The hub configuration process provided a high-level description of the steps the Community Operator takes to configure the hub. This section summarizes steps for configuring WebSphere Partner Gateway for use with a back-end system. These configuration steps assume that you have already configured the community participants in your hub community. In particular, this section assumes that the following configuration has already been performed:
For a complete description of how to configure WebSphere Partner Gateway to support a hub community, see the Hub Configuration Guide.
After the community participants are configured, you must configure WebSphere Partner Gateway so that it can communicate with a back-end system. This section provides the following information to describe how to incorporate a back-end system into your hub community:
To send a document to the back-end system, WebSphere Partner Gateway takes the following steps:
The Receiver retrieves this source document from a target that has been defined at the hub for incoming messages from the community participant and its associated transfer protocol. When sending a document to the back-end system, the source document is the document that is received from some community participant; it is therefore referred to as the participant document.
The WebSphere Partner Gateway Document Manager performs this conversion to the destination document. When sending a document to the back-end system, the destination document is the document that is sent to the back-end system; it is therefore referred to as the back-end document.
The Document Manager sends the back-end document through a gateway that has been defined at the hub for outgoing messages to the back-end system.
Therefore, for the hub to be able to send a document to the back-end system, you must ensure that the configuration summarized in Table 17 has been performed within WebSphere Partner Gateway.
Configuration step | WebSphere Partner Gateway steps | For more information |
---|---|---|
1. Define where to send the document. |
1. Create a gateway to the back-end system. |
Defining where to send the participant document |
2. Define how to process the document. |
2. Create document flow definitions for the source and destination formats. 3. Enable B2B capabilities for the document flow definition of the document sent to the back-end system. 4. Create a document flow definition interaction between the source and destination document flow definitions. |
Defining how to process the participant document |
3. Define how to connect to the back-end system. |
5. Create a participant connection that sends documents to the back-end system. |
Defining how to connect to the back-end system |
To send documents to the back-end system, the hub must have a gateway defined. This gateway specifies the destination for the converted documents; that is, it specifies the location (as a URI) to which the hub sends the back-end document. This location is the same one at which the back-end system listens for incoming messages. The gateway identifies the entrance point into the enterprise application layer (within the back-end system). Within WebSphere Partner Gateway, it is Document Manager that checks for a gateway. Once the Document Manager has processed the document, it sends the converted document to the back-end system at the location specified in the gateway.
To define a gateway within WebSphere Partner Gateway
When you define the gateway, you specify the transport protocol that the hub and back-end system both use to transfer the back-end document. As Table 12 shows, the choice of transport protocol depends on the format of the document. Its format includes its packaging type and business protocol, which are defined in its document flow definition.
The choice of transport protocol also depends on the transport protocols your particular back-end system supports. For more information, refer to the chapter in this guide for integrating your particular back-end system.
Once you have selected a valid transport protocol for your document, you can provide the other information you need to define for the gateway in the Gateways screen.
For the Document Manager to be able to process the participant document, it must know the format to which it needs to convert this document; that is, it needs to know the format of the back-end document. As part of the back-end integration, you must ensure that the following entities are defined within your WebSphere Partner Gateway:
Each document flow definition defines how WebSphere Partner Gateway processes a particular document. It includes the packaging type and business protocol of the document. WebSphere Partner Gateway provides some predefined packaging types and protocol definitions. If these predefined formats correctly define your participant and back-end documents, you do not need to define any document flow definition. However, if the predefined formats do not adequately define your participant or back-end document, you must create a valid document flow definition for that document. To define a document flow definition within WebSphere Partner Gateway, you use the Manage Document Flow Definitions page (Hub Admin > Hub Configuration > Document Flow Definition > Create Document Flow Definition).
For back-end integration, the packaging type of the back-end document must be one of the following:
You must determine which of these packaging types applies, based on the business protocol of your document and the particular back-end system you are using. For information on packaging types with back-end systems, see Which packaging will you use?. For information on supported back-end systems, see How do you access your back-end application?.
Setting the B2B capabilities for sendingBefore the Document Manager can convert the source document, it must determine whether it can handle the format of the desired destination document. To make this determination, the Document Manager checks the B2B capabilities of the Community Manager profile, which define which document flow definitions have been enabled for the Community Manager. Supported document flow definitions have each of their component document types (such as packaging type, business protocol, and document) enabled. To enable a particular document flow definition, you use the B2B Capabilities page of WebSphere Partner Gateway. To access this screen, perform the following steps:
For the Document Manager to know how to convert the participant document, it must be able to locate an interaction that combines the document flow definitions for the participant document and the back-end document and identifies which is the source and which is the destination participant.
When the Document Manager is ready to send the converted document to the back-end system, it must be able to locate a participant connection between the source participant and the destination participant (back-end system). However, for a participant connection to exist, a valid interaction between the source and the destination documents must exist. To define a document flow definition interaction within WebSphere Partner Gateway, click: Hub Admin > Hub Configuration > Document Flow Definition > Manage Interactions > Create Interaction.
To send documents to the back-end system, define an interaction between the source and destination (target) documents, as summarized in Table 18.
Manage Interactions section | Action |
---|---|
Source | Select the component document-types in the participant document's document flow definition. |
Target | Select the component document-types in the back-end document's document flow definition. |
For the Document Manager to be able to send the converted document to the back-end system, it must find a valid participant connection, which identifies the source and destination participants and provides the location through which these two participants communicate. To create a participant connection, you use the Manage Connections page in WebSphere Partner Gateway. To access this screen, click: Account Admin > Participant Connections.
For a participant connection to be defined, a document flow definition interaction between the source and destination documents must already exist. On the Manage Connections screen, you first check for an existing interaction by specifying the source and destination (target) participants. Table 19 lists the participants to choose on the Manage Connections page to define a participant connection for sending a document to the back-end system.
Manage Connection dropdown list | Name of community participant |
---|---|
Source | Name of the community participant that is sending the document to the Community Manager |
Target | Name of the Community Manager, who receives the document from the community participant |
Once you specify the Source and Target, you then click Search to check for an existing document flow definition interaction. If no interaction exists, you must create one before you can proceed with the creation of a participant connection. If an interaction does exist (one whose source is the participant document flow definition and whose target is the back-end document flow definition), you can configure the participant connection for communication with the back-end system.
For back-end integration, this participant connection should specify as its target gateway the gateway you defined in Defining where to send the participant document.
To receive a document from the back-end system, the hub takes the following steps:
The WebSphere Partner Gateway Receiver retrieves this source document from a target that has been defined in the hub for incoming messages from the back-end system and the associated transfer protocol. When receiving a document from the back-end system, the source document is the document that is received from the back-end system; therefore, this document is referred to as the back-end document.
The Document Manager performs this conversion to the destination document. When receiving a document from the back-end system, the destination document is the document that is sent to some community participant; therefore, this document is referred to as the participant document.
The Document Manager sends the participant document through a gateway that has been defined in the hub for outgoing messages to the appropriate community participant.
Therefore, for the hub to be able to receive a document from the back-end system, you must ensure that the configuration summarized in Table 20 has been performed within WebSphere Partner Gateway.
Configuration step | WebSphere Partner Gateway steps | For more information |
---|---|---|
1. Define where to retrieve the document. |
1. Create a target that receives incoming messages from the back-end system. |
Defining where to retrieve the back-end document |
2. Define how to process the document. |
2. Create document flow definitions for the source and destination formats. 3. Enable B2B capabilities for the document flow definition of the document received from the back-end system. 4. Create a document flow definition interaction between the source and destination document flow definitions. |
Defining how to process the back-end document |
3. Define how to connect to WebSphere Partner Gateway. |
5. Create a participant connection that sends documents to WebSphere Partner Gateway. |
Defining how to connect to WebSphere Partner Gateway |
To receive documents from the back-end system, the hub must have a target defined. This target specifies the source of the documents; that is, it identifies the location (as a URI) at which the hub listens for incoming documents. This location is the same one to which the back-end system sends documents. The target identifies the entrance point into the Receiver (within WebSphere Partner Gateway). Within WebSphere Partner Gateway, it is the Receiver that checks for a target. Once the Receiver has processed the document, it saves the converted document to the persistent shared storage for later retrieval by the Document Manager.
To define a target within WebSphere Partner Gateway, click Hub Admin > Hub Configuration > Targets.
When you define the target, you specify the transport protocol that the hub and back-end system both use to transfer the back-end document. As Table 13 shows, the choice of transport protocol depends on the format of the document. Its format includes its packaging type and business protocol, which are defined in its document flow definition.
Once you have selected a valid transport protocol for your document, you can provide the other information you need to define for the target in the Target Details screen.
For the Document Manager to be able to process the back-end document, it must know the format to which it needs to convert this document; that is, it needs to know the format of the participant document. As part of the back-end integration, you must ensure that the entities summarized in Table 21 are defined within your WebSphere Partner Gateway.
Step | For more information |
---|---|
1. Document flow definitions must exist to define the format of both the participant document and the back-end document. |
Defining the document flow definition |
2. The Community Manager's B2B capabilities must include enablement of the back-end document's document flow definition as a source. |
Setting B2B capabilities for receiving |
3. A document flow definition interaction must exist that brings together the back-end document as the source and the participant document as the destination. |
Defining an interaction for receiving |
For a summary of B2B capabilities as they apply to back-end integration, see Setting the B2B capabilities for sending.
If you have not already done so, enable, under Set Source, the document-type component of the back-end document.
Defining an interaction for receivingFor a summary of document flow definitions interactions as they apply to back-end integration, see Defining the document flow interaction for sending. This section summarizes how to define the interaction for receiving a document from the back-end system.
To receive documents from the back-end system, define an interaction between the document flow definitions of the source and destination (target) documents as summarized in Table 22.
Manage Interactions section | Action |
---|---|
Source | Select the component document-types in the back-end document's document flow definition. |
Target | Select the component document-types in the participant document's document flow definition. |
For the Receiver to be able to retrieve the document from the back-end system, it must find a valid participant connection, which identifies the source and destination participants and provides the location through which these two participants communicate. For a summary of participant connections as they apply to back-end integration, see Defining how to connect to the back-end system.
Table 23 lists the participants to choose on the Manage Connections page in WebSphere Partner Gateway to define a participant connection for receiving a document from the back-end system.
Manage Connection dropdown list | Name of community participant |
---|---|
Source | Name of the Community Manager |
Target | Name of the community participant that is receiving the document from the Community Manager |
Once you specify the Source and Target, you then click Search to check for an existing document flow definition interaction. If no interaction exists, you must create one before you can proceed with the creation of a participant connection. If an interaction does exist (one whose source is the back-end document flow definition and whose target is the participant document flow definition), you can configure the participant connection for communication with the back-end system.