Service Integration Bus Explorer

1. I've launched the tool; how do I connect to a Service Integration Bus?

Currently, Service Integration Buses are features of WebSphere Application Server or WebSphere ESB Server. Before connecting to it, you will need to know the host name and port where the server is running. After the tool is launched, select Add Server from the File menu and fill in the host name and port of your destination server. You can give the server an description if you wish. Then select OK in order to save the changes. In the main window, the server appears as an icon in the lefthand pane. In order to connect to the server, either expand the icon or right-click on it, and select Connect.

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2. How do I know which port to connect to?

The port to which you should connect completely depends on your individual set-up and the protocol you are using to connect. The port numbers may have also been altered by the Profile Creation Wizard based on whether other profiles were detected when the tool ran. However, there are ways to find out the correct port to use.

In an "out-of-the-box" installation of a single server, if you are using the SOAP protocol, the port is by default 8880 and the RMI port is by default 2809. This is always a good one to try if you are unsure.

In an "out-of-the-box" installation of ND, if you are using the SOAP protocol, the port for the deployment manager is by default 8879, with RMI again defaulting to 2809.

If you are still unsuccessful, you should start your single server or deployment manager and examine the SystemOut.log file. Look for lines that look similar to the following:

[10/01/06 13:26:55:835 GMT] 0000000a JMXSoapAdapte A ADMC0013I: The SOAP connector is available at port 8880
...
[10/01/06 13:27:14:411 GMT] 0000000a RMIConnectorC A ADMC0026I: The RMI Connector is available at port 2809

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3. On connecting, I get a message saying that the Remote Configuration Service Is Not Available. What does this mean?

This message warns you that you are connecting directly to a managed server rather than through the deployment manager. This usually happens through entering the port number of the server itself rather than the port number of the deployment manager. In order to stop seeing this message, you should ascertain the correct port number for the deployment manager and reconnect.

In addition, the following limitations are enforced:

• No Destination configuration information will be available.
• No WMQ Client Link or WMQ Link information will be available.
• The ability to put a test message, load a destination, and clear a destination will be disabled.
• The ability to define and delete a destination will be disabled.

Other parts of the system (such as other messaging engines) that are not running on this server will not be shown.

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4. I am running with security enabled. How do I connect securely?

1. Before attempting to connect securely, please ensure that you have a user ID and password to the server that has permission to administer the system.
2. The security settings are set in the Server Connection dialog box. In order to display this dialog box, right-click on a server in the left pane and select Properties....
3. Check Secure connection to the server at the top of the dialog box, and select the Admin Credentials tab.
4. Enter the user name and password for the user who has administrative permissions.
5. Now select the SSL Options tab. Enter the location of an SSL key store and SSL trust store along with their passwords.
6. If security is enabled with the default settings, the server uses DummyServerKeyFile.jks and DummyServerTrustFile.jks, which are located in the profiles/<profile name>/etc directory of the server. Along with those files are located DummyClientKeyFile.jks and DummyClientTrustFile.jks; these files contain the other half of the SSL keys that are required for making a secure connection. If your server uses the dummy server files, then please specify the dummy client files in the Trust Store Location and Key Store Location on the SSL Options tab. It may be necessary to copy these files to the machine running the SIB Explorer. The password for these dummy files is WebAS. It is advised that customers generate their own key files in order to ensure that their server is completely secure. In this case, please use those key files as opposed to the dummy ones.

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5. I keep getting error messages when I try to connect securely, even though I have set all the properties. What is wrong?

Occasionally, if an attempt to connect securely fails (perhaps due to misconfiguration), it is possible that all subsequent attempts will also fail -- even if the configuration problems have been fixed. In order to resolve this problem, you may need to close the SIB Explorer and restart it before attempting to connect again.

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6. I've successfully connected to a server, but when I expand the server icon, there is nothing underneath it. What is going on?

If you have successfully connected to a server but there are no items below the server icon, then either there are no Service Integration Buses defined or there are no active bus members for this bus. You must define a bus and create a bus member using the administrative console or wsadmin tool, restart the server, and reconnect.

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7. I've successfully connected to a server. What do the icons represent?

After you are connected to a server, the topology of the bus is presented in the following hierarchy:

• Any buses are shown first.
• Below a bus are shown any bus members and a folder containing any destinations defined on the bus.
• Below a bus member are shown any messaging engines defined to the bus member.
• Below a messaging engine are shown folders containing the run-time information about the parts of the messaging engine.

The following icons are used:

	bus definition
	a cluster bus member
	a server bus member
	a running messaging engine
	a queue destination or queue point
	a topic space destination or publication point
	an alias destination
	a mediation point
	a subscription
	a message
	a running WMQ Client Link definition
	a running WMQ Link definition
	a running WMQ Sender Channel
	a running WMQ Receiver Channel.

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8. What is the difference between a queue point and a destination?

In a Service Integration Bus, a destination (i.e. a place where messages can be sent to or consumed from) is an entity that is defined at the bus level. The physical realisation of a destination is a queue point or a publication point and these are localized on messaging engines. As such, the destination holds configuration information such as whether messages can be sent to this destination and the queue point or publication point holds runtime information such as the number of messages available to be consumed. When there is more than one messaging engine in a bus member a destination may be localized on all the messaging engines. Right-clicking a destination and hovering over 'Queue Points' will list all the possible localizations for this destination and clicking a localization will show you this in the explorer.

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9. How do I send a test message to a queue destination?

Locate the queue destination to you wish to send a message and right-click on it. There are two ways that a message can be put:

• Select the Put Test Message item. A dialog box will appear asking for some text to put in the message. Clicking on OK will cause a single, persistent JMS text message, containing the text specified to be sent to the destination.
• Select the Load Destination item. A dialog box will appear asking for the number of messages you wish to put to the destination. Clicking on OK will cause the specified number of persistent JMS text messages, containing some default text, to be sent to the destination.

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10. Can I send a message to a topic space destination?

No. Test messages cannot be sent to a topic space destination by this application.

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11. Can I send a message to an alias destination?

In theory, yes. As long as the alias does not point to a topic space destination, then putting a message should succeed.

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12. I've sent a message to a queue destination. Where has it gone?

Depending on the configuration of your destination and your bus, the message could end up in a number of places. The first places to check are the queue points that represent the localization of this destination. Right-clicking on a destination and hovering over Queue Points will bring up a list of the possible localizations, and clicking on an item in the list will cause it to be displayed. The Current Depth property of the queue point is usually a good indication of where the message is.

If the message was not located on a queue point, it may be being held at a mediation point if the destination is mediated. Right-clicking on a destination and hovering over Mediation Points will bring up a list of the possible mediation points associated with this destination, and clicking on an item in the list will cause it to be displayed. If the Current Depth column is blank, a mediation point can be double-clicked on to show its contents.

If the message still cannot be located, it may have been sent to the exception destination. Each messaging engine has its own exception destination; these can be shown by selecting View System Objects from the View menu.

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13. How can I clear a queue destination?

A queue destination can be cleared of all messages on all queue points by right-clicking on the destination and selecting Clear Destination. Please note that any messages on the destination will be discarded permanently. This operation will not clear messages that are currently waiting at a mediation point; these must be manually cleared by selecting the mediation point, right-clicking on it, and selecting Clear Messages.

Individual queue points can be cleared by right-clicking on a queue point and selecting Clear Queue Point. This operation will preserve messages on other queue points.

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14. When looking at queue points, I see lots of destinations that I didn't create that begin with _P or _SYSTEM. What are these?

Destinations or localizations whose names begin with _P or _SYSTEM are destinations that are created by the system and used for system operations only. Care should be taken when performing operations on these destinations.

These destinations can be hidden from view by un-checking View System Objects from the View menu.

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15. I tried to send a test message, but I got an error. What could be wrong?

The most common cause of problems with sending test messages is the Messaging Client Configuration settings in the Server Connection Properties dialog box. This dialog box can be shown by right-clicking on a server and selecting Properties.

On the "Messaging Client Configuration" tab, you need to ensure that the host name, port, and chain name are set correctly. These values should be filled in so that they point to a server that is running the SIB Service. A server can be configured to run the SIB Service manually, or it will happen on a server where a bus has been defined or a messaging engine is running.

The port number to use will depend on whether you are connecting securely to the server or not. The default non-SSL port is 7276 and the default SSL port is 7286. You can select whether to use SSL by selecting the appropriate chain name: BootstrapBasicMessaging should be used for non-SSL connections and BootstrapSecureMessaging should be used for SSL connections. When using SSL connections, the SSL key store and SSL trust stores specified in the SSL options tab are used.

If you are unable to locate the correct port, this situation is also logged in all servers' SystemOut.log file. A line similar to the following will indicate the port:

[20/02/06 15:30:32:798 GMT] 0000000a TCPChannel I TCPC0001I: TCP Channel SIB_TCP_JFAP is listening on host * (IPv4) port 7276.
[20/02/06 15:30:32:828 GMT] 0000000a WSChannelFram A CHFW0019I: The Transport Channel Service has started chain InboundBasicMessaging.
[20/02/06 15:30:32:898 GMT] 0000000a TCPChannel I TCPC0001I: TCP Channel SIB_TCP_JFAP_SSL is listening on host * (IPv4) port 7286.
[20/02/06 15:30:32:908 GMT] 0000000a WSChannelFram A CHFW0019I: The Transport Channel Service has started chain InboundSecureMessaging.
[20/02/06 15:30:33:018 GMT] 0000000a SibMessage A [:] CWSIC2001I: Messaging connections are being accepted.

In the above example, non-SSL connections are being accepted on 7276, and SSL connections are being accepted on 7286.

It is possible that, when administrative security is enabled, completion of all non-SSL connections is prevented; this situation forces users to connect securely. In the event that a non-SSL connection is attempted, a message so indicating will be written to the SystemOut.log.

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16. Can I use alternate security credentials when sending test messages?

Alternate credentials can be specified in the Server Connection Properties dialog box on the Messaging Client Configuration tab by checking the Use Alternate Credentials check box and specifying them in the following fields.

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17. How do I view the contents of a message?

Double-clicking on a queue point, mediation point, or publication point will show the contents of that localization. Right-clicking on a message allows you to display the message fields or the message contents.

The message fields show you information about the message such as its type, the time it was put in, etc. The message data will show a dump of the message contents.

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18. I get an error displaying the contents of a message. What could be wrong?

The displaying of the contents of some message formats is not supported by the bus, and, as such, it may not be possible to display the contents of these messages.

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19. Can I make the display auto-refresh after a specified amount of time?

From the View menu, move the mouse over the Auto-Refresh item and select a refreshment interval. The display will then be automatically refreshed after the specified amount of inactivity.

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20. Can I force the explorer to disconnect and reconnect to the server in order to fully refresh the topology?

Select the server whose topology you want to fully refresh in the tree, right-click on the server, and select Refresh Topology.

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21. Is it possible to perform operations on the servers that the bus is running on?

Once connected to a server, the Server menu will allow control over the actual processes running the bus. The following functions are available for each process:

• Restart: allows the process to be stopped and then automatically started again.
• Stop: allows the process to be stopped.
• Dump Threads: causes the process to instruct the Java Virtual Machine to perform a core dump.
• Set Trace Specification: allows the dynamic changing of the current trace specification for the process. Note that these changes are not saved in the configuration and will be lost when the process is restarted.
• Get Info: returns some information about the process.

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22. I get an error saying that an environment variable is not set up correctly. What's going on?

Your env script contains several environment variables that enable the SIB Explorer script to locate all the files needed in order to run the tool. If these variables are not set up correctly, then you will see this error message. Ensure that the WAS environment variable points to your WebSphere installation directory, that the SWTJARS environment variable points to the directory with the downloaded SWT libraries, and that the CUR environment variable points to the directory containing the downloaded SIB Explorer code.

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23. Can I run SIB Explorer without a command prompt in Windows?

The env script in Windows has an extra option at the bottom called USE_JAVAW. If you "uncomment" this line by removing the "rem" statement, the javaw.exe program will be used to launch the SIB Explorer. This means that the script will return immediately, leaving the SIB Explorer still running. This action can be useful if you wish to run the SIB Explorer directly from, for example, a Windows shortcut and don't want a command prompt also running.

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24. When running the sibexplorer.sh script on UNIX, I get ./sibexplorer.sh: Permission denied. What is going on?

Before the sibexplorer.sh script can be run, it must have the executable flag set on it. You can do this by typing chmod a+x sibexplorer.sh. Simply set the executable flag on the script and retry.

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