Starting, stopping, and pausing connectors

This section describe how to start, stop, and pause connectors.

This section covers the following topics:

"Connector initialization"

"Steps for starting, stopping, and pausing connectors"

System Manager commands for changing connector states

"Steps for manually starting a connector"

"Shutting down a connector"

"Restarting a connector"

"Steps for setting automatic and remote restart for a connector"

Steps for using OAD as a Windows service

Connector initialization

The first time you start a connector, it must be initialized. Initializing a connector requires that you start it manually. For instructions on manually starting a connector, see Steps for manually starting a connector.

If the connector does not start, check to make sure that the command line to start it includes the current InterChange Server Express name. For more information, refer to WebSphere Business Integration Server Express Installation Guide.

Steps for starting, stopping, and pausing connectors

After the connector has been initialized, you can start, stop, and pause it with System Monitor or System Manager.

Perform the following steps to start, stop, and pause connectors in System Monitor:

  1. When viewing the System Overview view (see Figure 25), specify a connector by selecting the check box to its left.
  2. Select the Start, Pause, or Stop icon from the icon group in the upper-left corner of the view (see Figure 27).

Figure 27. System Monitor, icons for starting, pausing, restarting, or shutting down components


Perform the following steps to start, stop, and pause connectors in System Manager:

  1. In System Manager, go to the Connectors folder in the InterChange Server Component Management view (see Figure 26).
  2. Right-click the name of a connector, then select Start ConnectorName, Pause ConnectorName, or Stop ConnectorName.

System Manager commands for changing connector states

The following list describes the commands you can use to change the connector state and describes their processing actions:

Start ConnectorName
Starts the selected connector if it is paused or stopped. Connectors poll the application and connector controllers read the persistent queue. Flows are processed.

Pause ConnectorName
Pauses the selected connector if it is running or stopped. Connectors stop polling the application and connector controllers stop reading new requests, but events continue to be processed.

Stop ConnectorName
Stops the selected connector if it is running or paused. Connectors stop polling the application and fail requests with an exception message. Connector controllers stop reading the persistent queue. Flows and requests are not processed.

Shut Down ConnectorName
Shuts down the selected connector. The connector's process is stopped.

Boot ConnectorName
Restarts the selected connector. This action is available only if you have set the OADAutoRestartAgent property of the connector to True. See "Steps for setting automatic and remote restart for a connector".

Steps for manually starting a connector

When you install the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapters, a shortcut is created for each installed connector on the IBM WebSphere program menu. The connector is defined in the InterChange Server Express repository and is loaded when you load the repository.

Starting InterChange Server Express automatically initializes every connector defined in the repository. The connector is available for use whenever InterChange Server Express is running.

Note:
To make a connector functional for the first time, you must configure it before you start the connector. See the adapter guide for the connectors you are using for configuration instructions.

Perform one of the following steps to start the connector:

You can customize the startup for each connector by modifying the connector shortcut or the start_connector.bat file. Use the connector startup parameters listed in Table 7 to customize the startup of a connector.

Table 7. Connector startup parameters

Parameter Function
-c configFile Name of the configuration file to be used during startup. If the file name specifies a relative path, the startup script looks for the file in the directory where the product is installed. This parameter is required only to use a local connector configuration file. If you are not using a local configuration file, enter the name of the configuration file used by the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server Express (by default, InterchangeSystem.cfg).
-c Causes the default configuration file to be used if the user-specified configuration file does not exist.
-d Specifies the name of the C++ connector's library file, which is a dynamic link library (DLL). This DLL name does not include the .dll file extension. The startup script specifies this option for all C++ connectors.
-f pollFrequency Poll frequency is the number of milliseconds between polling actions.
  • To specify the number of milliseconds, provide a value for pollFrequency.
  • To cause the connector to poll only when you type the value p in the connector's Command Prompt window, specify the -fkey option.
  • If a connector is configured to processes only business object requests and not application events, polling is unnecessary; you can disable polling by specifying -fno.

The value of this parameter overrides any repository definitions. You can specify either -fkey or -fno, but not both.

-j Specifies that the connector is written in Java. This parameter is optional if you specify -l className.
-l className Specifies the name of the Java connector's global class, which is an extension of the connector base class. The startup script specifies this option for all Java connectors.
-n connectorName Specifies the name of the connector to start.
-p password Specifies the password that the connector uses to access InterChange Server Express.
-s serverName Specifies the name of the server. This parameter is required. The name is case-sensitive.
-t Turns on the connector property SingleThreadAppCalls. This property guarantees that all calls the connector framework makes to the application-specific connector code are with one event-triggered flow. The default value is false. Important: Do not change the value of this property from its shipped value. Each connector has the appropriate setting for its threading model. Specify this option only when starting a connector you created.
-x connectorProps Passes application-specific connector properties to the connector. Use the format prop_name=value for each value you enter.

Shutting down a connector

The generic connector manager script calls the appropriate start_connector.bat script, which handles the actual connector management (including shutdown) for the connector. The InterChange Server Express product provides a start_connector.bat script for each connector it delivers.

Shutting down a connector stops the connector's processes. Before shutting down a connector, pause or stop each collaboration object that uses the connector (the collaboration must be configured to pause; see the collaboration documentation for details on how to do this). If the Pause when critical error occurs check box is selected in the Collaboration General Properties window, the collaboration pauses automatically when a critical error occurs. The latest unprocessed events of such collaborations are then moved to the event submission queue.

You can perform either a "permanent" or a "temporary" shutdown of the connector. You control the type of shutdown by enabling or disabling (the default) automatic restart:

For instructions on enabling or disabling automatic restart, see "Steps for setting automatic and remote restart for a connector".

Instructions for shutting down a connector depend on which tool you use to monitor the system:

Steps for shutting down a connector in System Monitor

Perform the following steps in System Monitor to shut down a connector:

  1. From the System Overview view, select the collaboration object for the connector that you want to shut down by selecting the check box to its left and click the Pause button in the upper-left corner of the view (see Figure 27). Do this for each collaboration associated with the connector.
  2. Select the check box for the connector that you want to shut down and click the Shutdown button in the upper-left corner of the view (see Figure 27).

Steps for shutting down a connector in System Manager

Perform the following steps in System Manager to shut down a connector:

  1. Expand the Collaboration Objects folder in the InterChange Server Component Management view (see Figure 30).
  2. Right-click the collaboration object associated with the connector and click Pause CollaborationName. Do this for each collaboration associated with the connector.

    The collaboration object icon changes to an icon with two vertical lines.

  3. From the expanded Connectors folder in the InterChange Server Component Management view, right-click the connector and click Shut Down ConnectorName.
Attention:
Do not use the Ctrl+C key sequence to shut down a connector. Doing so prevents the connector from shutting down in an orderly manner. In addition, if you use the Ctrl+C key sequence, or if you use "q," or other manual methods to perform the shutdown, and the Object Activation Daemon (OAD) is enabled, OAD immediately restarts the connector.

Restarting a connector

The procedures described in this section restart the connector after you have used the Shut Down Connector action in either System Monitor or in System Manager in the InterChange Server Component Management view. This action is available only if you have enabled automatic and remote restart for the connector (see Steps for setting automatic and remote restart for a connector).

Steps for using System Monitor to restart a connector

Perform the following steps in System Monitor to restart a connector:

  1. From the System Overview view (see Figure 25), select the check box to the left of the connector that you want to restart.
  2. Click the Restart Agent button in the upper-left corner of the view (see Figure 27).

Steps for using System Manager to restart a connector

Perform the following steps in System Manager to restart a connector:

  1. Expand the Connectors folder in the InterChange System Component Management view of System Manager, (see Figure 26).
  2. Right-click the connector that you want to restart, then click Boot ConnectorName.

Steps for setting automatic and remote restart for a connector

With the Object Activation Daemon (OAD), triggered by IBM WebSphere MQ, you can enable a connector to support the automatic-and-remote-restart feature, which allows the connector to handle the following conditions:

Perform the following steps to set up automatic and remote restart for a connector:

  1. Install IBM WebSphere MQ.

    Use of the MQ-triggered OAD requires installation of the MQ-trigger Monitor and the configuration of certain queues. This monitor is installed as part of the WebSphere MQ software. These queues are created and configured by a special mqtriggersetup.bat script.

    Important:
    The WebSphere MQ-trigger Monitor must exist on the machine on which the connector agent resides. If multiple connector agents reside on a single machine, only one MQ-trigger Monitor needs to exist.
  2. Start the MQ-trigger Monitor.
    To start the MQ-triggered OAD, you must start MQ-trigger Monitor, which can be done in either of the following ways:
  3. Configure a connector for the automatic and remote restart. Refer to Steps for enabling connectors for MQ-triggered OAD below.
  4. Run the mqtriggersetup.bat script for each connector that needs to be restarted. (The mqtriggersetup.bat script is located in the bin directory.)

Steps for enabling connectors for MQ-triggered OAD

Perform the following steps to start Connector Configurator Express for the connector before you set the OAD properties:

  1. Start InterChange Server Express.
  2. Open System Manager.
  3. Double-click the connector under Integration Component Libraries. This opens Connector Configurator Express.
  4. On the Standard Properties tab, set the standard properties shown in Table 8.


    Table 8. Configuring standard properties in Connector Configurator Express

    Name Possible values Description Default values
    OADAutoRestartAgent true or false If this property is set to true, the MQ-triggered OAD automatically attempts to restart the connector after an abnormal shutdown. It can also be used to start the connector agent remotely. This value is dynamic. false
    OADMaxNumRetry Number Number of maximum attempts. 10,000
    OADRetryTimeInterval Minutes Number of minutes between each retry. If the connector agent does not start in this time interval, another attempt to restart the agent is made. 10

From within Connector Configurator Express, you can take any of the following actions:

Steps for using OAD as a Windows service

If you are configuring a connector for automatic restart or remote startup using OAD, do not configure the connector to run as a automatic Windows service. Instead, install WebSphere MQ Trigger Monitor to run as a Windows service. When the system starts, OAD automatically starts as a Windows service; when InterChange Server Express restarts, it starts the connector through the OAD.

Important:
By default, connectors are installed as Windows services which need to be manually started. The remote restart feature does not function if the connector's Windows service is changed from manual to automatic.

Perform the following steps to install WebSphere MQ Trigger Monitor as a Windows service:

  1. Select Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere MQ > WebSphere MQ Services.
  2. Right-click the queue manager that WebSphere Business Integration Server Express is using, and click New > Trigger Monitor. The Create Trigger Monitor Service dialog box appears.
  3. Click the Parameters tab. In the queue name field, type the string "INITIATION.QUEUE". In the Description column, Trigger Monitor appears as one of the services for that queue manager.
  4. Run the Windows Service Setup tool. Select InterChange Server Express in the Service Component list
  5. In the Service Dependencies field, type the name for your OAD Windows service.

After completing these steps, you can use the Services tool in Windows to start and stop the daemon.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2004