5/18/2016

LearningAboutServicesandAdapters

LearningAboutServicesandAdapters
KeyTermsUsedwithServicesandAdapters
Thesearethemostfrequentlyusedserviceandsystemrelatedtermsinthisguide.Reviewthistopicfirst,
thenkeepitavailableforreferenceasyoureadthroughtheothertopics.
FundamentalServiceTerms
Thesearethetermsusedmostoftenwhentalkingabouttheservicesthemselves.
Note:Thesetermsarearrangedinorderofrelevance,notinalphabeticalorder.
Term

Definition

Service

InSterlingB2BIntegrator,aserviceisaresourcethatyoucanconfiguretocarryoutan
activity.Forexample,theTranslationserviceisusedtoconvertEDIorXMLdatafromone
formattoanother.

Adapter

Adaptersarespecialcasesofservicesthatinteractwithexternalsystems,orthatstoreor
managestatedataoutsideoftheworkflowcontext.Forexample,theWebSphereMQ
adapterandtheSAPSuiteadapterareusedtocommunicatewithapplicationsexternalto
thesystem.

ServiceType Definitionofaservice.Aservicetypeislikeajavaclass:itisnotanobjectitmustbe
instantiatedforittoexist.Theservicetypedefinesthe"concept"ofaparticularservicethe
serviceconfigurationyoucreatefromitistheobject.
Service
Acopyofaparticularservicetype.Youuseserviceconfigurationstoperformvarious
Configuration activitiesinthesystem,suchastranslatingdata,receivingdatafromanotherapplication,
ortrackingspecificinformationlikeaSenderIDthroughthevariousstagesofabusiness
process.
Service
Group

Asetofserviceconfigurationsofthesameservicetypethatcanactaspeers(canbe
configuredtoperformthesameactivityinthesamesetting).

Service
Parameters

Informationusedtodefineaservicetypeorconfiguration,andtoprovidethesystemwith
processingdataandinstructions.Therearethreetypesofserviceparameters:
GlobalparametersThesehavethewidestscope.Theyareapplicabletoallservices
ofthistype.Theyhaveaconstantvalueforallconfigurationsofaservice.These
parametersarepresetandcannotbechanged.
InstanceparametersThesearespecifictoasingleserviceconfiguration.Youdefine
theseparametersintheAdminConsole,aspartofcreatingoreditingaservice
configuration.
WorkflowparametersYoucanoverrideorspecifythistypeofparameteratthe
businessprocesslevel.YoudefinetheseintheGraphicalProcessModeler(GPM)
orbypassingtheinformationthroughBPMLatruntime.

AdditionalServiceTermsYouShouldKnow
Thesetermspertaintoservicecategories,andtoSterlingB2BIntegratorcomponentsthatareusedwith
services.
Note:Thesetermsarearrangedinalphabeticalorder.
Term

Definition

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Admin
Console

LearningAboutServicesandAdapters

TheAdminConsolepaneisyouraccesspointtoallthestandardfeaturesintheDashboard.
ManyoftheserviceandadaptertasksareperformedfromtheDeployment>Servicesmenu
optionlocatedintheAdminConsole.

Bootstrap Adapterthatiscapableofreceivingdatafromexternalsystemsanddynamicallyselectingand
Adapter runningbusinessprocesses.Insomecases,isalsoreferredtoasaserveradapterorinput
adapter.ExamplesofbootstrapadaptersaretheFileSystemadapter,FTPServeradapter,
andHTTPServeradapter.
Business Inthebusinessworld,abusinessprocessisanygoaldriven,orderedflowofactivitiesthat
Process accomplishesabusinessobjective.Invoicing,orderfulfillment,andupdatingemployee
informationareallexamplesofbusinessprocesses.Inthesystem,businessprocessrefersto
theautomatedimplementationofbusinessobjectives.Mostprocessingactivitiesare
predicatedupondefinedbusinessprocessesthecustomdesignedprogramminginstructions
youprovidetothesystem,toperformyourrequiredactivities.Businessprocessesarebased
onthedraftBusinessProcessModelingLanguage(BPML)specificationfromtheBusiness
ProcessManagementInitiative(www.bpmi.org).Businessprocessdefinitionsarestoredin
XMLandcanbecreatedinanyeditorthatcanexporttheXMLformatrecognizedbythe
system.
Business Thesystemenablesyoutocreateanautomatedbusinessprocessusingdraganddrop
Process technologiestolinkactivitiesinadigital,graphicrepresentationoftherelatedtaskknownas
Model
abusinessprocessmodel.Thebusinessprocessmodelisthedefinitionfortheprocess,used
eachtimeitrunstheprocess.Theactivitiesinyourbusinessprocessmodelsarecarriedout
byservicesandadapters,representedbyiconsinthegraphicalinterface.Thismethod
enablesyoutoincorporatesmallunitsofreusablecodeintoyourbusinessprocesses,and,at
thesametime,createlargerunitsofreusablecodespecifictoyourbusinessoperations.
Creatingbusinessprocessmodelsisthecentralendeavoraroundwhichthesystemhinges.
Thinkofbusinessprocessesasthestructuresbywhichyouorganizesoftwarecomponents
andactivitiestofulfillyourworkobjectives.
Graphical
Process
Modeler
(GPM)

TheGraphicalProcessModelerisaWebdeployedgraphicalinterfacetoolyouusetocreate
andmodifybusinessprocesses.TheGPMconvertsyourgraphicalbusinessprocessmodels
intosourcecode,savingyoutheeffortofwritingcode.IntheGPMinterfaceyouconstruct
yourbusinessprocessmodels,coordinatingtheflowofactivitiesinagraphicaldepictionofthe
orderedsteps.TheGPMprovidesiconsrepresentingtheservices,adaptersandBPML
instructionsthatmakeupyourprocessmodels.Inaddition,youconfigurerelatedparameters
throughtheGPMandcreaterulesandconditionswithinyourprocessmodels.

Internal
Service

Internalservicesareasubsetofsystemservices.Theyarereservedforusebythesystem
andaresubjecttochangewithoutnotice.Donotusetheseserviceswhencreatingyourown
businessprocesses.ExamplesaretheAutoTerminateserviceandRequestResponseXREF
service.

Output
Adapter

Adapterthatsendsdatatoexternalsystems.

Perimeter Aperimeterserverisasoftwaretoolforcommunicationsmanagementthatcanbeinstalledin
Server
aDMZ.Theperimeterservermanagesthecommunicationsflowbetweenouterlayersofyour
networkandtheTCPbasedtransportadapters.Aperimeterservercansolveproblemswith
networkcongestion,security,andscalability,especiallyinhighvolume,Internetgateway
environments.
Removed Servicesthatarenolongerinstalledwiththeproduct,butarestillavailableontheproductCD.
Service
Patchesandenhancementsarenolongerprovided.
Resource

Retiring
Service

InSterlingB2BIntegrator,resourcesarefiles,templates,anddocumentsthataredeployedto
performvariousactions.
Servicesthathaveenteredthedeprecationprocessbutarestillavailableforuseinthecurrent
releaseoftheproduct.

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Stateful
Adapter

LearningAboutServicesandAdapters

Anadaptercanbeeitherstatefulorstateless.Forstatefuladapters,theservicecontroller
instantiatesoneobjectforeachconfiguredcopyoftheadapter.

Stateless Anadaptercanbeeitherstatefulorstateless.Forstatelessadapters,theservicecontroller
Adapter instantiatesoneobjectthatservicesallconfiguredcopiesoftheadapter.Eachrequesttothe
serviceadapterimplementationoftheadaptermustbeacompleterequest,becausestates
cannotbemaintainedbetweenrequests.
System
Service

Aservicethatisusedbythesystemforinternalfunctionsandprocesses,oraservicethatcan
beusedinbusinessprocessestodefinehowthebpshouldbehaveundercircumstancessuch
asanexceptionorfault.

Workflow TheWFCrepresentsthebusinessprocessstateaftereachservicehasrun.TheWFCinputto
Context
aserviceiswrittentoadatabase.TheservicestepiscompleteafterthenewWFCisplacedin
(WFC)
persistentstorage.Ifthesystemstops,itcanberestartedfromthepersistedWFCsbyfinding
themostrecentWFCsandsendingthoserequeststotheappropriateservices.Servicescan
berestartedautomatically.Adapters,whichareputinahaltingstatewhenthesystemstarts,
requireuserinterventiontorestartthem.
Parenttopic:Overviewofservicesandadapters
Lastupdatedon:20160108

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