To WebSphere Service Registry and Repository (WSRR) practitioners, I’d like to recommend this excellent developerWorks article explaining how to leverage WS-I compliance validator that is part of that software. Among the things you will learn: how to make this validator enforce arbitrary restrictions expressed in Schematron.

Just one thing to keep in mind: this article was written for WSRR 6.2 and you will not be able to reproduce the scenario in this article with default settings of WSRR 6.3 (original or with Fixpack 1). This is because MAKE_GOVERNABLE event will not fire for WSDL documents containing endpoint definitions in default setup. I recommend that you replace MAKE_GOVERNABLE with CREATE event in sample code – then it will work.

Here’s how the story unfolds. When you load a service document (a WSDL document or a SCA module) into WSRR, a complex sequence of actions is taken by the software behind the scene. WSDL document is validated. The document is parsed and concepts relevant to WSRR are identified. Those include service, port, binding, operation, message and endpoint definitions, XML schema elements and types. All these objects are linked together. As these objects are created, configurable modifier kicks in to enable governance and initiate appropriate lifecycle. Once one item in a collection of linked objects has governance enabled, all other linked items are pointed to the same governance record. From that point on, they are governed together: it is not possible to enable governance separately for any other item in the linked collection.

Configurable modifier named “Triggers” contains the following fragment:

<!-- Mapping to push the relevant items through the Service Endpoint Lifecycle -->
<mapping>
<entity>
<any-of>
<model-type model-uri="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/serviceregistry/v6r3/ServiceModel#ServiceEndpoint"/>
<model-type model-uri="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/serviceregistry/v6r3/ServiceModel#MQServiceEndpoint"/>
<model-type model-uri="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/serviceregistry/v6r3/ServiceModel#SOAPServiceEndpoint"/>
<model-type model-uri="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/serviceregistry/v6r3/ServiceModel#ExtensionServiceEndpoint"/>
</any-of>
</entity>
<configuration name="InitiateEndpointLifecycle"/>
</mapping>

And configurable modifier named “InitiateEndpointLifecycle” includes this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

</action-configuration>

These 2 modifiers are both enabled in Governance Enablement profile. Putting all this together, if a SOAP Service Endpoint is found in WSDL document, a SOAPServiceEndpoint object will be created and endpoint lifecycle will be initiated. WSDL document itself will be linked to the governance record of the SOAP Endpoint. It will not be possible to enable governance on the WSDL document separately.

Indeed, when a sample WSDL is loaded, we see exactly this effect. When I click on newly loaded WSDL document and proceed to the Governance tab, I see the following:

Governance Tab of WSDL document

If I click on the “Root governance record” link, it takes me to the SOAP Service Endpoint:

SOAP Endpoint governance tab

One of the most common problems in WebSphere Business Monitor runtime administration is events not making it all the way to Dashboards (Portal or Business Space). Applications are running normally and emitting events that should be input to WebSphere Business Monitor (colloquially known as BAM), but BAM produces no output: no instance data is seen in dashboards. I’ve recently had an opportunity to troubleshoot 2 BAM installations in different organizations on consecutive days and I was faced with this problem in both cases.

Here are some things to check if you come across this situation:
1. A good first step in problem determination if you have access to monitor database is to check tables in the monitor model schema. There are few tables in this schema, so the task is easy. Here’s the list of tables from one simple model I developed:
CONSUMED_EVENT_T
PROCESSED_EVENTS
EVENT_SEQUENCE_INDICES
INCOMING_EVENTS
MCT_XTRCTMDLM_20091201151007
KCT_KPI_TRIGGER_20091201151007

There is one table per monitoring context (the one which name starts with MCT), plus tables for incoming, consumed and processed events, tables for KPIs and, in this case, one more service table. If this is the first time you attempt to run a model, you are just interested in cardinalities (number of rows in tables). Otherwise, you’d be looking at the number of recent rows.
If there is no data in any tables, events are not being routed to BAM. If there are rows in incoming_events table only, events are sent to BAM, but monitor model is not processing events. In the end, if the model works correctly, you should see one row in the monitoring context (MCT_*) table per, well, monitoring context created by original events.

2. Check that your monitor model is startable. Inspect SystemOut.log of the server running your model’s moderator module.
This message indicates successful startup of the monitor model:
[12/2/09 13:53:53:375 EST] 00000011 ConsumerDaemo I com.ibm.wbimonitor.mm.TestModel3.20081024161629.moderator.ConsumerDaemonHandlerImpl startDaemon() CWMRT3005I: The Monitor Model "TestModel3 20081024161629" is starting consumption on this server or cluster member in SERIAL_ST mode with reordering=false from PRIMARY_JMS_QUEUE.

On the other hand, this message indicates failure:
CWMRT2009W: The MM application is not in a startable state. This is usually because lifecycle steps are not complete.

If you see this error, perform step 3.

3. Check that mandatory lifecycle steps have been performed. Log on to admin console, go to Applications -> Monitor Models -> your model -> click on version -> make sure that all lights are green.

“Schema created” is the only lifecycle step that impacts operational data flow through monitor model.
If “Schema created” step is red, database schema creation for the model did not complete. Click on “Manage schema” link on the right. If your database environment is not restrictive and monitor database user has administrative permissions, you can create schema by clicking “Run Create Schema Script” button. In case of restrictive databases, such as DB2 for z/OS, this button is not even enabled. You will need to export the DDL by clicking “Export Create Schema Script” and work with your DBA to create and configure schema.

4. Check that CEI distribution is active
Click on your model version, and check the text under “CEI distribution mode”.
It should be active AND it should be in the right mode. In most cases (with exception of test environment), you likely are using queue bypass, in which case CEI distribution mode should read “Active (monitor model queue bypass)”.
To change distribution mode, click on “Change CEI distribution mode” link on the right.

Select desired value from “Target” drop down and click OK. Restart the target CEI server/cluster!

5. Check that correct CEI server has been configured as event source. This is a common problem in complex multiple cluster topologies.
Click on your model (not version) and then click on “Change CEI configuration”.

Check the table under “Event group profile list name” at the bottom of the properties page. In case of a complex topology with multiple CEI servers in the cell, all CEI-enabled clusters/servers will be listed individually. Make sure the right CEI server is selected (checkbox ticked). If you need to make a change, follow this procedure. First, checkboxes are made inactive (unavailable) if at least one model version has active CEI distribution. Deactivate CEI distribution for all model versions (change distribution mode to Inactive) as described in previous step. Wait for a minute for the change to become effective. Then come back to this property page – those checkboxes will become enabled. Select the right cluster/server, click Apply and then change distribution mode to Active for all model versions as described in step 4.

Earlier this year I blogged about installing Alphablox as part of WebSphere Business Monitor. Real production environments require clustering, and it was difficult to accomplish. Using DB2 on z/OS for data repository was particularly daunting task. Mike Killelea commented on my original post, noting that IBM disclaimed support for this scenario.

This time of the year, IBM is preparing version 7 of its BPM stack for release. From what I saw, Alphablox is much better integrated into Business Monitor (BAM). Remember, until now you had to run a separate Alphablox installer (with the exception of non-production-grade standalone profile). Now, ABX install is fully integrated. I specifically inquired about z/OS database support and was told that it is ON. I’ll post an update when I learn more.

When using WebSphere Application Client (J2EE, thin or pluggable) to access EJBs on WebSphere Application Server, an optional ORB trace file may be created. You can specify trace file location and name, but if you do not, default file name is orbtrc.timestamp.txt (e.g. orbtrc.10112009.1815.37.txt)
Of course, oftentimes you do not want any trace, and you certainly can turn tracing off. Well, with one exception. If you are using HTTP tunneling with SSL (HTTPS tunneling), trace file will be created automatically with the default name. This behavior has been known to affect several versions of WAS. I last confirmed it in WAS 6.1.
This may be annoying or inappropriate in some client environments. As a workaround, redirect trace output to null device by adding the following parameters to your client JVM command line:
for Windows
-Dcom.ibm.CORBA.Debug.Output=nul:
for Unix/Linux, use /dev/null.

Database access in WebSphere Application Server is performed through JDBC Providers. JDBC Provider is a configuration element specifying JDBC driver class. For actual database access, one creates Data Sources underneath a JDBC Provider.
At runtime, the first time a data source is accessed, corresponding JDBC Provider is activated. At this time, WebSphere logs a series of informational messages detailing JDBC Provider version and configuration. One of the messages you can see in SystemOut log is DSRA8208I, which Infocenter documents this way:

DSRA8208I: JDBC driver type : {0}
Explanation: The JDBC driver type.
User Response: The JDBC driver type is now used by applications.

Driver type is JDBC driver type and nowadays almost universally equals 4 (pure Java).
When DB2 provider is in use, you might see this:
DSRA8208I: JDBC driver type : 4

However, with Oracle provider the message shows an empty driver type, which may cause confusion or concerns :
DSRA8208I: JDBC driver type : ""

What happened here? Has the driver loaded incorrectly or is unrecognized? Don’t worry. There is no reason for alarm – Oracle provider does not have “driverType” parameter and so this value is always empty with Oracle.

Students of EJB specification may remember that it describes Stateful Session Beans (SFSB), a mechanism to preserve state in EJB container. This feature was not popular, as state is mostly handled in Web container in JEE applications, with EJB container providing stateless services. WebSphere Application Server, being a superb J2EE container, supports SFSB. Beginning with WAS version 6, when deployed to a clustered environment, you can enable SFSB failover, so your valuable state is not lost when an EJB container goes down for any reason. It is a telling indicator of low demand that this feature was not available in WebSphere until version 6 (J2EE 1.4 / J2SE 5), which came out in late 2004. SFSB failover in WAS is implemented through bean passivation. After each method call, bean is passivated, which requires serialization. Serialized object is then distributed to other EJB containers in the same cluster. Unlike HTTP session replication, tuning optimizations, such as time-based writes, are not available for SFSB failover. It is all or nothing: either you have no replication/failover or you incur overhead of inlined passivation on every call. Resulting performance is predictably poor. And I can not really blame IBM for not polishing a feature that is in apparently little demand. Another reason for you to stick with HTTP sessions and avoid SFSB.

UPDATE 11/12: The fix for the issue described below is included in WBM 6.2 Fixpack 2, now publicly available.

ORIGINAL POST:
If you installed WebSphere Business Monitor (aka BAM) version 6.2 into the same directory as Process Server or WESB 6.2, you may run into problems with overlapping OSGI plugins.
Your WPS/WESB modules and mediations could fail with JXPath error like this:

[5/18/09 19:25:21:744 EDT] 0000005f ExceptionUtil E CNTR0020E: EJB threw an unexpected (non-declared) exception during invocation of method "transactionRequiredActivitySessionNotSupported" on bean "BeanId(TestFanoutApp#TestFanoutEJB.jar#Module, null)". Exception data:
Mediation primitive failure:
Mediation primitive: FanOut1
Component: TestFanout
Module: TestFanout
com.ibm.wsspi.sibx.mediation.MediationBusinessException: CWSXM3752E: Error using XPath expression [Ljava.lang.Object;@7d6e7d6e to locate repeating element: org.apache.commons.jxpath.JXPathException: No value for xpath: /body/print/input/orders. This has been reported by the following entity: ID=FanOut1,Request,print,PrintOrder,http://TestFanout/PrintOrder,TestFanout,TestFanout
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.mediation.primitives.util.ExceptionHelper.newMediationBusinessException(ExceptionHelper.java:128)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.mediation.primitives.fan.FanOutMediation.locateRepeatingElement(FanOutMediation.java:726)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.mediation.primitives.fan.FanOutMediation.performNonAggregationMediate(FanOutMediation.java:593)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.mediation.primitives.fan.FanOutMediation.mediate(FanOutMediation.java:265)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.JavaMediationPrimitive.performInvocation(JavaMediationPrimitive.java:630)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.JavaMediationPrimitive.invoke(JavaMediationPrimitive.java:352)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.MediationPrimitive.invokeConnections(MediationPrimitive.java:318)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.JavaMediationPrimitive.fireOutputTerminals(JavaMediationPrimitive.java:728)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.JavaMediationPrimitive.performInvocation(JavaMediationPrimitive.java:650)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.JavaMediationPrimitive.invoke(JavaMediationPrimitive.java:352)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.MediationPrimitive.invokeConnections(MediationPrimitive.java:318)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.Input.invoke(Input.java:138)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.RequestFlow.invokeFlow(RequestFlow.java:132)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.engine.MediationFlow.invokeRequestFlow(MediationFlow.java:145)
at com.ibm.wsspi.sibx.mediation.flow.ejb.MediationFlowBean.invokeRequestFlow(MediationFlowBean.java:231)
at com.ibm.wsspi.sibx.mediation.flow.ejb.EJSLocalStatelessTestFanout_c53bef64.invokeRequestFlow(EJSLocalStatelessTestFanout_c53bef64.java:127)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.mediation.component.ejb.EJBMediationFlowComponentImpl.invokeRequestFlow(EJBMediationFlowComponentImpl.java:223)
at com.ibm.ws.sibx.scax.runtime.handler.MFCImplementationHandler.processMessage(MFCImplementationHandler.java:199)
at com.ibm.ws.sca.internal.message.impl.MessageDispatcherImpl.processMessageWithPCI(MessageDispatcherImpl.java:715)
at com.ibm.ws.sca.internal.message.impl.MessageDispatcherImpl.processMessage(MessageDispatcherImpl.java:1167)
at com.ibm.ws.sca.internal.message.impl.ManagedMessageImpl.process(ManagedMessageImpl.java:843)
at com.ibm.wsspi.sca.ejb.module.impl.ModuleSessionBean.processUOWMessage(ModuleSessionBean.java:336)
at com.ibm.wsspi.sca.ejb.module.impl.ModuleSessionBean.transactionRequiredActivitySessionNotSupported(ModuleSessionBean.java:315)
at com.ibm.wsspi.sca.ejb.module.EJSLocalStatelessModule_43132892.transactionRequiredActivitySessionNotSupported(EJSLocalStatelessModule_43132892.java:233)
at com.ibm.ws.sca.internal.uow.handler.UOWStrategyImpl.transactionGlobalActivitySessionFalse(UOWStrategyImpl.java:311)
at com.ibm.ws.sca.internal.uow.handler.JoinUOWHandler.processMessage(JoinUOWHandler.java:165)
[snip]

Or you may have classloading problems when trying to work with monitor models.

Same issues may occur with fixpack 1 of both products (WPS/WESB 6.2.0.1 and WBMonitor 6.2.0.1)
This is happening because WPS/WESB and WBM/BAM each comes with its own version of JXPath libraries. A fix for this issue will soon be publicaly available from the monitor team. It would restrict visibility of JXPath library packaged with WBM to monitor code.
If your symptoms match, please ask IBM support about JR33245.

Suppose you install Alphablox, say as part of WebSphere Business Monitor product. Alphablox has been and still remians (as of version 6.2) an important integral part of WBM, providing dimensional analysis of monitored data and KPIs. Alphablox requires a number of database objects to function. By default it will attempt to create database tables it needs upon first run. But what if you are using DB2 for z/OS or another restrictive database environment, where programs are not allowed to run DDL. DBAs hold the keys to database structure and you are required to submit any DDL to a DBA for review and execution. Not unreasonable for a structured corporate IT where I’d expect to find WebSphere Business Monitor.
So you want to get your hands on DDL Alphablox would attempt to execute and hand it your DBA. It is possible, even though scripts are not on the surface as they are for the rest of WBM (or othe products in Business Process Management stack).

While scripts do not exist in a form of standalone DDL files, DDL statements are available. Just inspect properties file named $ABX_ROOT/repository/servers/$dbtype.dmlsql, where $ABX_ROOT is the root of Alphablox installation directory and $dbtype is your database type, e.g. db2_zos.dmlsql
Look for properties named DDL.CREATE1-DDL.CREATE6 and DDL.INDEX1-DDL.INDEX10

You will find entries like this:

DDL.CREATE1            = CREATE TABLE ABX_VERSION (DESCRIPTION VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL, VALUE VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL)

This is not a complete script, of course. You will have to add things like tablespaces and permission grants, but all it is exactly what program needs.

DROP statements and a number of updates/inserts round out this file.

UPDATE 12/5/2009. In response to Mike Killelea’s comment below. I worked with Mike on the DB2-z/OS based Alphablox installation. Mike correctly mentions that ABX install over DB2/z not straightforward. Installation procedure is nothing like regular ABX install and you have to jump through some hoops. Yet in the end it is possible to host Alphablox repository on DB2-z/OS. In my post, I wanted to give a pointer that would be useful in doing so. It is certainly not all you will need to do. I’m not in a position to disclose details of this procedure – please contact IBM support. I just wanted to correct the record in that the task is doable.

IBM has pre-announced WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition and WebSphere Cloudburst appliance. I understand both will be officially made available during SOA Impact this week. WAS HE is application server in a VM image. Cloudburst is even better – it lets you have your application server in an appliance. Remember “my coffee maker runs Java?” Well, now your refrigerator runs WebSphere! WAS ND is pre-installed and you have an option to turn on Feature Packs with a simple checkbox. While at this time there are only 2 publicly available Feature Packs for WAS 7 (SCA and Web 2.0), another one is on its way (XML, which will include XML Schema 2.0, XPath 2.0 and XQuery 1.0). Profile creation is also included – just choose which profile you want. This way, after a few minutes of initial configuration you have a working installation of WAS ready to run.

This is a very interesting move by IBM, building on success of their DataPower line of appliances, which expanded from original 3 models to current 5 with recent addition of B2B gateway (XB60) and low-latency messaging appliance (XM70). Now, this new form factor comes to the application server world. Both WAS HE and Cloudburst will help dramatically reduce environment creation overhead. Now server environment can be stood up in a very short time.

While WAS HE and Cloudburst may be used together, this is not the only way. One could say that they represent opposite ends of the software “hardness” specter. Cloudburst is clearly out there on the “hard” side. But WAS HE is just a VM image, which may be brought online when needed. When no longer necessary, it can be shut down and left to wither on a backup shelf. This gives organizations ability to manage server capacity easier.

Cloudburst, advertised as a “private cloud” solution, can be deployed in more “mundane” implementations having nothing to do with clouds at all.

It would be interesting to see if this move leads to more appliance offerings. I’m thinking next in line will be widely used software running on WAS – Portal and Process Server.

UPDATE 5/6/2009: Feature Pack for XML is now available as an open beta here.

IBM’s adapter for Flat Files features an ability to split files as they are read in, either by size or by a delimiter. For the sake of completeness, I should mention that splitting is also possible in outbound adapter (when writing files). But today I’d like to focus on more interesting case of inbound adapter. In general, splitting feature deals with a situation when your incoming files might be a concatenation of units you’d like to process one at a time.

When splitting inbound files at a delimiter, Flat File adapter provides an option to include the delimiter in resulting objects. This is akin to looking at land lots separated by fences and asking whether someone owns the land under the fence. Decision on including separators depends on their nature. If input combined file includes artificial separators between individual units (e.g. “***SPLITMEHERE***”), you should not include separators. On the other hand, if you use a distinct start- or end-of-file signature as a separator (such as “<?xml version=”1.0”?>), separator is an integral part of each unit and must be included.

And so you decided that you want to include the separator.

But how do you specify whether the separator should be included at the end of the previous unit or at the beginning of the next? Assume your separator is “<?xml “, look at this section of the file:

</Widget>

<?xml version=”1.0”?>

<Widget xmlns…..

In which unit do you think this “<?xml” separator belongs? In other words, which is right: this

</Widget>

<?xml

[split]

version=”1.0”?>

<Widget xmlns…..

Or this

</Widget>

[split]

<?xml version=”1.0”?>

<Widget xmlns…..

The answer is obvious to you from context, but how will the Flat File adapter answer the same question? From Flat File adapter’s perspective, who owns the fence between land plots?

Answer: it depends on whether there is a fence BEFORE the first plot. If the file starts with delimiter, the Flat File adapter will decide that delimiter belongs at the start of each segment. If the file does NOT start with the delimiter, the Flat File adapter will reason that delimiter belongs at the end of each segment.

This is reasonable assumption, although I did not see it documented anywhere. In our example, Flat File adapter will correctly split he file before “<?xml “ prolog, because the file begins (hopefully) with this string. But please keep this rule in mind when configuring your file splitting. For example, setting splitter to “\n<?xml” (line break followed by <?xml) will NOT work, because it is almost certain that your file does not begin with line break.

Happy splitting!