24*7 TIBCO iProcess Engine Operation

The TIBCO iProcess Engine is designed to continue running non-stop even when administration tasks need to be performed. This is achieved by:

•

all case data being stored in a database. Online backup and restore is performed via your database tools.

•

automatically restarting TIBCO iProcess Engine processes if they fail at any time. This is achieved by the TIBCO iProcess Engine Process Sentinels monitoring all the processes that are running to make sure they are running and if not, restart them.

•

TIBCO Hawk, supplied with the iProcess Engine, a monitoring system that enables you to monitor the TIBCO iProcess Engine server processes. For example, you can use TIBCO Hawk to check what iProcess Engine server processes are running or stop and start them.

•

New or updated procedures and processes can be deployed without affecting work in progress.

The iProcess Engine and Hardware Clustering

To cater for the loss of a physical server, the iProcess Engine can be deployed with a hardware cluster. The following section describes:

•

Deploying the iProcess Engine in a hardware cluster for UNIX

•

Deploying the iProcess Engine in a hardware cluster for Windows

Deploying the iProcess Engine in a Hardware Cluster for UNIX

There are two methods of deploying a hardware cluster, active-active and cold standby. The iProcess Engine is not supported in an active-active hardware cluster. However, it is supported in a cold standby hardware cluster. An example of a cold standby hardware cluster is shown below:

Each server is built in exactly the same way. Servers A and B are up and running and server C is a cold standby. If server A or B fails, server C is started and takes the place of the failed server.

To deploy the iProcess Engine in a cold standby hardware cluster:

•

An iProcess Engine should be installed on each server in the cluster.

•

If Server A or B fails, start the cold standby server and use SWDIR\swadm move_server to move the iProcess Engine processes from the failed to server to the cold standby server. See "Administering Servers" in the TIBCO iProcess Engine Administrator’s Guide for more information about the SWDIR\swadm move_server command.


	This can be done automatically by writing a script that uses the SWDIR\swadm move_server command.

Deploying the iProcess Engine in a Hardware Cluster for Windows

The iProcess Engine can be used with Microsoft Server Clustering when deployed in a Windows environment. Microsoft define a cluster as "a group of independent computers that work together collectively to provide a common set of services". When combining an iProcess node cluster with a Microsoft Server Cluster, each iProcess Engine node is contained within its own virtual server. Each virtual server is run on its own physical server. The iProcess Engine is installed on a shared disk that is accessible to all servers in the cluster. It is configured to work within the virtual server at installation by specifying a Cluster Network Name. If a physical server fails, the Microsoft Server Cluster automatically relocates the virtual server onto a secondary physical server and restarts the iProcess Engine.

To install the iProcess Engine in a Microsoft Windows Cluster, see either the TIBCO iProcess Engine (Oracle) for Windows Installation or the TIBCO iProcess Engine (SQL) for Windows Installation guide, depending on the version of the database you are using.