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Deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager authoring environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform

Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.0

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Abstract

This document describes how to deploy a Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.0 authoring environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

Preface

As a system engineer, you can deploy a Red Hat Process Automation Manager authoring environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform to provide a platform for development of processes and other business assets.

Prerequisites

  • At least four gigabytes of memory are available in the OpenShift environment.
  • The OpenShift project for the deployment is created.
  • You have logged in to the project using the OpenShift web console and using the oc command.

  • If you intend to scale any of the Business Central or Business Central Monitoring pods, your OpenShift environment supports persistent volumes with ReadWriteMany mode.

    Important

    ReadWriteMany mode is not supported on OpenShift Online and OpenShift Dedicated.

Chapter 1. Overview of Red Hat Process Automation Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform

If you have an OpenShift environment, you can deploy Red Hat Process Automation Manager into this environment.

In this solution, components of Red Hat Process Automation 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.

The following key components are available as pods running in OpenShift:

  • Process Server, also known as Execution Server or KIE Server, is the infrastructure element that runs a process or a group of processes. All process logic runs on execution servers.

    A database server is normally required for Process Server. You can provide a database server in another OpenShift pod or configure an execution server on OpenShift to use any other database server. Alternatively, Process Server can use an H2 database; in this case, the pod cannot be scaled.

    You can freely scale up a Process Server pod, providing as many copies, running on the same host or different hosts, as necessary. As you scale a pod up or down, all its copies run the same processes and use the same database server. OpenShift provides load balancing and a request can be handled by any of the pods.

    To run a different set of processes, deploy a separate Process Server pod, which can also be scaled up or down. You can have as many separate replicated Process Server pods as necessary.

  • Business Central is a web-based interactive environment for authoring processes. It also provides a management and monitoring console. You can use Business Central to develop processes, deploy processes to Process Servers, and monitor the execution.

    Business Central is a centralized application. However, you can configure it for high availability, where multiple pods run and share the same data. (In the current version, the high-availability functionality is a technology preview).

    Business Central includes a Git repository that holds the source for the processes that you develop on it. It also includes a built-in Maven repository. Depending on configuration, Business Central can place the compiled processes (KJAR files) into the built-in Maven repository or (if configured) into an external Maven repository.

  • Business Central Monitoring is a web-based management and monitoring console. It can manage deployment of processes to Process Servers and provide monitoring information, but does not include authoring capabilities. You can use this component to manage staging and production environments.
  • Smart Router is an optional layer between Process Servers and other components that interact with them. It is required if you want Business Central or Business Central Monitoring to interact with several different Process Servers. Also, when your environment includes many processes running on different Process Servers, Smart Router provides a single endpoint to all client applications. A client application can make a REST API call requiring any process. Smart Router automatically determines which Process Server must be called for any particular request.

You can arrange these and other components into various environment configurations within OpenShift. You can use the templates provided with Red Hat Process Automation Manager to deploy the most common combinations.

The following environment types are typical:

  • Authoring: An environment for creating and modifying processes using Business Central. It consists of pods that provide Business Central for the authoring work and a Process Server for test execution of the processes. For instructions about deploying this environment, see Deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager authoring environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.
  • Managed deployment: An environment for running existing processes for staging and production purposes. This environment includes several groups of Process Server pods; you can deploy and undeploy processes on every such group and also scale the group up or down as necessary. Use Business Central Monitoring to deploy, run, and stop the processes and to monitor their execution. For instructions about deploying this environment, see Deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager managed server environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.
  • Deployment with immutable servers: An alternate environment for running existing processes for staging and production purposes. In this environment, when you deploy a Process Server pod, it builds an image that loads and starts a process or group of processes. You cannot stop any process on the pod or add any new process to the pod. If you want to use another version of a process or modify the configuration in any other way, you deploy a new server image and displace the old one. In this system, you can use typical container-based integration workflows and do not need to use any other tools to manage the pods. Optionally, you can use Business Central Monitoring to monitor the performance of the environment and to stop and restart some of the process instances, but not to deploy additional processes to any Process Server or undeploy any existing ones (you can not add or remove containers). For instructions about deploying this environment, see Deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager immutable server environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

To deploy a Red Hat Process Automation Manager environment on OpenShift, you can use the templates that are provided with Red Hat Process Automation Manager. You can modify the templates to ensure that your environment suits your needs.

Chapter 2. Preparing to deploy Red Hat Process Automation Manager in your OpenShift environment

Before deploying Red Hat Process Automation Manager in your OpenShift environment, you need to complete several preparatory tasks. You do not need to repeat these tasks if you want to deploy additional images, for example, for new versions of processes or for other processes.

2.1. Ensuring the availability of image streams

You must ensure that the image streams that are required for the deployment are available in your OpenShift environment. Some versions of the OpenShift environment include the necessary image streams. You must check if they are available. If they are not available, you must install the rhpam70-image-streams.yaml file.

Procedure

  1. Run the following commands: 

    $ oc get imagestreamtag -n openshift | grep rhpam70-businesscentral
$ oc get imagestreamtag -n openshift | grep rhpam70-kieserver

    If the outputs of both commands are not empty, the required image streams are available and no further action is required.

  2. If the output of one or both of the commands is empty, download the rhpam-7.0.0-openshift-templates.zip product deliverable file from the Software Downloads page for Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.0. Extract the rhpam70-image-streams.yaml file from it. Complete one of the following actions:

    • Run the following command: 

      $ oc create -f rhpam70-image-streams.yaml
    • Using the OpenShift Web UI, select Add to Project → Import YAML / JSON, then choose the file or paste its contents.

2.2. Creating the secrets for Process Server

OpenShift uses objects called Secrets to hold sensitive information, such as passwords or keystores. See the Secrets chapter in the OpenShift documentation for more information.

You must create an SSL certificate for Process Server and provide it to your OpenShift environment as a secret.

Procedure

  1. Generate an SSL keystore with a private and public key for SSL encryption for Process Server. In a production environment, generate a valid signed certificate that matches the expected URL of the Process Server. Save the keystore in a file named keystore.jks. Record the name of the certificate and the password of the keystore file.

    See Generate a SSL Encryption Key and Certificate for more information on how to create a keystore with self-signed or purchased SSL certificates.

  2. Use the oc command to generate a secret named kieserver-app-secret from the new keystore file: 

    $ oc create secret generic kieserver-app-secret --from-file=keystore.jks

2.3. Creating the secrets for Business Central

If you are planning to deploy Business Central or Business Central Monitoring in your OpenShift environment, you must create an SSL certificate for Business Central and provide it to your OpenShift environment as a secret. Do not use the same certificate and keystore for Business Central and for Process Server.

Procedure

  1. Generate an SSL keystore with a private and public key for SSL encryption for Business Central. In a production environment, generate a valid signed certificate that matches the expected URL of the Business Central. Save the keystore in a file named keystore.jks. Record the name of the certificate and the password of the keystore file.

    See Generate a SSL Encryption Key and Certificate for more information on how to create a keystore with self-signed or purchased SSL certificates.

  2. Use the oc command to generate a secret named businesscentral-app-secret from the new keystore file: 

    $ oc create secret generic businesscentral-app-secret --from-file=keystore.jks

2.4. Changing GlusterFS configuration

Check whether your OpenShift environment uses GlusterFS to provide permanent storage volumes. If it uses GlusterFS, to ensure optimal performance, tune your GlusterFS storage by changing the storage class configuration.

Procedure

  1. To check whether your environment uses GlusterFS, run the following command: 

    oc get storageclass

    In the results, check whether the (default) marker is on the storage class that lists glusterfs. For example, in the following output the default storage class is gluster-container, which does list glusterfs: 

    NAME              PROVISIONER                       AGE
gluster-block     gluster.org/glusterblock          8d
gluster-container (default) kubernetes.io/glusterfs 8d

    If the result has a default storage class that does not list glusterfs or if the result is empty, you do not need to make any changes. In this case, skip the rest of this procedure.

  2. To save the configuration of the default storage class into a YAML file, run the following command: 

    oc get storageclass <class_name> -o yaml >storage_config.yaml

    Where class-name is the name of the default storage class. For example: 

    oc get storageclass gluster-container -o yaml >storage_config.yaml

  3. Edit the storage_config.yaml file:

    1. Remove the lines with the following keys:

      • creationTimestamp
      • resourceVersion
      • selfLink
      • uid

    2. On the line with the volumeoptions key, add the following two options: features.cache-invalidation on, performance.nl-cache on. For example: 

      volumeoptions: client.ssl off, server.ssl off, features.cache-invalidation on, performance.nl-cache on

  4. To remove the existing default storage class, run the following command: 

    oc delete storageclass <class_name>

    Where class-name is the name of the default storage class. For example: 

    oc delete storageclass gluster-container

  5. To re-create the storage class using the new configuration, run the following command: 

    oc create -f storage_config.yaml

Chapter 3. Authoring environment

You can deploy an environment for creating and modifying processes using Business Central. It consists of Business Central for the authoring work and Process Server for test execution of the processes.

Depending on your needs, you can deploy either a single authoring environment or a high-availability (HA) authoring environment.

A single authoring environment contains two pods. One of the pods runs Business Central, the other runs Process Server. The Process Server includes an embedded in-memory H2 database engine. This type of environment uses the least possible amount of resources. However, because of the in-memory database, restarting the Process Server pod leads to loss of all process information.

An HA authoring environment contains several pods. Both Business Central and Process Server are provided in scalable pods that can run in parallel and share persistent storage. The database is provided by a separate high-availability service. Use a high-availability authoring environment to provide maximum reliability and responsiveness, especially if several users are involved in authoring at the same time.

Important

In the current version, the high-availability functionality is a technology preview.

3.1. Deploying a single authoring environment

To deploy a single authoring environment, use the rhpam-70-authoring.yaml template file. You can extract this file from the rhpam-7.0.0-openshift-templates.zip product deliverable file. You can download the file from the Software Downloads page for Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.0.

If you want to modify the environment defined by the template file, see Section 3.3, “Modifying the template for the single authoring environment”.

Procedure

  1. Use one of the following methods to deploy the template:

    • In the OpenShift Web UI, select Add to Project → Import YAML / JSON and then select or paste the rhpam70-authoring.yaml file. In the Add Template window, ensure Process the template is selected and click Continue.

    • To use the OpenShift command line console, prepare the following command line: 

      oc new-app -f <template-path>/rhpam70-authoring.yaml -p BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_SECRET=businesscentral-app-secret -p KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_SECRET=kieserver-app-secret

      In this command line:

      • Replace <template-path> with the path to the downloaded template file.
      • Use as many -p PARAMETER=value pairs as needed to set the required parameters. You can view the template file to see descriptions for all parameters.

  2. Set the following parameters as necessary:

    • Business Central Server Keystore Secret Name (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_SECRET): The name of the secret for Business Central, as created in Section 2.3, “Creating the secrets for Business Central”.
    • KIE Server Keystore Secret Name (KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_SECRET): The name of the secret for Process Server, as created in Section 2.2, “Creating the secrets for Process Server”.
    • Application Name (APPLICATION_NAME): The name of the OpenShift application. It is used in the default URLs for Business Central and Process Server. OpenShift also uses the application name to create a separate set of deployment configurations, services, routes, labels, and artifacts. You can deploy several applications using the same template into the same project, as long as you use different application names.
    • Business Central Server Certificate Name (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_NAME): The name of the certificate in the keystore that you created in Section 2.3, “Creating the secrets for Business Central”.
    • Business Central Server Keystore Password (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_PASSWORD): The password for the keystore that you created in Section 2.3, “Creating the secrets for Business Central”.
    • KIE Server Certificate Name (KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_NAME): The name of the certificate in the keystore that you created in Section 2.2, “Creating the secrets for Process Server”.
    • KIE Server Keystore Password (KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_PASSWORD): The password for the keystore that you created in Section 2.2, “Creating the secrets for Process Server”.
    • KIE Server ID (KIE_SERVER_ID): The name of the server template on the Business Central that the Process Server is to join. Set this parameter to any value. If you do not set it and then the Process Server pod is restarted or scaled, each new instance of the server might join a new template.

    • ImageStream Namespace (IMAGE_STREAM_NAMESPACE): The namespace where the image streams are available. If the image streams were already available in your OpenShift environment (see Section 2.1, “Ensuring the availability of image streams”), the namespace is openshift. If you have installed the image streams file, the namespace is the name of the OpenShift project.

      You can also set the following user names and passwords:

    • KIE Admin User (KIE_ADMIN_USER) and KIE Admin Password (KIE_ADMIN_PWD): The user name and password for the administrative user in Business Central.

    • KIE Server User (KIE_SERVER_USER) and KIE Server Password (KIE_SERVER_PWD): The user name and password that a client application must use to connect to the Process Server.

      If you want to place the built KJAR files into an external Maven repository, set the following parameters:

    • Maven repository URL (MAVEN_REPO_URL): The URL for the Maven repository.
    • Maven repository username (MAVEN_REPO_USERNAME): The username for the Maven repository.
    • Maven repository password (MAVEN_REPO_PASSWORD): The username for the Maven repository.

  3. If you modified the template to use an external database server for the Process Server, set the following parameters:

    • KIE Server External Database Driver (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_DRIVER): The driver for the server, depending on the server type:

      • mysql
      • postgresql
      • mariadb
      • mssql
      • db2
      • oracle
      • sybase
    • KIE Server External Database User (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_USER) and KIE Server External Database Password (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_PWD): The user name and password for the external database server.
    • KIE Server External Database URL (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_URL): The JDBC URL for the external database server.

    • KIE Server External Database Dialect (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_DIALECT): The Hibernate dialect for the server, depending on the server type:

      • org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5Dialect (used for MySQL and MariaDB)
      • org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServer2012Dialect (used for MS SQL)
      • org.hibernate.dialect.DB2Dialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle12cDialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.SybaseASE15Dialect
    • KIE Server External Database Host (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_HOST): The host name of the external database server.
    • KIE Server External Database name (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_DB): The database name to use on the external database server.

  4. If you created a custom image for using an external database server other than MySQL or PostgreSQL, as described in Section 3.5, “Building a custom Process Server image for an external database”, set the KIE Server Image Stream Name (KIE_SERVER_IMAGE_STREAM_NAME) parameter to the following value:

    • For Microsoft SQL Server, rhpam70-kieserver-mssql-openshift
    • For MariaDB, rhpam70-kieserver-mariadb-openshift
    • For IBM DB2, rhpam70-kieserver-db2-openshift
    • For Oracle Database, rhpam70-kieserver-oracle-openshift
    • For Sybase, rhpam70-kieserver-sybase-openshift

  5. Complete the creation of the environment, depending on the method that you are using:

    • In the OpenShift Web UI, click Create.
    • Complete and run the command line.

3.2. Deploying a high-availability authoring environment

To deploy a high-availability authoring environment, use the rhpam-70-authoring-ha.yaml template file. You can extract this file from the rhpam-7.0.0-openshift-templates.zip product deliverable file. You can download the file from the Software Downloads page for Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.0.

If you want to modify the environment defined by the template file, see Section 3.4, “Modifying the template for the High Availability authoring environment”.

Important

In the current version, the high-availability functionality is a technology preview.

Procedure

  1. Use one of the following methods to deploy the template:

    • In the OpenShift Web UI, select Add to Project → Import YAML / JSON and then select or paste the rhpam70-authoring-ha.yaml file. In the Add Template window, ensure Process the template is selected and click Continue.

    • To use the OpenShift command line console, prepare the following command line: 

      oc new-app -f <template-path>/rhpam70-authoring-ha.yaml -p BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_SECRET=businesscentral-app-secret -p KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_SECRET=kieserver-app-secret

      In this command line:

      • Replace <template-path> with the path to the downloaded template file.
      • Use as many -p PARAMETER=value pairs as needed to set the required parameters. You can view the template file to see descriptions for all parameters.

  2. Set the following parameters as necessary:

    • Business Central Server Keystore Secret Name (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_SECRET): The name of the secret for Business Central, as created in Section 2.3, “Creating the secrets for Business Central”.
    • KIE Server Keystore Secret Name (KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_SECRET): The name of the secret for Process Server, as created in Section 2.2, “Creating the secrets for Process Server”.
    • Application Name (APPLICATION_NAME): The name of the OpenShift application. It is used in the default URLs for Business Central and Process Server. OpenShift also uses the application name to create a separate set of deployment configurations, services, routes, labels, and artifacts. You can deploy several applications using the same template into the same project, as long as you use different application names.
    • Business Central Server Certificate Name (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_NAME): The name of the certificate in the keystore that you created in Section 2.3, “Creating the secrets for Business Central”.
    • Business Central Server Keystore Password (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_PASSWORD): The password for the keystore that you created in Section 2.3, “Creating the secrets for Business Central”.
    • KIE Server Certificate Name (KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_NAME): The name of the certificate in the keystore that you created in Section 2.2, “Creating the secrets for Process Server”.
    • KIE Server Keystore Password (KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_PASSWORD): The password for the keystore that you created in Section 2.2, “Creating the secrets for Process Server”.
    • KIE Server ID (KIE_SERVER_ID): The name of the server template on the Business Central that the Process Server is to join. Set this parameter to any value. If you do not set it and then the Process Server pod is restarted or scaled, each new instance of the server might join a new template.

    • ImageStream Namespace (IMAGE_STREAM_NAMESPACE): The namespace where the image streams are available. If the image streams were already available in your OpenShift environment (see Section 2.1, “Ensuring the availability of image streams”), the namespace is openshift. If you have installed the image streams file, the namespace is the name of the OpenShift project.

      You can also set the following user names and passwords:

    • KIE Admin User (KIE_ADMIN_USER) and KIE Admin Password (KIE_ADMIN_PWD): The user name and password for the administrative user in Business Central.

    • KIE Server User (KIE_SERVER_USER) and KIE Server Password (KIE_SERVER_PWD): The user name and password that a client application must use to connect to the Process Server.

      If you want to place the built KJAR files into an external Maven repository, set the following parameters:

    • Maven repository URL (MAVEN_REPO_URL): The URL for the Maven repository.
    • Maven repository username (MAVEN_REPO_USERNAME): The username for the Maven repository.
    • Maven repository password (MAVEN_REPO_PASSWORD): The username for the Maven repository.

  3. If you modified the template to use an external database server for the Process Server, set the following parameters:

    • KIE Server External Database Driver (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_DRIVER): The driver for the server, depending on the server type:

      • mysql
      • postgresql
      • mariadb
      • mssql
      • db2
      • oracle
      • sybase
    • KIE Server External Database User (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_USER) and KIE Server External Database Password (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_PWD): The user name and password for the external database server.
    • KIE Server External Database URL (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_URL): The JDBC URL for the external database server.

    • KIE Server External Database Dialect (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_DIALECT): The Hibernate dialect for the server, depending on the server type:

      • org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5Dialect (used for MySQL and MariaDB)
      • org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServer2012Dialect (used for MS SQL)
      • org.hibernate.dialect.DB2Dialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle12cDialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.SybaseASE15Dialect
    • KIE Server External Database Host (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_HOST): The host name of the external database server.
    • KIE Server External Database name (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_DB): The database name to use on the external database server.

  4. If you created a custom image for using an external database server other than MySQL or PostgreSQL, as described in Section 3.5, “Building a custom Process Server image for an external database”, set the KIE Server Image Stream Name (KIE_SERVER_IMAGE_STREAM_NAME) parameter to the following value:

    • For Microsoft SQL Server, rhpam70-kieserver-mssql-openshift
    • For MariaDB, rhpam70-kieserver-mariadb-openshift
    • For IBM DB2, rhpam70-kieserver-db2-openshift
    • For Oracle Database, rhpam70-kieserver-oracle-openshift
    • For Sybase, rhpam70-kieserver-sybase-openshift

  5. Complete the creation of the environment, depending on the method that you are using:

    • In the OpenShift Web UI, click Create.
    • Complete and run the command line.

3.3. Modifying the template for the single authoring environment

By default, the single authoring template uses the H2 database with permanent storage. If you prefer to create a MySQL or PostgreSQL pod or to use an external database server (outside the OpenShift project), you need to modify the template before deploying the environment.

An OpenShift template defines a set of objects that can be created by OpenShift. To change an environment configuration, you need to modify, add, or delete these objects. To simplify this task, comments are provided in the Red Hat Process Automation Manager templates.

Some comments mark blocks within the template, staring with BEGIN and ending with END. For example, the following block is named Sample block: 

## Sample block BEGIN
sample line 1
sample line 2
sample line 3
## Sample block END

For some changes, you might need to replace a block in one template file with a block from another template file provided with Red Hat Process Automation Manager. In this case, delete the block, then paste the new block in its exact location.

Procedure

Edit the rhpam70-authoring.yaml template file to make any of the following changes as necessary.

  • If you want to use MySQL instead of the H2 database, you need to replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-mysql.yaml file that are also marked with comments. You also need to remove several other blocks and to add blocks in designated locations:

    1. Replace the block named H2 database parameters with the block named MySQL database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-mysql.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named H2 driver settings with the block named MySQL driver settings
    3. Replace the block named H2 persistent volume claim with the block named MySQL persistent volume claim.
    4. Remove the blocks named H2 volume mount and H2 volume settings
    5. Under the comment Place to add database service, add the block named MySQL service
    6. Under the comment Place to add database deployment config, add the block named MySQL deployment config

  • If you want to use PostgreSQL instead of the H2 database, you need to replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-postgresql.yaml file that are also marked with comments. You also need to remove several other blocks and to add blocks in designated locations:

    1. Replace the block named H2 database parameters with the block named PostgreSQL database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-postgresql.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named H2 driver settings with the block named PostgreSQL driver settings
    3. Replace the block named H2 persistent volume claim with the block named PostgreSQL persistent volume claim.
    4. Remove the blocks named H2 volume mount and H2 volume settings
    5. Under the comment Place to add database service, add the block named PostgreSQL service
    6. Under the comment Place to add database deployment config, add the block named PostgreSQL deployment config

  • If you want to use an external database server, replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-externaldb.yaml file, and also remove some blocks:

    1. Replace the block named H2 database parameters with the block named External database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-externaldb.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named H2 driver settings with the block named External database driver settings.

    3. Remove the following blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END:

      • H2 persistent volume claim
      • H2 volume mount
      • H2 volume settings
Important

The standard Process Server image includes drivers for MySQL and PostgreSQL external database servers. If you want to use another database server, you must build a custom Process Server image. For instructions, see Section 3.5, “Building a custom Process Server image for an external database”.

3.4. Modifying the template for the High Availability authoring environment

By default, the high-availability authoring template creates a MySQL pod to provide the database server for the Process Server. If you prefer to use PostgreSQL or to use an external server (outside the OpenShift project), you need to modify the template before deploying the environment.

You can also modify the High Availability authoring template to change the number of replicas initially created for Business Central.

An OpenShift template defines a set of objects that can be created by OpenShift. To change an environment configuration, you need to modify, add, or delete these objects. To simplify this task, comments are provided in the Red Hat Process Automation Manager templates.

Some comments mark blocks within the template, staring with BEGIN and ending with END. For example, the following block is named Sample block: 

## Sample block BEGIN
sample line 1
sample line 2
sample line 3
## Sample block END

For some changes, you might need to replace a block in one template file with a block from another template file provided with Red Hat Process Automation Manager. In this case, delete the block, then paste the new block in its exact location.

Procedure

Edit the rhpam70-authoring-ha.yaml template file to make any of the following changes as necessary.

  • If you want to use PostgreSQL instead of MySQL, replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-postgresql.yaml file:

    1. Replace the block named MySQL database parameters with the block named PosgreSQL database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-postgresql.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named MySQL service with the block named PosgrreSQL service.
    3. Replace the block named MySQL driver settings with the block named PosgreSQL driver settings.
    4. Replace the block named MySQL deployment config with the block named PosgreSQL deployment config.
    5. Replace the block named MySQL persistent volume claim with the block named PosgreSQL persistent volume claim.

  • If you want to use an external database server, replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-externaldb.yaml file, and also remove some blocks:

    1. Replace the block named MySQL database parameters with the block named External database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam70-kieserver-externaldb.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named MySQL driver settings with the block named External database driver settings.

    3. Remove the following blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END:

      • MySQL service
      • MySQL deployment config
      • MySQL persistent volume claim
Important

The standard Process Server image includes drivers for MySQL and PostgreSQL external database servers. If you want to use another database server, you must build a custom Process Server image. For instructions, see Section 3.5, “Building a custom Process Server image for an external database”.

  • If you want to change the number of replicas initially created for Business Central, on the line below the comment ## Replicas for Business Central, change the number of replicas to the desired value.

3.5. Building a custom Process Server image for an external database

If you want to use an external database server for a Process Server and this server is neither MySQL nor PostgreSQL, you must build a custom Process Server image with drivers for this server before deploying your environment.

You can use this build procedure to provide drivers for the following database servers:

  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • MariaDB
  • IBM DB2
  • Oracle Database
  • Sybase

For the tested versions of the database servers, see Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7 Supported Configurations.

The build procedure creates a custom image that extends the existing Process Server image. It pushes this custom image into a new ImageStream in the openshift namespace with the same version tag as the original image.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged on to your project in the OpenShift environment using the oc command as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • For IBM DB2, Oracle Database, or Sybase, you have downloaded the JDBC driver from the database server vendor.

Procedure

  1. For IBM DB2, Oracle Database, or Sybase, provide the JDBC driver JAR in a local directory or on an HTTP server. Within the local directory or HTTP server, the following paths are expected:

    • For IBM DB2, <local_path_or_url>/com/ibm/db2/jcc/db2jcc4/10.5/db2jcc4-10.5.jar
    • For Oracle Database, <local_path_or_url>/com/oracle/ojdbc7/12.1.0.1/ojdbc7-12.1.0.1.jar

    • For Sybase, <local_path_or_url>/com/sysbase/jconn4/16.0_PL05/jconn4-16.0_PL05.jar

      Where <local_path_or_url> is the path to the local directory or the URL for the HTTP server where the driver is provided.

  2. To install the source code for the custom build, download the rhpam-7.0.0-openshift-templates.zip product deliverable file from the Software Downloads page for Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.0. Unzip the file and, using the command line, change to the templates/contrib/jdbc directory of the unzipped file.

  3. Change to the following subdirectory:

    • For Microsoft SQL Server, mssql-driver-image
    • For MariaDB, mariadb-driver-image
    • For IBM DB2, db2-driver-image
    • For Oracle Database, oracle-driver-image
    • For Sybase, sybase-driver-image

  4. Run the following command:

    • For Microsoft SQL Server or MariaDB: 
    ../build.sh
    • For IBM DB2, Oracle Database, or Sybase: 
    ../build.sh --artifact-repo=<local_path_or_url>

    Where <local_path_or_url> is the path to the local directory or the URL for the HTTP server where the driver is provided. For example: 

    ../build.sh --artifact-repo=/home/builder/drivers
../build.sh --artifact-repo=http://nexus.example.com/nexus/content/groups/public

    If you want to configure your OpenShift docker registry address in the process, add also the --registry=<registry_name.domain_name:port> parameter to your build command.

    Examples: 

    ../build.sh --registry=docker-registry.custom-domain:80

../build.sh --artifact-repo=/home/builder/drivers --registry=docker-registry.custom-domain:80

Appendix A. Versioning information

Documentation last updated on: Monday, October 1, 2018.

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