfcxnlolwumbamsnq.eu-gb.ace.ibm.com:443/''.
A connection agent for remote callable flows has been configured on this integration server. The connection agent has successfully connected to the Switch server.
No response required.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
( NODEIPL01.N101ISAA ) The integration server component ''agentx'' has been started.
The specified component has been started and is available for use.
No response required.
Note: If a message flow on one on-premises integration server calls a message flow on other
on-premises integration servers, and one of those integration servers also uses the callable flows
technique to interact with flows in App Connect Enterprise as a Service, you need to copy the
downloaded agentx.json file to all those on-premises integration servers (so
that they all continue to use the same Switch server, now on cloud). For example, consider the
initial on-premises scenario where a flow on server A calls a flow on server B, with both servers
configured with the local agentx.json (to use the on-premises Switch server).
Later, a flow in App Connect Enterprise as a Service is added to call the flow on server B, so
server B needs to be configured with the agentx.json downloaded from the cloud
(to use the on-cloud Switch server). Also, to continue to use the same Switch server as server B,
server A needs to be configured with the agentx.json downloaded from the cloud
(to use the on-cloud Switch server)
-
In App Connect Enterprise as a Service, you can check that the on-premises agent can
connect to the Switch server in the cloud.
You can perform the following checks:
- Refresh the Callable flows page. This should list all the callable and calling flows on premises
and on cloud; for example:
- In the Connect callable flows dialog, click Test your
agent. This should return the number of on-premises agents found.
If the test is successful, close the dialog box.
Results
The callable flows technique can be used between IBM App Connect Enterprise and App Connect Enterprise as a Service, and between integration servers in IBM App Connect Enterprise configured to use the on-cloud Switch server.
For more information about developing these message flows, see Developing synchronously callable message flows.
