Validating your system after installation

This section provides a high-level overview of the procedures required to validate your system after you have successfully installed the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server Express product.

Note:
If you have already started InterChange Server Express and System Manager, begin with the section Verifying that all necessary components are working correctly.

Starting InterChange Server Express

To start InterChange Server Express, click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere Business Integration Express > InterChange Server Express. InterChange Server Express automatically starts the Persistent Naming server.

Starting System Manager

After you have started InterChange Server Express, start WebSphere Workbench and System Manager.

Click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere Business Integration Express > Toolset Express > Administrative > System Manager.

For information about System Manager, see the System Implementation Guide.

Verifying that all necessary components are working correctly

After starting System Manager, verify that all the connector and collaboration objects are working correctly.

  1. Expand the WebSphereICS server instance.
  2. Expand the Connectors folder. Each active connector has a green-arrow icon displayed beside it. Verify that each of the following connectors are active (marked by a green-arrow icon):
  3. If a connector is not active, right-click it, and then click Start connector_name in the context menu.
  4. Expand the Collaboration Objects folder. Each active collaboration object has a green-arrow icon displayed beside it. Verify that each of the following collaboration objects are active (marked by a green-arrow icon).
  5. If a connector is not active, right-click it, and then click Start collaboration_name in the context menu.

Using Test Connector to view business data

Test Connector is a graphical interface that presents the structure of a business object in a tabular view. Connectors exchange data with applications through business logic and so do not have a graphical interface. Test Connector emulates connectors using a graphical view, making it easier to understand the role of a connector in an interface, while removing the complexity of running actual connectors.

The CustomerSynchronization_SourceToDestination collaboration object tests the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server Express system by sending business objects from one instance of Test Connector to another. The Customer business object is flat rather than hierarchical. It does not contain any other business objects. The CustomerSynchronization collaboration template sends business objects, sent by the source connector in the interface, to the destination connector, and does not apply any noteworthy business logic. The SourceConnector and DestinationConnector definitions represent the server-side component of a connector. They do not represent executable connectors. These definitions are sufficient to validate the subsystems of IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server Express.

The following instructions use Test Connector to emulate connectors exchanging data through the WebSphere Business Integration Server Express system.

Note:
For the purpose of these instructions, it is assumed that you have started InterChange Server Express and System Manager, and verified that the test connectors and collaboration objects are active.
  1. Click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere Business Integration Express > Development > Test Connector to start Test Connector.
  2. Click File > Create/Select Profile in the Test Connector menu bar.
  3. Click to select the SourceConnector profile, and then click OK. The Connector Profile dialog is shown below with the SourceConnector profile selected.

  4. Click File > Connect in the Test Connector menu bar. This action connects the current instance of Test Connector with the SourceConnector profile loaded to the server.

    Note: Steps 1 through 4, shown above, launched the first instance of Test Connector and specified the SourceConnector profile. Steps 5 through 8, shown below, launch a second instance of Test Connector and specify the DestinationConnector profile.

  5. Click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere Business Integration Express > Toolset Express > Development > Test Connector to start Test Connector.
  6. Click File > Create/Select Profile in the Test Connector menu bar.
  7. Click to select the DestinationConnector profile, and then click OK. The Connector Profile dialog is shown below with the DestinationConnector profile selected.

  8. Click File > Connect in the Test Connector menu bar. This action connects the current instance of Test Connector with the DestinationConnector profile loaded to the server.
  9. In the instance of Test Connector that has the DestinationConnector profile loaded, click Edit > Load BO in the menu bar.
  10. In the Look in list within the Open dialog, select \ProductDir \Samples\SystemTest, and then click to select the Customer.bo folder.

    The Open dialog is shown below.

  11. Click Open to open the Customer.bo file and display the New Instance dialog.
  12. Type Customer_0 in the Enter Name field, and then click OK. The new Instance dialog, with Customer_0 typed in the Enter Name field, is shown below.

  13. Note the values, for example FirstName, String, Tom, in the fields of the Customer business object, as shown below.

  14. Click Request > Send in the menu bar to send the business object.
  15. Give focus to the instance of Test Connector that has the DestinationConnector profile loaded. If the BO Request List pane contains Customer.Create, as shown below, the Customer business object has been received.

  16. Double-click the Customer.create event to view it as a response business object. The Response BO dialog is shown below.



  17. Optional: Double-click in each of the fields to edit the data in the way that a destination application typically assigns its own unique values to events that it processes. Click Ok when you have finished editing the fields.
  18. Click Request > Reply > Success in the menu bar to simulate the destination application successfully processing the business object and returning it to InterChange Server Express.
  19. When you have finished sending and replying to events, click File > Exit in the Test Connector menu bar, and then click Yes when prompted to shut down Test Connector.

Using Test Connector with the SystemTest interface

The following instructions use Test Connector to process text files through a pair of interfaces in the system.

Note:
For the purpose of these instructions, it is assumed that you have started InterChange Server Express and System Manager, and verified that the test connectors and collaboration objects are active.
  1. Click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere Business Integration Express > Toolset Express > Development > Test Connector to start Test Connector.
  2. Click File > Create/Select Profile in the Test Connector menu bar.
  3. Select the SystemTestConnector profile, and then click OK.
  4. Click File > Connect in the Test Connector menu bar.
  5. Click Edit > Load BO in the Test Connector menu bar.
  6. In the Open dialog, select the \ProductDir \Samples\SystemTest folder, and then open the file named Employee.bo.
  7. In the New Instance dialog, type Employee_0 in the Enter Name field, and then click OK.
  8. Note the values specified for the fields of the Employee business object.
  9. Click Request > Send in the menu bar to send the business object.
  10. Note that the BO Request List pane shows that the Employee business object has been received.
  11. Double-click the Employee.create event to view it as a response business object.
  12. Optional: Double-click in each of the fields to edit the data, and then click OK when you are finished.
  13. Click Request > Reply > Success in the menu bar to simulate the destination application successfully processing the business object and returning it to InterChange Server Express.
  14. Repeat steps 9 through 13 to send more events. The interface is designed to fail approximately one of out of every sixteen events to provide you with a supply of failed events that you can use to learn about Flow Manager. If an event you send does not appear in the BO Request List pane, the interface has failed to process it. For information about Flow Manager, see the System Implementation Guide.
  15. When you have finished sending and replying to events, click File > Exit in the Test Connector menu bar, and then click Yes when prompted to shut down Test Connector.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2004