Creating a TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component

To create and configure a TIBCO ActiveMatrix® BPM Server Component, also known as an ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component, use the TIBCO Silver Fabric Component Wizard described in the following pages.

Create a TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component

1.	In the TIBCO Silver Fabric Administrator GUI, select Stacks > Components.

2.	On the Components page, select the action "Create New TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component" from the Global Actions list depicted here in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Creating a new TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component

3.	Provide a unique name and a description (optional) for your new Component.

Figure 3 Configuring General Properties

4.	Choose the TIBCO ActiveMatrix® BPM product distribution version.

You can select the latest versions of any installed distributions shown. All versions of the distributions are compatible.

Figure 4 Choosing TIBCO ActiveMatrix Product Distribution Version

 

5.	Review Basic Configuration settings and make changes as necessary according to your implementation requirements. Descriptions of the individual configuration settings follow the figure.

Figure 5 TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server -Basic Configuration

You must click Next or Finish to confirm any changes you make on the Basic Configuration page. If you click Cancel or Menu after making a change, it will not be recorded. Additionally you must click Finish to properly save any changes made in the Component Wizard or the Silver Fabric Administrator will revert any changes to the last completed version.

Username/Password

The TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator Name for the system environment and platform management.

Authentication realm type

Choose either LDAP or Database to specify the TIBCO ActiveMatrix Administrator authentication realm type.

For a Database domain, authentication will be resolved internally.

For an LDAP authentication realm, a connection must be configured to connect with an LDAP provider, locally or externally, and the TIBCO ActiveMatrix Administrator username profile must exist on that LDAP provider.

The Administrator LDAP Authentication Realm Details page is displayed after you click Next on the Basic Configuration page. The LDAP Authentication Realm Details page enables specification of many settings which are all described in the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Installation and Configuration guide in the section: Administrator Server Configuration: LDAP Authentication Realm Details.

SSL Enabled

Communications channels between ActiveMatrix BPM nodes, runtime applications, Database, LDAP, and TIBCO EMS may be secured with SSL.

Use the SSL Enabled check box on the Component Basic Configuration, when you want to use SSL/HTTPS. This checkbox will add a page to the Component Wizard to prompt you to enter SSL Configuration details for the Admin and EMS connections and so that keystore types, aliases, and passwords may be set for use of the respective certificates.

Customize BPM Size

Check this box to display another page in this Component Wizard providing a way to customize ActiveMatrix BPM according to default values for a Development or a Production environment, or you can make specific settings for the database connection pool size, database statement cache size, database statement cache size, number of process engine threads, maximum Java permgen size, the maximum number of message threads, or the Java heap size.

Figure 6 Customize the BPM Sizing with Sizing Details Configuration page

The Environment field is simply a label for this configuration page. Switching between Production to Development does not change the other values on this page. All default values are production environment default values which can be changed individually. For an explanation of what each property controls refer to the ActiveMatrix BPM: Sizing Configuration page.

Use SFEM dependency

Check this box to require the use of a TIBCO EMS instance installed by TIBCO Silver Fabric Enabler for TIBCO EMS (SFEM). When creating your Stack for a BPM environment you must also define a BPM Server Component dependency on the EMS Component you have created for the Stack. Refer to Creating an ActiveMatrix BPM Stack for more information. The connection between the BPM Server and the EMS instances will be handled automatically.

If you want to use an external EMS provider, clear the Use SFEM dependency checkbox and the EMS Configuration page will be added to the Component Wizard so you can specify how the BPM Server will connect with an external EMS provider.

Figure 7 EMS Configuration page

EMS Connection Factory

The EMS Connection Factory checkbox enables selection of a new default EMS Connection Factory for use by the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server instance. If you select the EMS Connection Factory checkbox then after you click Next the Enterprise Message Service Connection Factory page will be displayed to allow selection of one of the default connection factories from an options list shown here:

Figure 8 Enterprise Message Service Connection Factory

•	Generic Connection Factory

•	Topic Connection Factory

•	Fault Tolerant Topic Connection Factory

•	SSL Topic Connection Factory

•	SSL Queue Connection Factory

•	Queue Connection Factory

•	Fault Tolerant Queue Connection Factory

Descriptions of the Connection Factory and Queue Connection Factory types can be found in the TIBCO Enterprise Messaging Service documentation.

Use BPM Internal JMS Server

Check this box to use the ActiveMatrix BPM Server internal JMS server instance.

Alternatively clear this box and the Component Wizard will display the BPM JMS Configuration page so you can configure the connection to an external TIBCO EMS for BPM Server messaging.

Figure 9 BPM JMS Configuration

 

For more information on configuring a connection with an external JMS provider refer to the ActiveMatrix BPM: JMS Configuration page in the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Installation Guide.

Or you can refer to the TIBCO Enterprise Message Service documentation available at http://docs.tibco.com.

Use Internal LDAP Server

If you select this checkbox ActiveMatrix BPM Server and ActiveMatrix BPM nodes will use an internal instance of an LDAP Server. You can see and edit the default LDAP settings in the "Add/edit  Container- specific runtime context variables" page but changing those settings is not necessary in most cases.

Figure 10 BPM LDAP Configuration

All of these settings on the BPM LDAP Configuration page may be changed and published to running instances of the BPM Server Component even when Deployment Persistence is enabled.

Admin Enterprise Name

Enter an ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator Enterprise Name. The Admin Enterprise Name must be unique because only one ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component may be run on an Enterprise.

To prevent any operating system path length limitations from becoming an issue, we suggest the following best practices in object naming. • Use an Admin Enterprise Name that is as short as possible, e.g. "N1" or "N2" etc.… instead of "testDevNode" • Use an Admin Instance Name that is as short as possible, e.g. "i1" instead of "instanceOne" • Use a Deployment Directory with as few characters as possible: "C:\AMX" instead of "C:\ActiveMatrix." • Install the TICBO Silver Fabric Engine in a directory with a short path and file name, e.g. "C:\SF" instead of "C:\Engine" • Choose host names so they will be as short as possible: 8 characters or less should be fine.

Admin Instance Name

Enter the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Administration instance name. This is the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM host name and it must be unique within the enterprise. Multiple ActiveMatrix BPM instances may make reference to a single Administration instance.

It is a best practice to minimize the length of Admin Instance Name.

Customize BPM Node

Check the Customize BPM Node box to expose the BPM Node Configuration page allowing changes to the Environment Name, Node Name, and Node Management Port.

Figure 11 BPM Node Configuration

The Node Management Port is the port on which the debug node receives life cycle messages.

Deployment Directory

Specify the location using an absolute path, where the distributions and the deployment configuration will be stored on the Engine.

If you use a directory on a shared drive then the component instance can be more quickly migrated or run on different engine instances without having to go through the full re-initialization of the node (which takes longer).

Enter a directory path to where your ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator should deploy on the target TIBCO Silver Fabric Engine. If that directory is not present then it will be created during the deployment initialization.

If no Deployment Directory is specified and Deployment Persistence is false, then the default is:    ENGINE_HOME/work/[component_name]+[instanceID]

It is a best practice to minimize the length of this name. Use a Deployment Directory with as few characters as possible: "C:\AMX" instead of "C:\ActiveMatrix" or for a Linux based engine "/dd" will create the deployment directory at the root /.

Deployment Persistence

Deployment persistence ensures that restart of an ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component will maintain deployment configuration continuity for the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component and the runtime component instances of TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM. Deployment persistence preserves the deployment directory, files, and the configuration so that a restart re-establishes the same connections.

When Deployment Persistence is checked the ActiveMatrix BPM Admin URL is preserved, but it does not mean that the IP address of the TIBCO Runtime host instance name will be preserved unless you define a resource allocation preference to make sure the component is attached to a fixed machine.

When Deployment Persistence is enabled and that TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component is published, then subsequent changes to the Component configuration will not be applied to the existing deployment. Deployed Component settings are protected in a persistent instance that can be restarted on any engine on the same machine. EXCEPTION: When Deployment Persistence is enabled the following settings can be changed and published to existing published Components: − SSL Enabled (and most all SSL configuration settings) − Use Internal LDAP Server (and all external LDAP settings) − External Admin HTTP Base Port If you wish to change another Component setting that was deployed as persistent, then you have to start a new Component on a new Engine. You should copy the Component and change that copy prior to publishing it within a Stack to a clean Silver Fabric Engine instance.

When Deployment Persistence is enabled and an ActiveMatrix BPM Admin or ActiveMatrix BPM Runtime component are stopped, then they can be restarted on any Silver Fabric engines on the same machine.

When Deployment Persistence is not checked then an orderly shutdown of the Component will cleanup and remove the deployment directory and the associated database tables. Simply clearing the Deployment Persistence checkbox and saving the component setting will not change a persistent component that was already deployed.

When you no longer want a persistent deployment, the published instance and the associated database must be cleaned manually according to the procedure for uninstalling the product as is described in the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Installation Guide.

New component instances can be started on any cleaned TIBCO Silver Fabric Engine.

Disable MCR

The TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Metrics Collection Runtime (MCR) is a service used to collect runtime object performance statistics for diagnosis and performance tuning using the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator Infrastructure Dashboard. MCR may prove very useful for development tuning, but using MCR can create a performance drag, so for production and QA benchmarking, it should be disabled.

For more information on using the monitoring service, refer to the chapters on Monitoring and Governance in the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM documentation.

The port settings initially point to the proper default values. Normally the port settings should be left alone unless your implementation environment has port conflicts that require changes.For descriptions of these and other settings refer to the TIBCO Silver Fabric Users Guide and TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Administration Guide.

Disable Common Logging

Common logging may be disabled to gain some incremental advantage in processing speed, but of course developers should test their implemented applications thoroughly to gain confidence that they don’t need common logging prior to disabling it.

External Admin HTTP Base Port

By default the HTTP and HTTPS port used by TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator and CLI is 8120, but that port may be changed here if there is a port conflict.

For all Base Port configuration parameters the actual port number will be the value of the [Base Port] + [Engine Instance Number] on which the component is running.

Internal Admin HTTP Base Port

The ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator internal HTTP port (default 19767) is used for communication between ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator and hosts/nodes. In a Distributed BPM configuration a load balancer must be set to manage HTTP requests between the primary and remote machines for more information on a Distributed BPM configuration refer to the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Installation Guide.

System Host Management Base Port

The System Host communicates with the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator Server using port 6051 by default. Port conflicts may force you to change this.

System Node Management Base Port

The management port number of the SystemNode that runs the ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator server. The default port is 6021.

Dev Node Management Base Port

This is also known as the Node Port. The ActiveMatrix BPM Server node management port number can not be in use by another node on the same machine.

Admin CS Base Port (Credential Server port)

The TIBCO Credential Server communicates with the SystemNode, hosts, and the Administrator Server, using port 6041 by default.

BPM Internal LDAP Server Base Port (BPM server internal LDAP port)

The default port used by the internal LDAP server is 10801, but that may be changed here if there is a port conflict.

 

6.	Set EMS Configuration (displayed when SFEM is not used as a dependency)

A connection with the TIBCO Enterprise Message Service (EMS) is required for proper functionality of the Silver Fabric ActiveMatrix BPM Component.

If you have checked Use SFEM Dependency on the Basic Configuration page to set a dependency on an EMS Component for use by the ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator then this page will not be displayed in the Component Wizard.

The EMS URL, EMS Username, and EMS Password must be set only when an external EMS server is used.

Figure 12 EMS Configuration

EMS URL - EMS uses TCP and the default port used for messaging is 7222. The actual port value used is implementation dependent. EMS can be hosted locally by the same machine hosting the TIBCO Silver Fabric Server or it may be hosted by an external installation.

The EMS username and password should be an EMS Administrator profile to ensure full functionality of the Component.

The TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator is dependent on a dedicated TIBCO Enterprise Message Service server instance. TIBCO EMS server must be running before the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component is started. To ensure that happens you must either Add Allocation Rules with a Component Dependency for the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component so the EMS Component is running before it is started, or set a Stack dependency for BPM Server Component depending on the EMS Component.

Using EMS with Deployment Persistence - When Deployment Persistence is enabled on the ActiveMatrix BPM Server component, then the EMS Component must also have an allocation rule specifying that EMS must be run on the same Silver Fabric Engine. This ensures that a restart of the ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator will make the proper connections with the EMS Component. When you are deploying an EMS Component that is a dependency of other components running in the stack, make an allocation rule that the EMS Component should be run on the same machine and same engine instance to preserve connections made between the dependent Components. Refer to the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Installation and Configuration documentation for more information on these requirements.

7.	Select the database to be used with your Enterprise.

Prior to publishing and deploying your BPM Stack you will need to have a database allocated and ready to support a database system administrator connection for automated schema creation by the BPM Server Component.

Select the supported database you will use for your implementation and then click Next to get the connection configuration fields for that database.

Figure 13 Select the Database type

a.	Oracle 11g R2

When an Oracle 11g R2 database is chosen, the next Component Wizard page is the BPM Database Administrator Configuration For Oracle 11g.

Figure 14 BPM Database Administrator Configuration for Oracle 11g

Enter the URL to connect with an external Oracle Database instance. As the UI states the format of the entered string can be either:
  jdbc:oracle:thin:@[HostName]:[Port]:[ServiceID]   or:

  jdbc:oracle:thin:@//[HostName]:[Port]/[ServiceName]

If the Oracle Enabler is used to publish the Oracle 11g database then the URL does not need to be entered because the TIBCO Silver Fabric Broker will automatically pass the connection URL to the BPM Server Component when it is published to the Silver Fabric Engine.

Enter the DBA Username and password. The user profile used must have system administrator privileges.

Name the tablespace.

Upload the ojdbc6.jar driver for the Oracle 11g thin client.

b.	Microsoft SQL Server 4.0.0

When a Microsoft SQL Server 4.0.0 database is chosen, the next Component Wizard page is the BPM Database Administrator Configuration for Microsoft SQL Server 4.0.0.

Figure 15 BPM Database Administrator Configuration For Microsoft SQL Server 4.0.0

Enter the URL BPM should use to connect with the external MS SQL instance. As the UI states the format of the entered string should be:

jdbc:sqlserver://[HostName]:[Port];DatabaseName=[DBName];SelectMethod=cursor)

Enter the DBA username and password for the BPM Database Administrator Configuration For Microsoft SQL Server 4.0.0

The user must have system administrator privileges.

Name the tablespace.

Upload the Microsoft SQL Server 4 JDBC driver used for the connection.

8.	Configuring BPM Runtime to connect with the Database

After you have configured the BPM Server to make a proper connection with the selected database, the next screen prompts you to configure the connection for BPM Runtime Servers that will be associated with this ActiveMatrix BPM Server.

Figure 16 BPM Runtime Database Configuration

The URL is the exact same string entered on the previous Component Wizard page.

Specify an Oracle BPM user profile to be used by the ActiveMatrix BPM Runtime by entering the username and password to be used.

 

9.	Configure the BPM BDS Database (Available for TIBCO ActiveMatrix® BPM Distribution for TIBCO Silver® Fabric 3.0.0 and higher only)

The BPM BDS Database Configuration page allows for the definition of the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Business Data Services used to generate BDS Plug-ins. Select the checkbox if you want to display the other configuration properties that must be specified if a Business Data Services

Figure 17 BPM BDS Database Configuration

 

10.	Configure the BPM Application and Client

The settings on this page apply to TIBCO® Openspace and TIBCO® Workspace only. In most cases you can just leave the default values.

Figure 18 BPM application and client configuration

Enter an ActiveMatrix-BPM Application Name.

HTTP Work Presentation Host Name - This name must be specified using a fully qualified domain name or IP address that is accessible to external clients. For example, this may be the name of the machine itself or of a proxy server.

If ActiveMatrix BPM nodes will be distributed over different machines this should be the name of the load balancer.

HTTP Port - The TIBCO® Openspace and TIBCO® Workspace HTTP port used for external client communication may be changed if there are port conflicts.

SMTP Host and SMTP Port - The SMTP host name and port may be changed from the defaults if an external service host will be used.

11.	Sizing Details Configuration (optional)

When the Customize BPM size checkbox is marked the BPM Server Component Wizard display the Sizing Details Configuration page.

Figure 19 Customize the BPM Sizing with Sizing Details Configuration page

The Environment field is simply a label on this configuration page. Switching between Production to Development does not change the other values on this page.

All default values are production environment default values which can be changed individually. For an explanation of what each property controls refer to the ActiveMatrix BPM: Sizing Configuration page.

12.	SSL Configuration (optional)

If you selected "SSL Enabled" on the Basic Configuration page of the wizard then this SSL Configuration page is displayed as part of the BPM Server Component Wizard workflow.

You can require use of encryption to secure five different channels of communication between the ActiveMatrix BPM Server and other key parts of the ActiveMatrix BPM environment.

Figure 20 SSL Configuration

 

You must acquire or generate a JKS or a JCEKS key store and trust store file for upload to the ActiveMatrix BPM Server. For the other servers/services that communicate with the ActiveMatrix BPM Server you will have to specify the details of an existing trust store that can be used to establish a trust relationship with this TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator server.

When Deployment Persistence is enabled and that ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component has been published, only the following SSL Configuration settings may be changed and then published to those Components which are already running:

−	Secure BPM Client

−	BPM Client Key Password

−	BPM Client Key Alias

−	Secure Admin Http Connection

−	Server Keystore Type

−	Server Keystore Password

−	Server Connection Setting Key Alias

−	Server Connection Setting Password

−	Key Store File

−	Server Trust Store Type

−	Server Trust Store Password

−	Trust Store File

For more information on using SSL with TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM refer to the Security chapter of the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Administration Guide.

13.	Upload JDBC Driver(s)

To properly enable a connection between the ActiveMatrix BPM Server, the ActiveMatrix Administrator and the database, the driver for the implemented database must be uploaded with the BPM Server Component.

Not all databases are supported as databases for the ActiveMatrix BPM platform, but other databases and drivers uploaded using this page may be used for Distributed Application Archives (DAA) executed on the platform. Uploads for DAA executables are optional at the time of setting up the ActiveMatrix BPM environment.

The ActiveMatrix BPM Server and specifically the ActiveMatrix BPM Administrator instance must have access to a third party database. Upload the appropriate drivers so they may be instantiated on the Engine.

Figure 21 Upload Third Party Drivers

 

14.	Using Scripts with the Enabler

The next diagram shows how a script may be uploaded. Scripts can be executed at various points in the engine life cycle and uploaded for use with the Component or Enabler. Python, Jython, and JavaScript are supported. Refer to the TIBCO Silver Fabric Developers Guide for more information on the methods that may be called.

Figure 22 Upload, Edit, or Remove Scripts

Scripts can be written to accomplish many tasks. Scripts may be used to automate publishing ActiveMatrix BPM application archives instead of manually publishing them.

TIBCO Silver Fabric has generic support for adding any JSR-223 compliant script engines that support interfaces that can be invoked and compiled. Support for Jython is included and the JDK includes JavaScript. Refer to https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Rhino/Overview for more information.

 

Refer to the TIBCO Silver Fabric Developer’s Guide on Enabler and Component scripting and methods for a more complete description of what can be done with scripts.

15.	Add, edit, or remove script-provided statistics (optional)

If you have implemented the ScriptStatisticsProvider class added to this Component by a script or an archive, then the Add, edit, or remove script-provided statistics page allows for the addition of archives from that statistics provider.

Refer to the TIBCO Silver Fabric Developer’s Guide for information on implementing script-provided or archive-provided statistics.

16.	Add or remove log file patterns

Log output directories may be added with paths that are relative to the engine instance work directory (work/host-instance). Path names can contain references to runtime context variables in the form ${variable_name}.

The filename can be a regular expression, using conventions defined in javadoc for java.util.regex.Pattern. The rest of the path cannot be a regular expression.

Use a forward slash (/) for the directory separator character.

Log file patterns may also be removed by selecting the directory pattern first and then clicking the Remove button.

If you remove log file patterns, they will not be restored by the Add Defaults button. You can add them back manually at any time.

Figure 23 Add or Remove Log File Patterns

17.	Add or Edit Runtime Context Variables

String, Environment, System, or Encrypted variables may be added and edited to the ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component to define and set runtime specific context variables.

Select a variable type from the Add Variable pull-down list or Add from Container to use a variable from a selected container.

Figure 24 Adding a Runtime Context Variable

 

Variable values from a container may be added to the runtime as well. Use the Add from Container button to add container-specific context variables.

Runtime context variables may be changed by selecting the variable (selected row is highlighted) and clicking Edit to change its attributes. Selected rows may also be removed.

Scroll all the way to bottom to find the Component Wizard navigation buttons.

18.	Add Allocation Rules

Five different allocation rule types may be used to configure Component behavior:

•	Resource Preference- Shown below. Choose a property, an operator, and a property value to specify a preference or requirement for how engines are allocated to a Component based on the property condition defined.

Figure 25 Adding Resource Preferences for Engine Allocation

Refer to the Silver Fabric Help or the Silver Fabric User’s Guide for more information on controlling the Component behavior.

Component Wizard Options

The TIBCO ActiveMatrix BPM Server Component should be added at medium priority or higher to ensure that it is launched early in the Stack. There should only be one instance of ActiveMatrix BPM Server started for a single enterprise.

Figure 26 Default Engine Allocation Settings

 

All the other screens are generic for Silver Fabric enablers. Configuration for these generic settings is optional for the ActiveMatrix BPM Server component.

Refer to TIBCO Silver Fabric User’s Guide and Administration Guide for additional information on these configurations.

 

 

After you click the Finish button, make sure that the Component is published to make it available when creating a Stack.

To do this, select Publish Component in the Actions drop-down list located at the line of the Component you just created.