Using Message Broker and Process Server together

A quick note to point out a new Redbook:
Using WebSphere Message Broker as an ESB with WebSphere Process Server

I took a quick flick through the book this afternoon, and it looks like there are some very nice chapters which detail various scenarios (using WMB to aggregate responses from various backends; using WMB to bridge out to non-IBM JMS providers). In usual Redbook style, there are plenty of detailed examples of how to set things up.

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WebSphere SOA 6.1 Products Announced

I’m pleased to report that IBM has officially announced WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus 6.1, the product my colleagues in the development team are currently working on. 6.1 versions of its sister product WebSphere Process Server, the associated tool WebSphere Integration Developer, WebSphere Message Broker, and the WebSphere Service Registry and Repository have also been announced. Please see the announcement letter for more information.

New BPM SupportPacs site

Fresh into the world is the new WebSphere Business Process Management SupportPacs website.

Much like the WebSphere MQ and WebSphere Message Broker SupportPacs, these offer a variety of additional functions for IBM’s SOA family of products.

Some SupportPacs are fully supported product extensions, and others are provided “as-is” as examples to get you started more quickly. Be sure to check the category of any SupportPac you choose to use to ensure that you understand the basis on which it is being provided.

One particularly interesting release is BA78, a plugin for WebSphere Integration Developer that speeds up the development of applications that use the WebSphere MQ-CICS bridge.

Technorati tags: SupportPac, WebSphere, SOA, WebSphere Business Process Management, WebSphere Integration Developer, plugin, BPM

New WebSphere Message Broker updates

Just announced are fixpack 4 for WebSphere Message Broker version 6 (release notes here) and cumulative interim fix 006 for WebSphere Message Broker Toolkit 6.0.2.

Get ’em while they’re hot.

Technorati tags: WebSphere Message Broker, Message Broker, Toolkit, maintenance, fixpack

Automating WebSphere Message Broker deployment

During the past few years I’ve come across a number of instances where customers have wanted to script the build and deployment of WebSphere Message Broker solutions. I’ve actually spoken about this a few times at conferences. The most common approach that customers have adopted has been to use Ant to tie in with the rest of their application build processes.

In an earlier developerWorks article, I included an example plugin node that could invoke an Ant task. There should be a build.xml file included with the sample code for this article that could help you to get started. I’ve also helped customers to write their own automated build and deployment processes using Ant.

Now, a new developerWorks article from Zhongming Chen, Ida Leung and Dave Spriet covers the use of Ant to drive the mqsicreatebar command for scripting the creation of broker archives. It’s a great article and well worth a look.

This isn’t the end of the story. Often, the overall process will also include checking out of source control, apply version tags, and deploying the BAR file. However, this article introduces the topic and should be a good starting point. You could also use the Configuration Manager Proxy API to control other broker tasks, as Matt Lucas describes in another developerWorks article.

Incidentally, if you want to know more about Ant, I personally really like the book Java Development with Ant by Erik Hatcher and Steve Loughran.

Technorati tags: developerworks, WebSphere Message Broker, Ant, Java, broker, IBM

Patterns: SOA Design using WebSphere Message Broker and WebSphere ESB

Interested in finding out more about when and where to use WebSphere ESB, WebSphere Message Broker and WebSphere DataPower SOA Applicances in a service oriented architecture? Then you should check out the redbook Patterns: SOA Design using WebSphere Message Broker and WebSphere ESB (still in draft at the moment) written by Kim Clark and others that I recommended after he pitched this at the recent WebSphere UK Usergroup meeting at Bedfont.

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.

Java 5 in WebSphere Message Broker

I’ve been very quiet on this blog so far, due to other commitments. I hope to make more of a contribution from now on. Let’s make a start with a small Broker tip.

A little-known addition that went into fix pack 3 for WebSphere Message Broker (6.0.0.3) is that you can now select a Java 1.5 runtime in which to execute your JavaCompute and Java plugin nodes. You’ll find this mentioned in the Infocenter, under the topic on New function added in V6 fix packs. You don’t have to use the 1.5 JRE – by default, a 1.4.2 JRE is still supplied, but you can switch to the 1.5 JRE if you need to do so.

The way this works is very straightforward. In version 6 of WMB, the environment for the broker components is initialised by script called mqsiprofile – as in previous releases – but this is now extensible. You can add additional scripts to the <workpath>\common\profiles directory – by default, this is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\IBM\MQSI\common\profiles on Windows (watch out, this might be hidden in Windows Explorer), and /var/mqsi/common/profiles on Linux and UNIX systems. These additional scripts will be executed automatically when the mqsiprofile script is run.

The instructions for enabling support for Java 1.5 differ very slightly depending on the platform:

• On Windows, copy mqsijava15.cmd from the broker <install_dir>\bin directory to the <workpath>\common\profiles directory.
• On Linux and UNIX, copy mqsijava15.sh from the <install_dir>\bin to <workpath>\common\profiles.

Once you’ve copied the script across, you can restart your broker components (having already re-run the mqsiprofile script, if appropriate), and the change should be picked up.

If you do choose to move to the 1.5 JRE, then it would be a good idea to re-test any Java components that you have already developed, to ensure that there are no compatibility issues.

WebSphere Transaction and Messaging and WebSphere Technical Conference

Next week the WebSphere Technical Conference and WebSphere Transaction and Messaging Technical Conference are running in parallel in Salzburg. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the whole range of  IBM SOA related products given by some of the top people in IBM. I will be giving a couple of talks on WebSphere ESB on “Developing custom mediations” and “Connecting WebSphere ESB and WebSphere MQ”. I look forward to seeing you there.

WebSphere Message Broker 6.0.0.3

The latest fixpack for WebSphere Message Broker was just released. I’ll be downloading it as soon as I can. Check out the release notes.