Matjaz B. Juric is Program Committee member.

More information: http://www.ibm.com/solutions/education/cloudacademy/us/en/cloud_academy_conference.html

There is also a web service interface available. WSDL of the service can be found at http://www.webratio.com/bpmnValidation/wsdl.do.

<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema">
  <SOAP-ENV:Body>
    <ValidateBpmnSchemaResponse>
      <Result>
        <SchemaValidXml>false</SchemaValidXml>
        <Information>File test.bpmn is NOT Valid IDREF '': referenced ID
          '_2_CommentInput' was not found.</Information>
      </Result>
    </ValidateBpmnSchemaResponse>
  </SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

The only thing I could think about was that there is no option to specify Process Center hostname and port. After a little search, I have discovered that PD has “Dcom.ibm.bpm.processcenter.url” option in “eclipse.ini” file, found in PD installation directory (“C:\IBM\ProcessDesigner\v7.5” in my case) that tells PD where to connect to. In my case, I had to update port value from default “9080″ to “9081″ (as I’ve mentioned, PC was my second profile). After restarting PD connection finally succeeded.

This method is also the only way to go if you are using the same Process Designer for two or more diferent Process Center Servers. While this may not be an often expected case, I am still suprised that IBM has not included another textfield on the login screen to specify which Process Center do you wish to connect to. Perhaps in version 7.5.2

If you are new to IBM BPM, please check out this series of posts.

First, we need to create a new Process  App – a container for all business process artifacts. To do this, we open Process Center perspective in PD and click Create New Process App in top right corner of the screen.

Enter the required details and click Create.

After Process App has been created, select Open in Designer.

Now we need to create a new Business Process Definition. To do so, move to Processes section in the right menu, click the + sign and select Business Process Definition. Enter process name (Order Confirmation) and click Finish.

Now we have a process pool with two lanes, one for human participant and one for system activities and we can begin to construct business process flow by dragging activities from toolbar on the right.

For the purpose of this demonstration we will use a simple order conformation process, consisting of the following activities:

• human participant will submit a new order
• system will check if the order is valid
• if order is valid, system will execute it, other ways it will reject it
• participant will be notified about success or failure

To design abovementioned business flow, we drag and drop five Activities and two Conditional splits/joins and appropriately link them together. Be careful to select Decision Gateway (XOR) behavior in properties for the first split/join and Conditional Join (OR) for the second one.

Now we have to prepare business objects and variables for our process. To do this, we select Variables tab and click Add Private. We name our variable order and click new for Variable Type. We create a new Business Object named Order and containing four fields – id (String), description (String), value (Decimal) and status (String). When defining variables, we preferably also check the Has Default box in the settings on the right, so that we avoid potential null pointer exceptions when accessing uninitialized parts of variables.

With business object and variable ready, we can now implement our activities. First, we will implement Submit Order as human service. To do so, right click on activity and select Activity Wizard. This opens a new dialog, where we can edit service name and type. Click next to proceed to parameters definition. Here, we have listed all available variables (in our case only one) and we can select which variables we want to pass to activity and which will be returned. Submit order activity will receive and return same order variable, so make sure that both input and output are set to true. After confirming the dialog, we can double click the activity to open its implementation. Human task forms are called Coaches and provide quite a lot of customization capabilities, but for our demo we will only use the default layout.

Receive Feedback activity is also a human task, therefore we implement it in the same manner as we implemented Submit Order.

Validate Order, Confirm Order and Reject Order are automated activities and for the purpose of this demonstration we will implement them using javascript. To do so, we select an activity and go to Implementation tab in Properties view. We select JavaScript from available implementation types and write custom script. Using tw object, we can access variables or process details.  In Validate Order activity we will check whether user has provided description and value of an order. If yes, we will set order status to valid and invalid other ways.

In Confirm Order activity we similarly set order status to approved and we provide an id for an order using process instance identifier.

tw.local.order.status = “approved”;

tw.local.order.id = “O#”+tw.system.currentProcessInstance.id+”/11″;

In Confirm Order activity we only set order status to rejected.

We are almost done, all there is left to do is to provide a condition to determine whether order is valid or not. To achieve this, select gateway and open Implementation tab in Properties view. Using arrows on the right make No(Reject Order) path the default one and then enter condition for the Yes path as shown in picture.

Now we are ready to execute our process using orange play button in the top right corner of the screen. At this point we are transferred into Inspector perspective, where we can monitor the current state of the process and execute human tasks, available in the upper right part of the screen.  We open an available task using play button and after we complete a task, we need to refresh process to view the progress it has made.

Till next time

In this follow up I will describe transaction propagation from WAS to WLS using WS-AT.  I am using the same two JAX-WS Web Services as are used in the previous post. One is deployed on WAS and one on WLS. They both contain operation insert() which we use for inserting a record in a database table. For this each environment uses a separate database and has configured a corresponding XA Data Source. We implemented additional JAX-WS Web Service facade. Its role is to start a global transaction and invoke other two services inside this transaction.

Main steps:

• From the previous post we use XA-enabled data source and both web services that participate in a global transaction.
• Next step is to configure WAS transaction service for interoperability and proper WS-AT version (we used WS-AT version 1.2) using WAS administrative console.
• We can also configure WAS to use Secure Socked Layer connection for WS-AT coordination or disabling it in case we do not want to use it.
• Implement the facade Web Service. There we are calling both web services in one global transaction which is controlled using Java Transaction API (JTA). Both service clients must have attached proper WS-AT policy. We also recommended using WS-Addressing.

In this post, I will present the main steps how we propagated a transaction from WebLogic (WLS) to WebSphere (WAS). The solution for the opposite direction will follow in a separate post.

Short description of the solution:

We implemented three JAX-WS Web Services: two Web Services (one deployed on WLS and one on WAS) that insert a row in a database table, and a facade Web Service deployed on WLS. The facade WS starts a global transaction and invokes other two services inside this transaction. Each environment uses a separate database and has configured a corresponding XA Data Source.

Main steps:

• On each environment create an XA-enabled Data Source
• Implement web services that participate in a global transaction. Each web service has to support WS-AT (we used WS-AT version 1.2). On WebLogic, WS-AT support can be added easily using WebLogic annotations. On WebSphere, WS-AT support can be added by attaching a WS-AT policy using the WebSphere administrative console.
• Implement the facade Web Service. The trick here is that we have to create a transactional and an addressing feature objects and pass them as an argument when retrieving the web service port. Invocation of both web services has to be done inside a global transaction. Therefore we have to use the Java Transaction API (JTA).

We will present at the Open and Secure Cloud Computing – Workshop.

The cloud computing workshop: Open and secure cloud computing will be held in Technology Park Ljubljana on 14th December 2011, 10am – 3pm. The main purpose of this one day conference will be to share knowledge and experiences leveraging open-source IaaS solution: OpenStack. The opening lecture will be given by several distinguished guests from abroad: OpenStack Community Manager, Stefano Muffulli, the CEO of O’Reilly Media, Tim O’Reilly and Justin Santa Barbara from FathomDB.

You are welcome to attend the seminary and take advantage of this unique opportunity to get familiar with the leading IT trends and experiences. Submit here.

Agenda in Slovenian language is attached below.

Agenda

10:00 – 10:45
OpenStack – od kod in kam

Projekt OpenStack, v katerem že drugo leto nastaja programska oprema, ki uporabniku omogoča postavitev javnega ali zasebnega “oblaka” na standardni strojni opremi sta ustanovila NASA in Rackspace Hosting. Pridružila so se številna znana imena iz sveta IT: Cisco, Dell, Intel, Citrix, NetApp, F5, AMD, Hewlett Packard… skupaj preko 140 podjetij in preko 1.600 posameznikov, ki vlagajo napore v razvoj OpenStack platforme za postavitev in upravljanje “oblakov”.

Stefano Maffulli, OpenStack Community Manager, www.openstack.org/community
g. Stefano Maffulli je globalni koordinator tega obsežnega projekta. Po delu na področju formiranja Free Software Foundation Europe je delal kot “community manager” za vodilni odprtokodni sistem za sinhronizacijo med mobilnimi napravami “Funambol” ter uveljavitev Twitter-ja v Italiji. Sedaj živi in dela v San Franciscu.

Če je računalništvo v oblaku prihodnost računalništva, potem je razumevanje, kako narediti prihodnost odprto eden osrednjih tehnoloških izzivov današnjega dne. Projekt OpenStack dela velike korake proti viziji odprtega oblaka.

Tim O’Reilly, CEO of O’Reilly Media, Inc., www.oreilly.com

OpenStack bo seme številnih oblakov – javnih in zasebnih, ki bodo temeljili na enem, odprtem standardu.

Justin Santa Barbara, FathomDB

10:45 – 11:15
Pregled odprtokodnih “IaaS” rešitev in praktična demonstracija OpenStack ogrodja

Na področju “infrastrukture kot storitve” (IaaS) so trenutno prisotne tako komercialne, kot tudi odprtokodne reitve. V industriji se vedno bolj uveljavljajo prav odprtokodni produkti, ki postajajo steber informacijske podpore v tevilnih podjetij in organizacijah. Na predstavitvi bo podan pregled najpomembnejih odprtokodnih rešitev, kot so OpenNebula, Eucalyptus, Nimbus in OpenStack. Predstavljeni bodo arhitekturni gradniki posameznih produktov ter njihove ključne funkcionalnosti, na podlagi katerih bo podana primerjava produktov. V zadnjem delu bo sledila praktična demonstracija OpenStack ogrodja.

Robert Dukarić, uni. dipl. ing., XLAB d.o.o., www.xlab.si
dr. Matjaž B. Jurič, Laboratorij za integracijo informacijskih sistemov, Fakulteta za računalništvo in informatiko (FRI), www.fri.uni-lj.si

11:15 – 11:45
Varnost tudi v oblaku

Združenje “Cloud Security Alliance” navaja sedem glavnih groženj, ki po mnenju strokovnjakov pretijo organizacijam, ki so svoje poslovanje preselile v javni oblak s storitvenimi modeli IaaS, PaaS ali SaaS. Kjer je relevantno, navaja tudi primere incidentov, povsod pa vsaj smernice za njihovo preprečevanje. V drugem delu predavanja je predstavljena nova paradigmo “Security as a Service” – deset področij, na katerih imajo ponudniki današnjih oblakov dovolj prostora za nove storitve, ki jih najemniki oblaka danes močno pogrešajo in ki bodo gotovo omilile osnovno nezaupanje, ki ga prinaša izguba kontrole, povezana s prehodom v oblak.

Dr. Mojca Ciglarič, docentka in vodja Laboratorija za računalniške komunikacije na ljubljanski Fakulteti za računalništvo in informatiko. Je članica “Cloud Security” Alliance in ima vlogo raziskovalne direktorice v slovenski sekciji združenja. www.fri.uni-lj.si

11:45 – 12:00
Varnost v OpenStack

V predstavitvi bo podan pregled varnostnih mehanizmov, ki so vključeni v trenutno različico OpenStack, in predstavljena priporočila za varno uporabo OpenStack.

Primož Cigoj, dipl. ing. rač., Laboratorij za odprte sisteme in mreže (E5), Institut “Jožef Stefan”, www.e5.ijs.si

12:00 – 12:15
KC Class

Predstavitev dejavnosti kompetenčnega centra za računalništvo v oblaku KC Class.

Dalibor Baškovč, www.KC-Class.eu

12:15 – 12:30
Odmor

12:30 – 13:00
Hranjenje podatkov v OpenStack

1. del: Izkušnje z namestitvijo Open Stack Storage (OpenStack Storage installation)

mag. Ivan Tomašič, Elektrotehniška fakulteta v Zagrebu

2. del: Povezava OpenStack Storage z AmazonS3 (OpenStack Storage and AmazonS3)

Aleksandra Rashkovska, dipl. ing. rač., Mednarodna podiplomska šola IJS, odsek za komunikacijske sisteme (E6), Institut “Jožef Stefan”, www-e6.ijs.si

13:00 – 14:00
Kako z uporabo cenovno dostopnih orodij zgradimo visokozmogljiv sistem za hranjenje podatkov

S programsko opremo ZFS in Nexenta je možno zgraditi zanesljiv in zmogljiv sistem za hranjenje podatkov. Poleg zmogljivosti predstavitev prikaže kakšne so izkušnje s temi sistemi.

dr. Matjaž Pančur in Andrej Krevl, dipl. ing. rač., Laboratorij za računalniške komunikacije, Fakulteta za računalništvo in informatiko (FRI), www.fri.uni-lj.si

14:00 – 14:30
Razvoj za oblake v RedHat

Java EE razvoj za oblake: postavitev aplikacijskega strežnika JBoss v okolje OpenShift.

Aleš Justin, JBoss by RedHat

14:30 – 15:00
Predstavitev strojne opreme

http://24ur.com/novice/slovenija/slovenska-pamet-je-zlahtnejsa-kot-zamet.html

http://www.dnevnik.si/poslovni_dnevnik/1042489763

http://www.siol.net/novice/gospodarstvo/2011/11/odprtje_slovenskega_foruma_inovacij.aspx

http://web.vecer.com/portali/vecer/v1/default.asp?kaj=3&id=2011112205712788

http://www.rtvslo.si/gospodarstvo/forum-inovacij-slovenci-smo-inovativni-manjka-nam-samozavesti/271162

In this release of BPM the major step forward is the enhanced BPMN 2.0 support where IBM was stepping behind its rival Oracle.

Oracle has claimed its BPMN 2.0 support with Oracle 11g R1 (PS2) that was released in March 2010. At that time I think the Oracle was the first of the complete BPMS (not process modeling tools only) leaders to claim BPMN 2.0 support. We were anticipating that Oracle will continuously enhance its BPMN 2.0 tooling from that point on. Unfortunately this has not happened. Oracle is still not compatible with the BPMN 2.0 schema. Importing or exporting conformant BPMN 2.0 files is not possible.

With the BPM V7.5.1 release IBM has made a huge step towards BPMN 2.0 compliancy. We know that IBM offered limited support for BPMN 2.0 with WebSphere Business Modeler V7.0 and Business Compass V7. Problem with those tools is that they provide only non executable model that needed to be transformed to BPEL (only option in V7) or imported into BPM V7.5 Process Designer.

With V7.5.1 release Process Designer supports majority of BPMN 2.0 elements and adds some of its own like Ad Hoc start event and Tracking Event. See figure below for supported set of BPMN activities, events and gateways.

IBM BPM V7.5.1 Process Designer

What is even more important when we talk about BPMN 2.0 support is IBM’s effort to implement BPMN 2.0 Import/Export functionality. Import/Export feature (it can be used from Process Center and Process Designer) is promising direct execution of processes from BPMN 2.0 compliant BPMS without special post import process preparation (for example Coaches are generated automatically).

We can definitely expect Oracle to follow with BPMN 2.0 conformant import/export capabilities. That being said, it looks like Oracle started to fall behind IBM’s BPM platform. They have lost their over a year head start.  For the closure we can say that it seems that IBM has taken the lead for now.
Other enhancements in V7.5.1 are equally important and are mainly improving productivity:

• Simplified installation and configuration experience for production deployment environments
  • New refactoring features for process application and toolkits
  • Creation of process application documentation that can be reviewed and printed by stakeholders
  • Ability to view change management history between versions of a process application
  • Process instance recovery
  • Enhanced support through IBM Support Assistant

• Enhanced case solutions
  • Integration with IBM Case Manager with Common inbox
  • IBM Case Manager case solutions can invoke BPM processes
  • BPM processes can interact with IBM Case Manager cases

We have not had a chance for a test drive of the new release yet but will definitely make a follow up post when we make BPMN 2.0 interoperability test.

Slides.pdf

Unfortunately, the slides are available only in Slovenian language.