WebSphere Integration Developer v6.0.2 iFix 003 released

Yesterday saw the release of the third fix pack for WebSphere Integration Developer v6.0.2 (for Windows and Linux). This fixes a number of bugs in a range of areas across the product and so is definitely worth getting hold of. It can be applied by simply running the Rational Product Updater which comes with WebSphere Integration Developer.

New to WebSphere ESB / Process Server?

Normally I’d prefer not to write a post full of links, but we’re seeing a lot of enquiries at the moment from folks new to WebSphere ESB, Integration Developer, and Process Server, who are looking for some good places to learn more and get started. Here are some of my personal recommendations:

• What’s new in WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus V6 – A general introduction to some ESB concepts (this article actually refers to the first version of ESB – 6.0.1).
• Getting Started with WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus V6 – A more lengthy technical tutorial on ESB (again, covers ESB 6.0.1).
• What’s new in WebSphere ESB 6.0.2 – from the ESB Infocenter.
• Recommended reading list for SOA and Process Server – links to lots of high-level and low-level documentation on IBM’s SOA products generally, as well as Process Server and Integration Developer specifically.

MQ Library Location in WebSphere ESB / Process Server 6.0.2

If you’re using MQ/JMS bindings on imports or exports in WebSphere ESB / Process Server 6.0.2, you may run into problems if the level of the MQ libraries shipped with ESB doesn’t match the level required by your MQ server (for example, you might see this problem with MQ v6).

The simplest solution, assuming that your MQ server is running on the same host as your ESB server, is to re-point your MQ_INSTALL_ROOT variable (which you can access through the administrative console, via Environment / WebSphere Variables) to point to the install directory of your MQ server (you’ll then need to restart your ESB server).

Alternatively, if your MQ host is running elsewhere, you can copy com.ibm.mq.jar, com.ibm.mqjms.jar, and dhbcore.jar into a directory on your ESB host, and re-point the MQJMS_LIB_ROOT directory to point to this. However, please make sure that your license entitles you to do this.

Rational: Empowering the ‘A’ in SOA

There have been some exciting developments recently in Rational-land on the subject of SOA – most newsworthy perhaps, was the release in early December of the Rational desktop tools v7.0, advertised as “putting the ‘A’ in SOA”.

For those not familiar with the Rational desktop tools, they are built on Eclipse and include:

• Application Developer for WebSphere Software , featuring an integrated development environment for developing SOA, Java and portal applications.
• Software Architect, for model-driven development of SOA, J2EE and portal applications. New models are featured for SOA.
• Software Modeller, a visual modelling tool for architects, systems analysts and designers to ensure specifications, architectures and designs are clearly defined based on the Unified Modeling Language (v2.1).
• Systems Developer, a systems design and development tool for building hardware and software systems. This product adds Systems Modelling Language (SysML) support.
• Functional Tester, for functional and regression testing.
• Manual Tester, for manual test authoring and execution.
• Method Composer, now has an SOA plug-in, which enables the Rational Unified Process to provide process guidance for SOA governance.

Grady Booch, one of the original Three Amigos, held a live, on-line developerWorks chat on December 7, 2006 on the V7 release of IBM Rational desktop tools, SOA and Eclipse (read the transcript) which provides some insight into the value proposition of this release from one of our thought leaders.

So I’m looking for more great things to be coming in the realm of SOA, and look forward to sharing them with you.

Test Server Profiles in WebSphere Integration Developer 6.0.2

WebSphere Integration Developer 6.0.2 includes a slightly modified copy of WebSphere Process Server 6.0.2 which can be used to test material targeted at Process Server or WebSphere ESB (note: you can only use this copy for development purposes – check your license for the legal fine print). This is sometimes called the Integrated Test Environment or the Unit Test Environment. When you first install Integration Developer, you are offered two main features to install: the Integrated Development Environment and the IBM WebSphere Process Server V6.0.2 Test Environment. You almost certainly want to select the first option, as it is the WID development environment itself. If you tick the test environment option, you are then offered the option on the next panel to create either a WebSphere Process Server profile or a WebSphere ESB profile, or both. Tick whichever is most appropriate to the system you plan to deploy to. WebSphere Process Server is (by and large) a functionality superset of WebSphere ESB, but you should still create a WebSphere ESB profile if you plan to deploy to ESB ultimately, as this will ensure you don’t use inappropriate functionality and end up disappointed.

If you decide later that you need a profile type that you didn’t create, you can re-run the installer for Integration Developer and create it.

When you are using Integration Developer, you can restrict the options available to you by turning off various capabilities in the Window / Preferences / Workbench / Capabilities dialog. For example, it might be appropriate to make sure Integration Developer / Process Development is turned off if you only plan to target WebSphere ESB, as this will make sure that options appropriate to Process Server aren’t displayed to you.

Update 2007-01-16: I should add that the profiles you create will correspond to the servers you will see listed in the ‘Servers’ view when you first start Integration Developer.

Monitoring SOAP messages in WebSphere Integration Developer

If you are developing a module or mediation module with web services bindings you may be interested in monitoring the SOAP message(s) received at an export or sent from an import. To find out how to do this, read the rest of this post.

Connecting Enterprise Applications to WebSphere ESB

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be travelling to San José in February to participate in a Redbook Residency: helping to contribute towards a book entitled Connecting Enterprise Applications to WebSphere ESB. I look forward to helping our customers and other IBMers to better understand ESB’s bread-and-butter: how to connect together legacy systems: as well meeting some of my Californian colleagues and possibly even spending some time chilling in the Bay Area! If you’re around there then, please feel free to drop me a line. I’ll announce on this blog when the book is available.

Incidentally, did you know that San José is the most common place name in the world?

Upgrading WebSphere Integration Developer v6.0.1.x

If you currently have WebSphere Integration Developer 6.0.1.x and want to upgrade there are now 2 possible routes, with the launch of version 6.0.2:

Route 1: Moving up to WebSphere Integration Developer 6.0.2
When you should choose this option

You are planning on deploying to a 6.0.2 version of WebSphere Process Server or WebSphere ESB

How to perform the upgrade

• Launch the Rational Product Updater in the same way as described above
• Click on the Updates tab
• Install the 6.0.2 updates

Important note: If you choose this option the unit test environment built into WebSphere Integration Developer will be upgraded to 6.0.2 in order that the new 6.0.2 functionality in WebSphere Integration Developer can work successfully.

Route 2: Staying on the WebSphere Integration Developer 6.0.1.x stream

When you should choose this option

You are planning on deploying to a 6.0.1.x version of WebSphere Process Server or WebSphere ESB

How to perform the upgrade

• Download the fix from the WebSphere Integration Developer support site.
• Launch the Rational Product Updater – this can be done via the Start menu (or Linux equivalent) or Help>Software Updates in WebSphere Integration Developer
• Choose Preferences>Update Sites to point to the fix you have downloaded rather than the standard IBM update sites
• Install the update

Getting started with WMB Toolkit 6.0.2

Part of the swathe of new releases in the SOA space just before Christmas was a major new version of the WebSphere Message Broker Toolkit – 6.0.2 (release details). I started looking at the update today, and thought I’d let readers in on some of the new features.