Designing your decision management architecture for Red Hat Decision Manager

Red Hat Decision Manager 7.5

Red Hat Customer Content Services

Abstract

This document describes basic concepts and options for a Red Hat Decision Manager implementation to consider when designing your decision management architecture. To verify the most suitable implementation for your environment, contact your Red Hat Technical Account Manager or Solutions Architect.

Preface

As a business analyst, systems administrator, or business rules developer, the types of Red Hat Decision Manager business assets that you create and the way in which you develop, store, execute, and deploy those assets varies based on the needs of your business automation environment. You can design a decision management architecture that uses Business Central or an external integrated development environment (IDE) for asset development, a built-in or external Git repository for storage and version control, a Decision Server or embedded application for deployment, or other implementation combinations. You can also deploy Red Hat Decision Manager into a Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform environment for an enhanced containerized implementation.

This document describes basic concepts and options for a Red Hat Decision Manager implementation to consider when designing your decision management architecture. To verify the most suitable implementation for your environment, contact your Red Hat Technical Account Manager or Solutions Architect.

Chapter 1. Installation environment options for Red Hat Decision Manager

With Red Hat Decision Manager, you can set up a development environment to develop business applications, a runtime environment to run those applications to support decisions, or both.

  • Development environment: Typically consists of one Business Central installation and at least one Decision Server installation. You can use Business Central to design decisions and other artifacts, and you can use Decision Server to execute and test the artifacts that you created.
  • Runtime environment: Consists of one or more Decision Server instances with or without Business Central. Business Central has an embedded Decision Manager controller. If you install Business Central, use the MenuDeployExecution servers page to create and maintain containers. If you want to automate Decision Server management without Business Central, you can use the headless Decision Manager controller.

You can also cluster both development and runtime environments. A clustered development or runtime environment consists of a unified group or "cluster" of two or more servers. The primary benefit of clustering Red Hat Decision Manager development environments is high availability and enhanced collaboration, while the primary benefit of clustering Red Hat Decision Manager runtime environments is high availability and load balancing. High availability decreases the chance of a loss of data when a single server fails. When a server fails, another server fills the gap by providing a copy of the data that was on the failed server. When the failed server comes online again, it resumes its place in the cluster. Load balancing shares the computing load across the nodes of the cluster to improve the overall performance.

Note

Clustering of the runtime environment is currently supported on Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.2 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform only. Clustering of Business Central is currently a Technology Preview feature that is not yet intended for production use. For more information about Red Hat Technology Preview support, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

Chapter 2. Decision-authoring assets in Red Hat Decision Manager

Red Hat Decision Manager supports several assets that you can use to define business decisions for your decision service. Each decision-authoring asset has different advantages, and you might prefer to use one or a combination of multiple assets depending on your goals and needs.

The following table highlights the main decision-authoring assets supported in Red Hat Decision Manager projects to help you decide or confirm the best method for defining decisions in your decision service.

Table 2.1. Decision-authoring assets supported in Red Hat Decision Manager

AssetHighlightsAuthoring toolsDocumentation

Decision Model and Notation (DMN) models

  • Are decision models based on a notation standard defined by the Object Management Group (OMG)
  • Use graphical decision requirements diagrams (DRDs) with one or more decision requirements graphs (DRGs) to trace business decision flows
  • Use an XML schema that allows the DMN models to be shared between DMN-compliant platforms
  • Support Friendly Enough Expression Language (FEEL) to define decision logic in DMN decision tables and other DMN boxed expressions
  • Are optimal for creating comprehensive, illustrative, and stable decision flows

Business Central or other DMN-compliant editor

Designing a decision service using DMN models

Guided decision tables

  • Are tables of rules that you create in a UI-based table designer in Business Central
  • Are a wizard-led alternative to spreadsheet decision tables
  • Provide fields and options for acceptable input
  • Support template keys and values for creating rule templates
  • Support hit policies, real-time validation, and other additional features not supported in other assets
  • Are optimal for creating rules in a controlled tabular format to minimize compilation errors

Business Central

Designing a decision service using guided decision tables

Spreadsheet decision tables

  • Are XLS or XLSX spreadsheet decision tables that you can upload into Business Central
  • Support template keys and values for creating rule templates
  • Are optimal for creating rules in decision tables already managed outside of Business Central
  • Have strict syntax requirements for rules to be compiled properly when uploaded

Spreadsheet editor

Designing a decision service using spreadsheet decision tables

Guided rules

  • Are individual rules that you create in a UI-based rule designer in Business Central
  • Provide fields and options for acceptable input
  • Are optimal for creating single rules in a controlled format to minimize compilation errors

Business Central

Designing a decision service using guided rules

Guided rule templates

  • Are reusable rule structures that you create in a UI-based template designer in Business Central
  • Provide fields and options for acceptable input
  • Support template keys and values for creating rule templates (fundamental to the purpose of this asset)
  • Are optimal for creating many rules with the same rule structure but with different defined field values

Business Central

Designing a decision service using guided rule templates

DRL rules

  • Are individual rules that you define directly in .drl text files
  • Provide the most flexibility for defining rules and other technicalities of rule behavior
  • Can be created in certain standalone environments and integrated with Red Hat Decision Manager
  • Are optimal for creating rules that require advanced DRL options
  • Have strict syntax requirements for rules to be compiled properly

Business Central or integrated development environment (IDE)

Designing a decision service using DRL rules

Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML) models

  • Are predictive data-analytic models based on a notation standard defined by the Data Mining Group (DMG)
  • Use an XML schema that allows the PMML models to be shared between PMML-compliant platforms
  • Support Regression, Scorecard, Tree, Mining, and other model types
  • Can be included with a standalone Red Hat Decision Manager project or imported into a project in Business Central
  • Are optimal for incorporating predictive data into decision services in Red Hat Decision Manager

PMML or XML editor

Designing a decision service using PMML models

Chapter 3. Project storage and build options with Red Hat Decision Manager

As you develop a Red Hat Decision Manager project, you need to be able to track the versions of your project with a version-controlled repository, manage your project assets in a stable environment, and build your project for testing and deployment. You can use Business Central for all of these tasks, or use a combination of Business Central and external tools and repositories. Red Hat Decision Manager supports Git repositories for project version control, Apache Maven for project management, and a variety of Maven-based, Java-based, or custom-tool-based build options.

The following options are the main methods for Red Hat Decision Manager project versioning, storage, and building:

Table 3.1. Project version control options (Git)

Versioning optionDescriptionDocumentation

Business Central Git VFS

Business Central contains a built-in Git Virtual File System (VFS) that stores all processes, rules, and other artifacts that you create in the authoring environment. Git is a distributed version control system that implements revisions as commit objects. When you commit your changes into a repository, a new commit object in the Git repository is created. When you create a project in Business Central, the project is added to the Git repository connected to Business Central.

NA

External Git repository

If you have Red Hat Decision Manager projects in Git repositories outside of Business Central, you can import them into Red Hat Decision Manager spaces and use Git hooks to synchronize the internal and external Git repositories.

Managing projects in Business Central

Table 3.2. Project management options (Maven)

Management optionDescriptionDocumentation

Business Central Maven repository

Business Central contains a built-in Maven repository that organizes and builds project assets that you create in the authoring environment. Maven is a distributed build-automation tool that uses repositories to store Java libraries, plug-ins, and other build artifacts. When building projects and archetypes, Maven dynamically retrieves Java libraries and Maven plug-ins from local or remote repositories to promote shared dependencies across projects.

Note

For a production environment, consider using an external Maven repository configured with Business Central.

NA

External Maven repository

If you have Red Hat Decision Manager projects in an external Maven repository, such as Nexus or Artifactory, you can create a settings.xml file with connection details and add that file path to the kie.maven.settings.custom property in your project standalone-full.xml file.

Maven Settings Reference

Packaging and deploying a Red Hat Decision Manager project

Table 3.3. Project build options

Build optionDescriptionDocumentation

Business Central (KJAR)

Business Central builds Red Hat Decision Manager projects stored in either the built-in Maven repository or a configured external Maven repository. Projects in Business Central are packaged automatically as knowledge JAR (KJAR) files with all components needed for deployment when you build the projects.

Packaging and deploying a Red Hat Decision Manager project

Standalone Maven project (KJAR)

If you have a standalone Red Hat Decision Manager Maven project outside of Business Central, you can edit the project pom.xml file to package your project as a KJAR file, and then add a kmodule.xml file with the KIE base and KIE session configurations needed to build the project.

Packaging and deploying a Red Hat Decision Manager project

Embedded Java application (KJAR)

If you have an embedded Java application from which you want to build your Red Hat Decision Manager project, you can use a KieModuleModel instance to programatically create a kmodule.xml file with the KIE base and KIE session configurations, and then add all resources in your project to the KIE virtual file system KieFileSystem to build the project.

Packaging and deploying a Red Hat Decision Manager project

CI/CD tool (KJAR)

If you use a tool for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), you can configure the tool set to integrate with your Red Hat Decision Manager Git repositories to build a specified project. Ensure that your projects are packaged and built as KJAR files to ensure optimal deployment.

NA

S2I in OpenShift (container image)

If you use Red Hat Decision Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, you can build your Red Hat Decision Manager projects as KJAR files in the typical way or use Source-to-Image (S2I) to build your projects as container images. S2I is a framework and a tool that allows you to write images that use the application source code as an input and produce a new image that runs the assembled application as an output. The main advantage of using the S2I tool for building reproducible container images is the ease of use for developers.

Creating Images in OpenShift

Chapter 4. Project deployment options with Red Hat Decision Manager

After you develop, test, and build your Red Hat Decision Manager project, you can deploy the project to begin using the business assets you have created. You can deploy a Red Hat Decision Manager project to a configured Decision Server, to an embedded Java application, or into a Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform environment for an enhanced containerized implementation.

The following options are the main methods for Red Hat Decision Manager project deployment:

Table 4.1. Project deployment options

Deployment optionDescriptionDocumentation

Deployment to an OpenShift environment

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform combines Docker and Kubernetes and enables you to create and manage containers. You can install both Business Central and Decision Server on OpenShift. Red Hat Decision Manager provides templates that you can use to deploy a Red Hat Decision Manager authoring environment, managed server environment, immutable server environment, or trial environment on OpenShift. With OpenShift, components of Red Hat Decision Manager are deployed as separate OpenShift pods. You can scale each of the pods up and down individually, providing as few or as many containers as necessary for a particular component. You can use standard OpenShift methods to manage the pods and balance the load.

Deploying a Red Hat Decision Manager immutable server environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform

Deploying a Red Hat Decision Manager authoring or managed server environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform

Deploying a Red Hat Decision Manager environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform using Operators

Deploying a Red Hat Decision Manager trial environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform

Deployment to Decision Server

Decision Server is the server provided with Red Hat Decision Manager that runs the decision services, process applications, and other deployable assets from a packaged and deployed Red Hat Decision Manager project (KJAR file). These services are consumed at run time through an instantiated KIE container, or deployment unit. You can deploy and maintain deployment units in Decision Server using Business Central or using a headless Decision Manager controller with its associated REST API (considered a managed Decision Server instance). You can also deploy and maintain deployment units using the Decision Server REST API or Java client API from a standalone Maven project, an embedded Java application, or other custom environment (considered an unmanaged Decision Server instance).

Packaging and deploying a Red Hat Decision Manager project

Interacting with Red Hat Decision Manager using KIE APIs

Managing and monitoring Decision Server

Deployment to an embedded Java application

If you want to deploy Red Hat Decision Manager projects to your own Java virtual machine (JVM) environment, microservice, or application server, you can bundle the application resources in the project WAR files to create a deployment unit similar to a KIE container. You can also use the core KIE APIs (not Decision Server APIs) to configure a KIE scanner to periodically update KIE containers.

KIE Public API

Chapter 5. Asset execution options with Red Hat Decision Manager

After you build and deploy your Red Hat Decision Manager project to Decision Server or other environment, you can execute the deployed assets for testing or for runtime consumption. You can also execute assets locally in addition to or instead of executing them after deployment.

The following options are the main methods for Red Hat Decision Manager asset execution:

Table 5.1. Asset execution options

Execution optionDescriptionDocumentation

Execution in Decision Server

If you deployed Red Hat Decision Manager project assets to Decision Server, you can use the Decision Server REST API or Java client API to execute and interact with the deployed assets. You can also use Business Central or the headless Decision Manager controller outside of Business Central to manage the configurations and KIE containers in the Decision Server instances associated with your deployed assets.

Interacting with Red Hat Decision Manager using KIE APIs

Execution in an embedded Java application

If you deployed Red Hat Decision Manager project assets in your own Java virtual machine (JVM) environment, microservice, or application server, you can use custom APIs or application interactions with core KIE APIs (not Decision Server APIs) to execute assets in the embedded engine.

KIE Public API

Execution in a local environment for extended testing

As part of your development cycle, you can execute assets locally to ensure that the assets you have created in Red Hat Decision Manager function as intended. You can use local execution in addition to or instead of executing assets after deployment.

"Executing rules" in Designing a decision service using DRL rules

Chapter 6. Example decision management architectures with Red Hat Decision Manager

The following scenarios illustrate common variations of Red Hat Decision Manager installation, asset authoring, project storage, project deployment, and asset execution in a decision management architecture. Each section summarizes the methods and tools used and the advantages for the given architecture. The examples are basic and are only a few of the many combinations you might consider, depending on your specific goals and needs with Red Hat Decision Manager.

Red Hat Decision Manager authoring and managed server environments on OpenShift with Business Central and Decision Server
  • Installation environment: Red Hat Decision Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, using the rhdm75-authoring.yaml and rhdm75-kieserver.yaml template files
  • Project storage and build environment: External Git repository for project versioning synchronized with the Business Central Git repository using Git hooks, and external Maven repository for project management and building configured with Decision Server
  • Asset-authoring tool: Business Central
  • Main asset types: Decision Model and Notation (DMN) models for decisions
  • Project deployment and execution environment: Decision Server on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform
  • Scenario advantages:

    • Containerized implementation of Red Hat Decision Manager in a cloud-based development environment. Components of Red Hat Decision Manager are deployed as separate OpenShift pods that you can scale up and down individually, providing as few or as many containers as necessary for a particular component. You can use standard OpenShift methods to manage the pods and balance the load.
    • Access to the repositories, assets, asset designers, and project build options in Business Central.
    • Standardized asset-authoring approach using DMN for optimal integration and stability.
    • Access to Decision Server functionality and KIE APIs for asset deployment and execution.

Figure 6.1. Red Hat Decision Manager on OpenShift with Business Central and Decision Server

architecture BA on OpenShift enterprise
Red Hat Decision Manager on Red Hat JBoss EAP with Business Central and Decision Server
  • Installation environment: Red Hat Decision Manager on Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform
  • Project storage and build environment: External Git repository for project versioning synchronized with the Business Central Git repository using Git hooks, and external Maven repository for project management and building configured with Decision Server
  • Asset-authoring tool: Business Central
  • Main asset types: Decision Model and Notation (DMN) models for decisions
  • Project deployment and execution environment: Decision Server
  • Scenario advantages:

    • Stable implementation of Red Hat Decision Manager in an on-premise development environment
    • Access to the repositories, assets, asset designers, and project build options in Business Central
    • Standardized asset-authoring approach using DMN for optimal integration and stability
    • Access to Decision Server functionality and KIE APIs for asset deployment and execution

Figure 6.2. Red Hat Decision Manager on Red Hat JBoss EAP with Business Central and Decision Server

architecture BA on eap enterprise
Red Hat Decision Manager on Red Hat JBoss EAP with an IDE and Decision Server
  • Installation environment: Red Hat Decision Manager on Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform
  • Project storage and build environment: External Git repository for project versioning (not synchronized with Business Central) and external Maven repository for project management and building configured with Decision Server
  • Asset-authoring tools: Integrated development environment (IDE), such as Red Hat CodeReady Studio, and a spreadsheet editor or a Decision Model and Notation (DMN) modeling tool for other decision formats
  • Main asset types: Drools Rule Language (DRL) rules, spreadsheet decision tables, and Decision Model and Notation (DMN) models for decisions
  • Project deployment and execution environment: Decision Server
  • Scenario advantages:

    • Flexible implementation of Red Hat Decision Manager in an on-premise development environment
    • Ability to define business assets using an external IDE and other asset-authoring tools of your choice
    • Access to Decision Server functionality and KIE APIs for asset deployment and execution

Figure 6.3. Red Hat Decision Manager on Red Hat JBoss EAP with an IDE and Decision Server

architecture BA with IDE enterprise
Red Hat Decision Manager with an IDE and an embedded Java application
  • Installation environment: Red Hat Decision Manager libraries embedded within a custom application
  • Project storage and build environment: External Git repository for project versioning (not synchronized with Business Central) and external Maven repository for project management and building configured with your embedded Java application (not configured with Decision Server)
  • Asset-authoring tools: Integrated development environment (IDE), such as Red Hat CodeReady Studio, and a spreadsheet editor or a Decision Model and Notation (DMN) modeling tool for other decision formats
  • Main asset types: Drools Rule Language (DRL) rules, spreadsheet decision tables, and Decision Model and Notation (DMN) models for decisions
  • Project deployment and execution environment: Embedded Java application, such as in a Java virtual machine (JVM) environment, microservice, or custom application server
  • Scenario advantages:

    • Custom implementation of Red Hat Decision Manager in an on-premise development environment with an embedded Java application
    • Ability to define business assets using an external IDE and other asset-authoring tools of your choice
    • Use of custom APIs to interact with core KIE APIs (not Decision Server APIs) and to execute assets in the embedded engine

Figure 6.4. Red Hat Decision Manager with an IDE and an embedded Java application

architecture BA with custom app enterprise

Chapter 7. Additional resources

Appendix A. Versioning information

Documentation last updated on Monday, November 15, 2021.

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