Author: dan

WB552: Random DataPower Thoughts Part 2

DataPower XA35 (Green): XA = XML Accelerator DataPower XS40 (Yellow): XS = XML Security DataPower XI50 (Blue): XI = XML Integration “SSL Termination” refers to the destination system that recieves an SSL connection. DataPower can not participate in a two-phase commit transaction. Seems to me like this is a feature that needs to be incorporated […]

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WB552: Random DataPower Thoughts Part 1

DataPower will not allow modified firmwares to be uploaded to the machine. They are required to be signed by IBM. By default, the device is ‘completely off’ with a locked down configuration. It’s up to the administrator to enable relevant services. When something is in encrypted storage, there is no UI to get the information […]

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WB552: “Is there an IDE for DataPower?”

Q: “Is there an IDE for DataPower?” Answer: No. The web client is used to access most of the features” I think that there probably should be an investment (or direction) from IBM about how to go about doing the development work for DataPower. What I say this, I mean what is the recommended IDE […]

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WB552: Introductions

Instructor: Greg Dinning, a 10 year educator on the IBM Suite of Integration software. The Attendees were a wide mix of developers wondering how to use the box, people who wanted to understand why they should buy it and people (like me) who are focused on getting the information to pass certification. I’m not going […]

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WebSphere Adapter for JDBC: SetObjectKeys NullPointer Exception

We had a WebSphere Adapter for JDBC export in our module, and it was throwing the following exception: [5/27/08 17:55:52:315 EDT] 0000006b NUXInResource I PollEventManagerWorker run() CWYBS0011I: Polling has started. UserAction=No action is required. [5/27/08 17:55:53:356 EDT] 0000006d NUXInResource E com.ibm.j2ca.extension.eventmanagement.internal.EventSender getObjectForEvent(Event) EventStore impl (com.ibm.j2ca.jdbc.inbound.JDBCEventStoreWithXid@6eec3b01) threw an unexpected and unchecked exception javax.resource.ResourceException: EventStore impl (com.ibm.j2ca.jdbc.inbound.JDBCEventStoreWithXid@6eec3b01) […]

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WebSphere User Group: Ask the Experts Session RIGHT NOW

In a case of the worst marketing for an event ever, I just received an email informing me that the Global WebSphere Community is holding an “Ask The Experts” event online from 10am Eastern to 10pm Eastern. You can join the conversation right now. The event is free, you just need to sign up with […]

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Business Object Maps and ‘Required’ Attributes

Just ran into an interesting scenario. We have a business object with a required attribute (amongst a sea of non-required ones). In a business object map, we only set the non-required ones and never set the required ones to any value. In the above example, ‘productStatus’ is required, ‘name’ is not. This is the Mediation […]

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Attending DataPower Classroom Training Next Week

Sometimes the stars just align perfectly. I’m trying to get my DataPower Certification and IBM’s business partner relations team is offering a free course on DataPower next week in Markham. It pays to be in a city with an IBM Office. I’ll be in attendance there and hopefully sitting in the room for 5 days […]

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WebSphere Integration Developer: Visual Snippet Java Code Generation Is Non-Deterministic

I present the following exhibit: The only difference between these two snippets is the string that I am setting in the commonName attribute. But, let’s look at the java that was generated under the covers for the bottom snippet: boolean __result__31 = (iFlag != null) && (iFlag.trim().equals(“Y”)); if (__result__31){ commonj.sdo.DataObject svcCharVal = __result__34; java.lang.String __result__36 […]

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Visual Snippet Editor: Forgets Java Syntax

I have the following visual snippet which does not work. Can you spot the error? ‘RemoveLeadingZeros’ is a java snippet that returns a String. I then need to see if the string is a length greater than one. My snippet is marked with the error: “length() is not a method of string”. It’s difficult to […]

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Problem Determination and WebSphere Integration Developer

In the past, I’ve gone and de-constructed WebSphere Process Server stack traces in an example of problem determination. Now, I’ll talk about what I do when WebSphere Integration Developer goes crazy. A typical WebSphere Integration Developer exception consists of either a builder error pop up dialog or an issue when trying to open an editor. […]

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WebSphere Integration Developer – Namespaces Cannot Span Projects

Say I have a Business Object named BO1, in the namespace “http://www.danzrobok.com/bo” and I have a second business object named BO2, in the namespace “http://www.danzrobok.com/bo”. With WebSphere Integration Developer, I MUST put both of these business objects in the same library or module project. If I split them into two library projects, then I will […]

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WebSphere Process Server and RPC/Literal Web Services: Beware Messages defined by ‘type’ instead of ‘element’.

After a ridiculous amount of XML tweaking and bleeding, I realize that RPC/Literal truly is completely broken in WebSphere Process Server v6.0.2.3. On the response message that consists of a Business Object we would constantly get the exception: Caused by: org.eclipse.emf.ecore.resource.Resource$IOWrappedException: Feature ‘MyResultBO’ not found. (sca:/message.xml, -1, -1) The XML from the service looks correct: […]

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WebSphere Process Server and an RPC/Literal WSDL : Trench War

I’m currently in a trench war with WebSphere Process Server and an RPC/Literal webservice. The service takes in a simple integer and returns a Business Object. The request works fine, but the response comes back with a ‘FeatureNotFound’ exception referencing the top level business object. I’ve even gone so far as to install SOAP UI […]

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BPEL Business Process Versioning – Infocenter Link

Infocenter Documentation on Business Process Versioning WebSphere Process Server Versioning Arricle by Richard G. Brown  Just in case you ever get into the scenario where you need to upgrade a business process template that is running on your server. It’s not obvious how it works and it’s an issue you may want to capture at […]

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Hiatus until Tuesday

I will arrive from Las Vegas in the early monday morning red-eye, so don’t expect any updates from me today. I am still working on writing up my notes from a very good WTSC2008 session about how to be an “excellent IT Architect” amongst some other goodies from Las Vegas.

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WebSphere Process Server Discussions

The first question kicked off about the use of BPEL for non-business relevant flows. The answer was that it’s not a good idea in the long-term vision and hard evaluation of Java or BPEL should be performed to ensure it’s the right solution. The lack of a store-and-forward capability in the product was the next […]

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WebSphere Business Events (AptSoft) Technical Overview

I don’t know much about WebSphere Business Events. I assume that allows you to generate CEI business events and then take actions based on the content of the messages. It is currently not eclipse based and required WAS v6.1.0.13. It has connector and Data Mapping capabilities, which make it sound very similr to the WebSphere […]

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“Top Best Practices for Implementing WPS Solutions”

I haven’t heard of SIMM Levels before this presentation but they appear to be interesting statements about maturity. Talking about service quality, “You can’t mediate faster”. ISO9126 was also mentioned: ISO 9126 is an international standard for the evaluation of software quality. Don’t use relationships for configuration or rules. It doesn’t fit the use-cases of […]

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DataPower Extension Functions

It dove into the world of Datapower contexts and what I call the ‘magic’ XSLT functions that datapower adds on. I consider things like dp:prioritiy, dp:variable to be a part of these add-ons. Example: Printing the headers you can access them via: dp:variable(“var://service/header-manifest”) When there are multiple match rules in rules, it is “one and […]

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IBM Certification Tests 253, 142 & 664

I wrote three certification tests: Test 253, IBM WebSphere Application Server, Network Deployment Test 142, XML 1.1 and Related Technologies Test 664, SOA Fundamentals Test 253, IBM WebSphere Application Server, Network Deployment As I had mentioned before, I attended a WAS 6.1 Administration business partner course run out of the IBM Toronto Lab. I have […]

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WebSphere Business Services Fabric 6.1 Content Packs

Four industry content packs exist: Banking, Insurance, Healthcare and Telecom Operations. These content packs provide Ontologies relevant to the industry in question. It’s basically a model of an entire Insurance company of which you can then pick and choose the relevant objects.6.1 highlights: Installation Enhancements General usability improvements in the editors Runtime enhancements Better simulation. […]

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“What’s New in WebSphere DataPower v3.6.1”

Since I’m extremely pro-Datapower, I felt it would be an effective use of time to attend and maybe it’ll push me over the top on my certification. I found a link about the features on the IBM Support site. Multistep v3 processing: Mediations. Configurable QoS SOAP 1.2 Reliable Messaging WS-Policy WS-I Profile enhancements Db2 v9 […]

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ESB-CON VI: Lessons Learned on SOA Adoption

In the opening panel, the John Fitzgerald Director of Product Marketing from Software AG mentioned a client’s SOA Lessons Learned. The three points are: Strong Business Sponsorship Start Slow with a Low-Risk Project Integration Competency Center I agree with all three of these points and I’ll provide my thoughts below. Strong Business Sponsorship You aren’t […]

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