Integrating Red Hat Process Automation Manager with other products and components

Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.10

Abstract

This document describes how to integrate Red Hat Process Automation Manager with other products and components, such as Spring Boot, Red Hat Fuse, Red Hat Single Sign-On, and other supported products.

Preface

As a developer or system administrator, you can integrate Red Hat Process Automation Manager with other products and components, such as Spring Boot, Red Hat Fuse, Red Hat Single Sign-On, and other supported products.

Making open source more inclusive

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web properties. We are beginning with these four terms: master, slave, blacklist, and whitelist. Because of the enormity of this endeavor, these changes will be implemented gradually over several upcoming releases. For more details, see our CTO Chris Wright’s message.

Part I. Creating Red Hat Process Automation Manager business applications with Spring Boot

As a developer, you can use Spring Boot starters through the business applications website to quickly create Red Hat Process Automation Manager business applications, configure those applications, and deploy them to an existing service or in the cloud.

Chapter 1. Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot business applications

Spring Framework is a Java platform that provides comprehensive infrastructure support for developing Java applications. Spring Boot is a lightweight framework based on Spring Boot starters. Spring Boot starters are pom.xml files that contain a set of dependency descriptors that you can include in your Spring Boot project.

Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot business applications are flexible, UI-agnostic logical groupings of individual services that provide certain business capabilities. Business applications are based on Spring Boot starters. They are usually deployed separately and can be versioned individually. A complete business application enables a domain to achieve specific business goals, for example order management or accommodation management.

On the business application website you can create a Process Automation Manager, Decision Manager, or Business Optimizer business application. After you create and configure your business application, you can deploy it to an existing service or to the cloud, through OpenShift.

Business applications can contain one or more of the following projects and more than one project of the same type:

  • Business assets (KJAR): Contains business processes, rules, and forms and are easily imported into Business Central.
  • Data model: Data model projects provide common data structures that are shared between the service projects and business assets projects. This enables proper encapsulation, promotes reuse, and reduces shortcuts. Each service project can expose its own public data model.
  • Service: A deployable project that provides the actual service with various capabilities. It includes the business logic that operates your business. In most cases, a service project includes business assets and data model projects. A business application can split services into smaller component service projects for better manageability.

Chapter 2. Creating a business application

You can use the business application website to quickly and easily create business applications using the Spring Boot framework. Doing this by-passes the need to install and configure Red Hat Process Automation Manager.

Procedure

  1. Enter the following URL in a web browser:

    https://start.jbpm.org
  2. Click Configure your business application.
  3. Click Business Automation and click Next.
  4. Enter a package and application name.
  5. Select Enterprise 7.10 from the Version menu and click Next.

    Note

    You must select Enterprise 7.10 to create a Red Hat Process Automation Manager business application.

  6. Select the project types that you want to include in your project. You can include more than one project type.

    • Business Assets: Contains business processes, rules, and forms and are easily imported into Business Central. Select Dynamic Assets instead if you want to add adaptive and dynamic assets such as cases.
    • Data Model: Provides common data structures that are shared between the service projects and business assets projects. This enables proper encapsulation, promotes reuse, and reduces shortcuts. Each service project can expose its own public data model.
    • Service: Includes business logic that operates your business.
  7. Click Generate business application.

    The <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>.zip file downloads, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name that you entered in the Application Name box.

  8. Extract the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>.zip file.

Chapter 3. Apache Maven and Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot applications

Apache Maven is a distributed build automation tool used in Java application development to create, manage, and build software projects. Maven uses standard configuration files called Project Object Model (POM) files to define projects and manage the build process. POM files describe the module and component dependencies, build order, and targets for the resulting project packaging and output using an XML file. This ensures that the project is built in a correct and uniform manner.

A Maven repository stores Java libraries, plug-ins, and other build artifacts. The default public repository is the Maven 2 Central Repository, but repositories can be private and internal within a company to share common artifacts among development teams. Repositories are also available from third-parties.

You can use the online Maven repository with your Spring Boot projects or you can download the Red Hat Process Automation Manager Maven repository. The recommended approach is to use the online Maven repository with your Spring Boot projects. Maven settings used with a repository manager or repository on a shared server provide better control and manageability of projects.

3.1. Configuring a Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project for the online Maven repository

After you create your Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project, configure it with the online Maven Repository to store your application data.

Prerequisites

  • You have created a Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project.

Procedure

  1. In the directory that contains your Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot application, open the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/pom.xml file in a text editor or IDE, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Add the following repository to the repositories element:

    <repository>
      <id>jboss-enterprise-repository-group</id>
      <name>Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Maven Repository</name>
      <url>https://maven.repository.redhat.com/ga/</url>
      <layout>default</layout>
      <releases>
        <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
      </releases>
      <snapshots>
        <updatePolicy>daily</updatePolicy>
      </snapshots>
    </repository>
  3. Add the following plug-in repository to the pluginRepositories element:

    Note

    If your pom.xml file does not have the pluginRepositories element, add it as well.

    <pluginRepository>
      <id>jboss-enterprise-repository-group</id>
      <name>Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Maven Repository</name>
      <url>https://maven.repository.redhat.com/ga/</url>
      <layout>default</layout>
      <releases>
        <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
      </releases>
      <snapshots>
        <updatePolicy>daily</updatePolicy>
      </snapshots>
    </pluginRepository>

    Doing this adds the productized Maven repository to your business application.

3.2. Downloading and configuring the Red Hat Process Automation Manager Maven repository

If you do not want to use the online Maven repository, you can download and configure the Red Hat Process Automation Manager Maven repository. The Red Hat Process Automation Manager Maven repository contains many of the requirements that Java developers typically use to build their applications. This procedure describes how to edit the Maven settings.xml file to configure the Red Hat Process Automation Manager Maven repository.

Note

When you configure the repository by modifying the Maven settings.xml file, the changes apply to all of your Maven projects.

Prerequisites

  • You have created a Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Software Downloads page in the Red Hat Customer Portal (login required), and select the following product and version from the drop-down options:

    • Product: Red Hat Process Automation Manager
    • Version: 7.10
  2. Download Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.10 Maven Repository (rhpam-7.10.0-maven-repository.zip).
  3. Extract the downloaded archive.
  4. Change to the ~/.m2/ directory and open the Maven settings.xml file in a text editor or integrated development environment (IDE).
  5. Add the following lines to the <profiles> element of the Maven settings.xml file, where <MAVEN_REPOSITORY> is the path of the Maven repository that you downloaded. The format of <MAVEN_REPOSITORY> must be file://$PATH, for example file:///home/userX/rhpam-7.10.0.GA-maven-repository/maven-repository.

    <profile>
      <id>red-hat-enterprise-maven-repository</id>
      <repositories>
        <repository>
          <id>red-hat-enterprise-maven-repository</id>
          <url>MAVEN_REPOSITORY</url>
          <releases>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
          </snapshots>
        </repository>
      </repositories>
      <pluginRepositories>
        <pluginRepository>
          <id>red-hat-enterprise-maven-repository</id>
          <url><MAVEN_REPOSITORY></url>
          <releases>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
          </snapshots>
        </pluginRepository>
      </pluginRepositories>
    </profile>
  6. Add the following lines to the <activeProfiles> element of the Maven settings.xml file and save the file.

    <activeProfile>red-hat-enterprise-maven-repository</activeProfile>
Important

If your Maven repository contains outdated artifacts, you might encounter one of the following Maven error messages when you build or deploy your project, where <ARTIFACT_NAME> is the name of a missing artifact and <PROJECT_NAME> is the name of the project you are trying to build:

  • Missing artifact <PROJECT_NAME>
  • [ERROR] Failed to execute goal on project <ARTIFACT_NAME>; Could not resolve dependencies for <PROJECT_NAME>

To resolve the issue, delete the cached version of your local repository located in the ~/.m2/repository directory to force a download of the latest Maven artifacts.

Chapter 4. Spring Security with Red Hat Process Automation Manager

Spring Security is provided by a collection of servlet filters that make up the Spring Security library. These filters provide authentication through user names and passwords and authorization through roles. The default Spring Security implementation generated in a Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot application provides authorization without authentication. This means that anyone with a user name and password valid for the application can access the application without a role.

The servlet filters protect your Spring Boot application against common exploits such as cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and cross-origin resource sharing (CORS). Spring Web relies on the DispatcherServlet to redirect incoming HTTP requests to your underlying java REST resources annotated with the @Controller annotation. The DispatchServlet is agnostic of elements such as security. It is good practice and more efficient to handle implementation details such a security outside of the business application logic. Therefore, Spring uses filters to intercept HTTP requests before routing them to the DispatchServlet.

A typical Spring Security implementation consists of the following steps that use multiple servlet filters:

  1. Extract and decode or decrypt user credentials from the HTTP request.
  2. Complete authentication by validating the credentials against the corporate identity provider, for example a database, a web service, or Red Hat Single Sign-On.
  3. Complete authorization by determining whether the authorized user has access rights to perform the request.
  4. If the user is authenticated and authorized, propagate the request to the DispatchServlet.

Spring breaks these steps down into individual filters and chains them together in a FilterChain. This chaining method provides the flexibility required to work with almost any identity provider and security framework. With Spring Security, you can define a FilterChain for your application programmatically. The following section is from the business-application-service/src/main/java/com/company/service/DefaultWebSecurityConfig.java file generated as part of a business application created on the https://start.jbpm.org web site.

@Configuration("kieServerSecurity")
@EnableWebSecurity
public class DefaultWebSecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {

    @Override (1)
    protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
        http
                .cors().and()
                .csrf().disable()       (2)
                .authorizeRequests()    (3)
                .antMatchers("/rest/*").authenticated().and()
                .httpBasic().and()      (4)
                .headers().frameOptions().disable();    (5)
    }
  • (1) Overrides the default configure(HttpSecurity http) method and defines a custom FilterChain using the Spring HttpClient fluent API/DSL
  • (2) Disables common exploit filters for CORS and CSRF tokens for local testing
  • (3) Requires authentication for any requests made to the pattern 'rest/*' but no roles are defined
  • (4) Allows basic authentication through the authorization header, for example header 'Authorization: Basic dGVzdF91c2VyOnBhc3N3b3Jk'
  • (5) Removes the 'X-Frame-Options' header from request/response

This configuration allows any authenticated user to execute the KIE API.

Because the default implementation is not integrated into any external identity provider, users are defined in memory, in the same DefaultWebSecurityConfg class. The following section shows the users that are provided when you create a Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot business application:

    @Autowired
    public void configureGlobal(AuthenticationManagerBuilder auth) throws Exception {
        auth.inMemoryAuthentication().withUser("user").password("user").roles("kie-server");
        auth.inMemoryAuthentication().withUser("wbadmin").password("wbadmin").roles("admin");
        auth.inMemoryAuthentication().withUser("kieserver").password("kieserver1!").roles("kie-server");
    }

4.1. Using Spring Security to authenticate with authorization

By default, anyone with a user name and password valid for the Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot application can access the application without requiring a role. Spring Security authentication and authorization are derived from the HTTPSecurity filter chain configuration. To protect the REST API from users that do not have a specific role mapping, use the Spring Security .authorizeRequests() method to match the URLs that you want to authorize.

Prerequisites

  • You have a Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot application.

Procedure

  1. In the directory that contains your Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot application, open the business-application-service/src/main/java/com/company/service/DefaultWebSecurityConfig.java file in a text editor or IDE.
  2. To authorize requests for access by an authenticated user only if they have a specific role, edit the .antMatchers("/rest/*").authenticated().and() line in one of the following ways:

    • To authorize for a single role, edit the antMatchers method as shown in the following example, where <role> is the role that that the user must have for access:

      @Configuration("kieServerSecurity")
      @EnableWebSecurity
      public class DefaultWebSecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {
      
          @Override
          protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
              http
                  .cors().and().csrf().disable()
                  .authorizeRequests()
                      .antMatchers("/**").hasRole("<role>")
                      .anyRequest().authenticated()
                  .and().httpBasic()
                  .and().headers().frameOptions().disable();
          }
          ...
    • To authorize a user that has one of a range of roles, edit the antMatchers method as shown in the following example, where <role> and <role1> are each roles the user can have for access:

      @Configuration("kieServerSecurity")
      @EnableWebSecurity
      public class DefaultWebSecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {
      
          @Override
          protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
              http
                  .cors().and().csrf().disable()
                  .authorizeRequests()
                      .antMatchers("/**").hasAnyRole("<role>", "<role1")
                      .anyRequest().authenticated()
                  .and().httpBasic()
                  .and().headers().frameOptions().disable();
          }
          ...

The authorizeRequests method requires authorization of requests for a specific expression. All requests must be successfully authenticated. Authentication is performed using HTTP basic authentication. If an authenticated user tries to access a resource that is protected for a role that they do not have, the user receives an HTTP 403 (Forbidden) error.

4.2. Disabling Spring Security in a Red Hat Process Automation Manager business application

You can configure Spring Security in a Red Hat Process Automation Manager business application to provide the security context without authentication.

Prerequisites

  • You have a Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot application.

Procedure

  1. In the directory that contains your Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot application, open the business-application-service/src/main/java/com/company/service/DefaultWebSecurityConfig.java file in a text editor or integrated development environment (IDE).
  2. Edit the .antMatchers method as shown in the following example:

        @Override
        protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
    
                    http
                        .cors().and().csrf().disable()
                        .authorizeRequests()
                        .antMatchers("/*")
                            .permitAll()
                        .and().headers().frameOptions().disable();
    
        }

    The PermitAll method allows any and all requests for the specified URL pattern.

Note

Because no security context is passed in the HttpServletRequest, Spring creates an AnonymousAuthenticationToken and populates the SecurityContext with the anonymousUser user with no designated roles other than the ROLE_ANONYMOUS role. The user will not have access to many of the features of the application, for example they will be unable to assign actions to group assigned tasks.

4.3. Using Spring Security with preauthenication

If you disable Spring Security authentication by using the PermitAll method, any user can log in to the application, but users will have limited access and functionality. However, you can preauthenticate a user, for example a designated service account, so a group of users can use the same login but have all of the permissions that they require. That way, you do not need to create credentials for each user.

The easiest way to implement preauthentication is to create a custom filter servlet and add it before the security FilterChain in the DefaultWebSecurityConfig class. This way, you can inject a customized, profile-based security context, control its contents, and keep it simple.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Create the following class that extends the AnonymousAuthenticationFilter class:

    import org.springframework.security.authentication.AnonymousAuthenticationToken;
    import org.springframework.security.core.Authentication;
    import org.springframework.security.core.AuthenticationException;
    import org.springframework.security.core.GrantedAuthority;
    import org.springframework.security.core.authority.SimpleGrantedAuthority;
    import org.springframework.security.core.context.SecurityContextHolder;
    import org.springframework.security.web.authentication.AnonymousAuthenticationFilter;
    
    import javax.servlet.FilterChain;
    import javax.servlet.ServletException;
    import javax.servlet.ServletRequest;
    import javax.servlet.ServletResponse;
    import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
    import java.io.IOException;
    import java.util.Arrays;
    import java.util.Collections;
    import java.util.List;
    
    public class <CLASS_NAME> extends AnonymousAuthenticationFilter {
        private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(<CLASS_NAME>.class);
    
        public AnonymousAuthFilter() {
            super("PROXY_AUTH_FILTER");
        }
    
        @Override
        public void doFilter(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res, FilterChain chain)
                throws IOException, ServletException {
    
            SecurityContextHolder.getContext().setAuthentication(createAuthentication((HttpServletRequest) req));
            log.info("SecurityContextHolder pre-auth user: {}",  SecurityContextHolder.getContext());
    
            if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
                log.debug("Populated SecurityContextHolder with authenticated user: {}",
                        SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication());
            }
    
            chain.doFilter(req, res);
        }
    
        @Override
        protected Authentication createAuthentication(final HttpServletRequest request)
                throws AuthenticationException {
    
            log.info("<ANONYMOUS_USER>");
    
    
            List<? extends GrantedAuthority> authorities = Collections
                    .unmodifiableList(Arrays.asList(new SimpleGrantedAuthority("<ROLE>")
                    ));
            return new AnonymousAuthenticationToken("ANONYMOUS", "<ANONYMOUS_USER>", authorities);
        }
    
    }
  2. Replace the following variables:

    • Replace <CLASS_NAME> with a name for this class, for example AnonymousAuthFilter.
    • Replace <ANONYMOUS_USER> with a user ID, for example Service_Group.
    • Replace <ROLE> with the role that has the privileges that you want to give to <ANONYMOUS_USER>.
  3. If you want to give <ANONYMOUS_USER> more than one role, add additional roles as shown in the following example:

    .unmodifiableList(Arrays.asList(new SimpleGrantedAuthority("<ROLE>")
    , new SimpleGrantedAuthority("<ROLE2>")
  4. Add .anonymous().authenticationFilter(new <CLASS_NAME>()).and() to the business-application-service/src/main/java/com/company/service/DefaultWebSecurityConfig.java file, where <CLASS_NAME> is the name of the class that you created:

        @Override
        protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
    
                    http
                        .anonymous().authenticationFilter(new <CLASS_NAME>()).and() // Override anonymousUser
                        .cors().and().csrf().disable()
                        .authorizeRequests()
                        .antMatchers("/*").permitAll()
                        .and().headers().frameOptions().disable();
    
        }

4.4. Configuring the business application with Red Hat Single Sign-On

Most organizations provide user and group details through single sign-on (SSO) tokens. You can use Red Hat Single Sign-On (RHSSO) to enable single sign-on between your services and to have a central place to configure and manage your users and roles.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Download and install RHSSO. For instructions, see the Red Hat Single Sign-On Getting Started Guide.
  2. Configure RHSSO:

    1. Either use the default master realm or create a new realm.

      A realm manages a set of users, credentials, roles, and groups. A user belongs to and logs into a realm. Realms are isolated from one another and can only manage and authenticate the users that they control.

    2. Create the springboot-app client and set the AccessType to public.
    3. Set a valid redirect URI and web origin according to your local setup, as shown in the following example:

      • Valid redirect URIs: http://localhost:8090/*
      • Web origin: http://localhost:8090
    4. Create realm roles that are used in the application.
    5. Create users that are used in the application and assign roles to them.
  3. Add the following element and property to the Spring Boot project pom.xml file, where <KEYCLOAK_VERSION> is the version of Keycloak that you are using:

    <properties>
      <version.org.keycloak><KEYCLOAK_VERSION></version.org.keycloak>
    </properties>
  4. Add the following dependencies to the Spring Boot project pom.xml file:

    <dependencyManagement>
      <dependencies>
        <dependency>
          <groupId>org.keycloak.bom</groupId>
          <artifactId>keycloak-adapter-bom</artifactId>
          <version>${version.org.keycloak}</version>
          <type>pom</type>
          <scope>import</scope>
        </dependency>
      </dependencies>
    </dependencyManagement>
    
      ....
    
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.keycloak</groupId>
      <artifactId>keycloak-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
    </dependency>
  5. In your Spring Boot project directory, open the business-application-service/src/main/resources/application.properties file and add the following lines:

    # keycloak security setup
    keycloak.auth-server-url=http://localhost:8100/auth
    keycloak.realm=master
    keycloak.resource=springboot-app
    keycloak.public-client=true
    keycloak.principal-attribute=preferred_username
    keycloak.enable-basic-auth=true
  6. Modify the business-application-service/src/main/java/com/company/service/DefaultWebSecurityConfig.java file to ensure that Spring Security works correctly with RHSSO:

    import org.keycloak.adapters.KeycloakConfigResolver;
    import org.keycloak.adapters.springboot.KeycloakSpringBootConfigResolver;
    import org.keycloak.adapters.springsecurity.authentication.KeycloakAuthenticationProvider;
    import org.keycloak.adapters.springsecurity.config.KeycloakWebSecurityConfigurerAdapter;
    import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
    import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
    import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
    import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.authentication.builders.AuthenticationManagerBuilder;
    import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.builders.HttpSecurity;
    import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.EnableWebSecurity;
    import org.springframework.security.core.authority.mapping.SimpleAuthorityMapper;
    import org.springframework.security.core.session.SessionRegistryImpl;
    import org.springframework.security.web.authentication.session.RegisterSessionAuthenticationStrategy;
    import org.springframework.security.web.authentication.session.SessionAuthenticationStrategy;
    
    @Configuration("kieServerSecurity")
    @EnableWebSecurity
    public class DefaultWebSecurityConfig extends KeycloakWebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {
    
        @Override
        protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
            super.configure(http);
            http
            .csrf().disable()
            .authorizeRequests()
                .anyRequest().authenticated()
                .and()
            .httpBasic();
        }
    
        @Autowired
        public void configureGlobal(AuthenticationManagerBuilder auth) throws Exception {
            KeycloakAuthenticationProvider keycloakAuthenticationProvider = keycloakAuthenticationProvider();
            SimpleAuthorityMapper mapper = new SimpleAuthorityMapper();
            mapper.setPrefix("");
            keycloakAuthenticationProvider.setGrantedAuthoritiesMapper(mapper);
            auth.authenticationProvider(keycloakAuthenticationProvider);
        }
    
        @Bean
        public KeycloakConfigResolver KeycloakConfigResolver() {
           return new KeycloakSpringBootConfigResolver();
        }
    
        @Override
        protected SessionAuthenticationStrategy sessionAuthenticationStrategy() {
            return new RegisterSessionAuthenticationStrategy(new SessionRegistryImpl());
        }
    }

Chapter 5. Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot configuration

After you create your Spring Boot project, you can configure several components to customize your application.

5.1. Configuring REST endpoints for Spring Boot applications

After you create your Spring Boot project, you can configure the host, port, and path for the REST endpoint for your Spring Boot application.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Extract the Spring Boot project ZIP file and navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resources folder, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Open the application.properties file in a text editor.
  3. Configure the host, port, and path for the REST endpoints, where <ADDRESS> is the server address and <PORT> is the server port:

    server.address=<ADDRESS>
    server.port=<PORT>
    cxf.path=/rest

    The following example adds the REST endpoint to the address localhost on port 8090.

    server.address=localhost
    server.port=8090
    cxf.path=/rest

5.2. Configuring the KIE Server identity

After you create your Spring Boot project, you can configure KIE Server so that it can be easily identified.

Prerequisites

  • You have a Spring Boot business application ZIP file that you created using the business application website.

Procedure

  1. Extract the Spring Boot project ZIP file and navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resources folder, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Open the application.properties file in a text editor.
  3. Configure the KIE Server parameters as shown in the following example:

    kieserver.serverId=<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service
    kieserver.serverName=<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service
    kieserver.location=http://localhost:8090/rest/server
    kieserver.controllers=http://localhost:8080/business-central/rest/controller

    The following table describes the KIE Server parameters that you can configure in your business project:

    Table 5.1. kieserver parameters

    ParameterValuesDescription

    kieserver.serverId

    string

    The ID used to identify the business application when connecting to the Process Automation Manager controller.

    kieserver.serverName

    string

    The name used to identify the business application when it connects to the Process Automation Manager controller. Can be the same string used for the kieserver.serverId parameter.

    kieserver.location

    URL

    Used by other components that use the REST API to identify the location of this server. Do not use the location as defined by server.address and server.port.

    kieserver.controllers

    URLs

    A comma-separated list of controller URLs.

5.3. Integrating Apache Kafka with your Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project

Apache Kafka is a distributed data streaming platform that can publish, subscribe to, store, and process streams of records in real time. It is designed to handle data streams from multiple sources and deliver them to multiple consumers. Apache Kafka is an alternative to a traditional enterprise messaging system.

You can integrate Apache Kafka with your Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project.

Prerequisites

  • You have an existing Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project.

Procedure

  1. In your Spring Boot project directory, open the business-application-service/src/main/resources/application.properties file.
  2. Add the kieserver.kafka.enabled system property with value true:

    kieserver.kafka.enabled=true

5.4. Configuring KIE Server components to start at runtime

If you selected Business Automation when you created your Spring Boot business application, you can specify which KIE Server components must start at runtime.

Prerequisites

  • You have a Spring Boot business application ZIP file that you created using the business application website.

Procedure

  1. Extract the Spring Boot project ZIP file and navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resources folder, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Open the application.properties file in a text editor.
  3. To set a component to start at runtime, set the value of the component to true.

    The following table lists the components that you can set to start at runtime:

    Table 5.2. kieserver capabilities parameters

    ParameterValuesDescription

    kieserver.drools.enabled

    true, false

    Enables or disables the Decision Manager component.

    kieserver.dmn.enabled

    true, false

    Enables or disables the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) component.

    kieserver.jbpm.enabled

    true, false

    Enables or disables the Red Hat Process Automation Manager component.

    kieserver.jbpmui.enabled

    true, false

    Enables or disables the Red Hat Process Automation Manager UI component.

    kieserver.casemgmt.enabled

    true, false

    Enables or disables the case management component.

5.5. Configuring your Spring Boot application for asynchronous execution

After you create your Spring Boot project, you can use the jbpm.executor parameters to enable asynchronous execution.

Prerequisites

  • You have a Spring Boot business application ZIP file that you created using the business application website.

Procedure

  1. Extract the Spring Boot project ZIP file and navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resources folder, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Open the application.properties file in a text editor.
  3. To enable asynchronous execution, set the value of the jbpm.executor.enabled parameter to true, uncomment the other jbpm.executor parameters, and change the values as required, as shown in the following example:

    jbpm.executor.enabled=true
    jbpm.executor.retries=5
    jbpm.executor.interval=0
    jbpm.executor.threadPoolSize=1
    jbpm.executor.timeUnit=SECONDS

    The following table describes the executor parameters that you can configure in your business project:

    Table 5.3. Executor parameters

    ParameterValuesDescription

    jbpm.executor.enabled

    true, false

    Disables or enables the executor component.

    jbpm.executor.retries

    integer

    Specifies the number of retries if errors occur while a job is running.

    jbpm.executor.interval

    integer

    Specifies the length of time that the executor uses to synchronize with the database. The unit of time is specified by the jbpm.executor.timeUnit parameter. Disabled by default (value 0).

    jbpm.executor.threadPoolSize

    integer

    Specifies the thread pool size.

    jbpm.executor.timeUnit

    string

    Specifies the time unit used to calculate the interval that the executor uses to synchronize with the database. The value must be a valid constant of java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit. The default value is SECONDS.

5.6. Configuring the business application for a cluster using Quartz

If you plan to run your application in a cluster, you must configure the Quartz timer service.

Prerequisites

  • You have a ZIP file that you created using the business application website, that you want to use in a cluster.

Procedure

  1. Create the quartz.properties file and add the following content:

    #============================================================================
    # Configure Main Scheduler Properties
    #============================================================================
    org.quartz.scheduler.instanceName = SpringBootScheduler
    org.quartz.scheduler.instanceId = AUTO
    org.quartz.scheduler.skipUpdateCheck=true
    org.quartz.scheduler.idleWaitTime=1000
    #============================================================================
    # Configure ThreadPool
    #============================================================================
    org.quartz.threadPool.class = org.quartz.simpl.SimpleThreadPool
    org.quartz.threadPool.threadCount = 5
    org.quartz.threadPool.threadPriority = 5
    #============================================================================
    # Configure JobStore
    #============================================================================
    org.quartz.jobStore.misfireThreshold = 60000
    org.quartz.jobStore.class=org.quartz.impl.jdbcjobstore.JobStoreCMT
    org.quartz.jobStore.driverDelegateClass=org.jbpm.process.core.timer.impl.quartz.DeploymentsAwareStdJDBCDelegate
    org.quartz.jobStore.useProperties=false
    org.quartz.jobStore.dataSource=myDS
    org.quartz.jobStore.nonManagedTXDataSource=notManagedDS
    org.quartz.jobStore.tablePrefix=QRTZ_
    org.quartz.jobStore.isClustered=true
    org.quartz.jobStore.clusterCheckinInterval = 5000
    #============================================================================
    # Configure Datasources
    #============================================================================
    org.quartz.dataSource.myDS.connectionProvider.class=org.jbpm.springboot.quartz.SpringConnectionProvider
    org.quartz.dataSource.myDS.dataSourceName=quartzDataSource
    org.quartz.dataSource.notManagedDS.connectionProvider.class=org.jbpm.springboot.quartz.SpringConnectionProvider
    org.quartz.dataSource.notManagedDS.dataSourceName=quartzNotManagedDataSource
    Note

    Data source names in the Quartz configuration file refer to Spring beans. The connection provider must be set to org.jbpm.springboot.quartz.SpringConnectionProvider to enable integration with Spring-based data sources.

  2. To enable the Quartz clustered timers and set the path of the quartz.properties file that you created in the previous step, include the following properties in the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resourcesapplication.properties file, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.

    jbpm.quartz.enabled=true
    jbpm.quartz.configuration=quartz.properties
  3. Create a managed and an unmanaged data source by adding the following content to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resources/application.properties file:

    # enable to use database as storage
    jbpm.quartz.db=true
    
    quartz.datasource.name=quartz
    quartz.datasource.username=sa
    quartz.datasource.password=sa
    quartz.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:./target/spring-boot-jbpm;MVCC=true
    quartz.datasource.driver-class-name=org.h2.Driver
    
    # used to configure connection pool
    quartz.datasource.dbcp2.maxTotal=15
    
    # used to initialize quartz schema
    quartz.datasource.initialization=true
    spring.datasource.schema=classpath*:<QUARTZ_TABLES_H2>.sql
    spring.datasource.initialization-mode=always

    In the preceding example, replace <QUARTZ_TABLES_H2> with the name of a Quartz H2 database schema script. The last three lines of the preceding configuration initialize the database schema.

By default, Quartz requires two data sources:

  • Managed data source to participate in the transaction of the decision engine or process engine
  • Unmanaged data source to look up timers to trigger without any transaction handling

Red Hat Process Automation Manager business applications assume that the Quartz database (schema) will be co-located with Red Hat Process Automation Manager tables and therefore produce data sources used for transactional operations for Quartz.

The other (non transactional) data source must be configured but it should point to the same database as the main data source.

5.7. Configuring business application user group providers

With Red Hat Process Automation Manager, you can manage human-centric activities. To provide integration with user and group repositories, you can use two KIE API entry points:

  • UserGroupCallback: Responsible for verifying whether a user or group exists and for collecting groups for a specific user
  • UserInfo: Responsible for collecting additional information about users and groups, for example email addresses and preferred language

You can configure both of these components by providing alternative code, either code provided out of the box or custom developed code.

For the UserGroupCallback component, retain the default implementation because it is based on the security context of the application. For this reason, it does not matter which backend store is used for authentication and authorisation (for example, RH-SSO). It will be automatically used as a source of information for collecting user and group information.

The UserInfo component is a separate component because it collects more advanced information.

Prerequisites

  • You have a ZIP file that you created using the business application website and that contains a business automation project.

Procedure

  1. To provide an alternative implementation of UserGroupCallback, add the following code to the Application class or a separate class annotated with @Configuration:

    @Bean(name = "userGroupCallback")
    public UserGroupCallback userGroupCallback(IdentityProvider identityProvider) throws IOException {
        return new MyCustomUserGroupCallback(identityProvider);
    }
  2. To provide an alternative implementation of UserInfo, add the following code to the Application class or a separate class annotated with @Configuration:

    @Bean(name = "userInfo")
    public UserInfo userInfo() throws IOException {
        return new MyCustomUserInfo();
    }

5.8. Configuring a Spring Boot project with a MySQL or PostgreSQL database

Red Hat Process Automation Manager business applications are generated with the default H2 database. You can change the database type to MySQL or PostgreSQL.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Extract the Spring Boot project ZIP file and navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resources folder, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Open the application.properties file in a text editor.
  3. Configure your Spring Boot project to use a MySQL or PostgreSQL, complete one of the following set of steps:

    1. To configure your business application to use a MySQL database, locate the following parameters in the application.properties file and change the values as shown:

      spring.datasource.username=jbpm
      spring.datasource.password=jbpm
      spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/jbpm
      spring.datasource.driver-class-name=com.mysql.jdbc.jdbc2.optional.MysqlXADataSource
      
      spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5InnoDBDialect
    2. To configure your business application to use a PostgreSQL database, locate the following parameters in the application.properties file and change the values as shown:

      spring.datasource.username=jbpm
      spring.datasource.password=jbpm
      spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/jbpm
      spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.postgresql.xa.PGXADataSource
      
      spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect
      Note

      To create a PostgreSQL schema that uses the bytea column type instead of the oid column type, set the value of the org.kie.persistence.postgresql.useBytea property to true:

      org.kie.persistence.postgresql.useBytea=true
  4. Save the application.properties file.

5.9. Configuring business applications for JPA

The Java Persistence API (JPA) is a standard technology that enables you to map objects to relational databases. You must configure JPA for your Red Hat Process Automation Manager business application.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Extract the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>.zip file and navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resources folder, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Open the application.properties file in a text editor.
  3. Locate the following parameters in the application.properties file and verify that they have the values shown:

    spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.H2Dialect
    spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.show_sql=false
    spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto=update
    spring.jpa.hibernate.naming.physical-strategy=org.hibernate.boot.model.naming.PhysicalNamingStrategyStandardImpl
  4. If your business application has business automation capabilities, you can add entities to the entity manager factory by adding a comma-separated list of packages:

    spring.jpa.properties.entity-scan-packages=org.jbpm.springboot.samples.entities

    Business applications with business automation capabilities create an entity manager factory based on the persistence.xml file that comes with Red Hat Process Automation Manager. All entities found in the org.jbpm.springboot.samples.entities package are automatically added to the entity manager factory and used the same as any other JPA entity in the application.

Additional resources

For more information about configuring JPA, see the Spring Boot Reference Guide.

5.10. Configuring pluggable variable persistence

You can provide an arbitrary entity manager for configured process variable persistence in your Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot application. To do this, add named beans during the object marshalling strategy resolution. This enables you to configure a second entity manager factory based on a second data source qualifier. Note that this configuration will not interfere with the primary data source.

Prerequisites

  • You have an existing Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project.

Procedure

  1. Add a customized entity manager JavaBean to your java class. The following example shows an entity manager Java Bean called auditEntityManager for a Java Persistence API (JPA) data source:

        @Bean(name = "auditEntityManager")
        @ConditionalOnMissingBean(name = "auditEntityManager")
        public LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean entityManagerFactory(@Qualifier("jpaAuditDataSource") DataSource dataSource, JpaProperties jpaProperties) {
            return EntityManagerFactoryHelper.create(applicationContext,
                                                     dataSource,
                                                     jpaProperties,
                                                     "custom-persistent-unit",
                                                     "classpath:/META-INF/persistence.xml");
        }

    The auditEntityManager becomes an implicit context parameter when the parameters are resolved during MVFLEX Expression Language (MVEL) evaluation.

  2. Add the following marshalling stragegy to the kie-deployment-descriptor.xml file:

     <marshalling-strategy>
        <resolver>mvel</resolver>
        <identifier>new org.drools.persistence.jpa.marshaller.JPAPlaceholderResolverStrategy(auditEntityManager)
        </identifier>
        <parameters/>
        </marshalling-strategy>

Additional resources

  • For more information about persistence, see the "Persisting process variables in a separate database schema in Red Hat Process Automation Manager" section in Managing and monitoring KIE Server.

5.11. Enabling Swagger documentation

You can enable Swagger-based documentation for all endpoints available in the service project of your Red Hat Process Automation Manager business application.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Extract the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>.zip file and navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service folder, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Open the service project pom.xml file in a text editor.
  3. Add the following dependencies to the service project pom.xml file and save the file.

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
      <artifactId>cxf-rt-rs-service-description-swagger</artifactId>
      <version>3.2.6</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>io.swagger</groupId>
      <artifactId>swagger-jaxrs</artifactId>
      <version>1.5.15</version>
      <exclusions>
        <exclusion>
          <groupId>javax.ws.rs</groupId>
          <artifactId>jsr311-api</artifactId>
        </exclusion>
      </exclusions>
    </dependency>
  4. To enable the Swagger UI (optional), add the following dependency to the pom.xml file and save the file.

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.webjars</groupId>
      <artifactId>swagger-ui</artifactId>
      <version>2.2.10</version>
    </dependency>
  5. Open the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resources/application.properties file in a text editor.
  6. Add the following line to the application.properties file to enable Swagger support:

    kieserver.swagger.enabled=true

After you start the business application, you can view the Swagger document at http://localhost:8090/rest/swagger.json. The complete set of endpoints is available at http://localhost:8090/rest/api-docs?url=http://localhost:8090/rest/swagger.json.

Chapter 6. Creating a self-contained Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot JAR file

You can create a single self-contained Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot JAR file that contains a complete service, including KIE Server and one or more KJAR files. The Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot JAR file does not depend on any KJAR files loading at runtime.

If necessary, the Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot JAR file can contain multiple versions of the same KJAR file, including modules. These KJAR files can have the same artifactID and groupID attribute values, but have different version values.

The included KJAR files are separated from any JAR files in the BOOT-INF/lib directory to avoid class loader collisions. Each KJAR classpath container file is isolated from other KJAR classpath container files and does not rely on the Spring Boot class loader.

Prerequisites

  • You have an existing Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project.
  • You have completed development of one or more KJAR files for the project.

Procedure

  1. Build all KJAR files for the project. In the default business application, the KJAR source is contained in the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-kjar directory, where BUSINESS-APPLICATION is the name of the business application. Your project might include other KJAR source directories.

    To build the KJAR files, for every KJAR source directory, complete the following steps:

    1. Change to the KJAR source directory.
    2. Enter the following command:

      mvn install

      This command builds the KJAR file and places it into the local Maven repository. By default, this repository is located in the ~/.m2/repo directory.

  2. In the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service/src/main/resources directory, add the following property to your Spring Boot application application.properties file:

    kieserver.classPathContainer=true

    When this property is set to true, KIE Server uses the class loader used by the container to load KJAR files and their dependencies.

  3. Complete one of the following actions to ensure that KIE Server loads the necessary KJAR modules:

    • To configure KIE Server to scans and deploy all KJAR modules available in the Spring Boot application, add the following property to the application.properties file:

      kieserver.autoScanDeployments=true

      When this property is set to true, KIE Server deploys all KJAR modules available in the application, whether they are declared programmatically or through the Maven plug-in.

      This option is the simplest method to include all KJAR modules. However, it has two drawbacks:

      • The application sets all container IDs and aliases automatically, based on the group, artifact, and version (GAV) of every KJAR module. You cannot set a custom container ID or alias for a KJAR module.
      • At startup time, the application scans the JAR file and the class path for KJAR modules. Therefore, the duration of startup might be increased.

      To avoid these drawbacks, you can configure every KJAR module individually using the application.properties file or using Java source code, as described in one of the following options.

    • To configure every KJAR module individually using the application.properties file, for each of the KJAR modules that you want to include in the service, add the following properties to the application.properties file:

      kieserver.deployments[<n>].containerId=<container>
      kieserver.deployments[<n>].alias=<alias>
      kieserver.deployments[<n>].artifactId=<artifact>
      kieserver.deployments[<n>].groupId=<group>
      kieserver.deployments[<n>].version=<version>

      Replace the following values:

      • <n>: A sequential number: 0 for the first KJAR module, 1 for the second module, and so on
      • <container>: The container ID for the KJAR module
      • <alias>: The alias for the KJAR module
      • <artifact>: The artifact ID for the KJAR module
      • <group>: The group ID for the KJAR module
      • <version>: The version ID for the KJAR module

      The following example configures two versions of the Evaluation KJAR module:

      kieserver.deployments[0].alias=evaluation_v1
      kieserver.deployments[0].containerId=evaluation_v1
      kieserver.deployments[0].artifactId=Evaluation
      kieserver.deployments[0].groupId=com.myspace
      kieserver.deployments[0].version=1.0.0-SNAPSHOT
      
      kieserver.deployments[1].alias=evaluation_v2
      kieserver.deployments[1].containerId=evaluation_v2
      kieserver.deployments[1].artifactId=Evaluation
      kieserver.deployments[1].groupId=com.myspace
      kieserver.deployments[1].version=2.0.0-SNAPSHOT
    • To configure every KJAR module individually using Java source code, create a class in your business application service, similar to the following example:

      @Configuration
      public class KieContainerDeployer {
      
          @Bean
          public KieContainerResource evaluation_v1() {
              KieContainerResource container = new KieContainerResource("evaluation_v1", new ReleaseId("com.myspace", "Evaluation", "1.0.0-SNAPSHOT"), STARTED);
              container.setConfigItems(Arrays.asList(new KieServerConfigItem(KieServerConstants.PCFG_RUNTIME_STRATEGY, "PER_PROCESS_INSTANCE", "String")));
              return container;
          }
      
          @Bean
          public KieContainerResource evaluation_v2() {
              KieContainerResource container = new KieContainerResource("evaluation_v2", new ReleaseId("com.myspace", "Evaluation", "2.0.0-SNAPSHOT"), STARTED);
              container.setConfigItems(Arrays.asList(new KieServerConfigItem(KieServerConstants.PCFG_RUNTIME_STRATEGY, "PER_PROCESS_INSTANCE", "String")));
              return container;
          }
      }

      For every KJAR module that you want to include, create a KieContainerResource bean in this class. The name of the bean is the container name, the first parameter of KieContainerResource() is the alias name, and the parameters of ReleaseId() are the group ID, artifact ID, and version ID of the KJAR module.

  4. In the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service directory, add the following Maven plug-in in the Spring Boot service/pom.xml file where <GROUP_ID>, <ARTIFACT_ID>, and <VERSION> are the group, artifact, and version (GAV) of a KJAR artifact that your project uses. You can find these values in the pom.xml file that is located in the KJAR source directory.

    Note

    You can add more than one version of an artifact.

      <build>
        <plugins>
          <plugin>
            <groupId>org.kie</groupId>
            <artifactId>kie-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>${version.org.kie}</version>
            <executions>
              <execution>
                <id>copy</id>
                <phase>prepare-package</phase>
                <goals>
                  <goal>package-dependencies-kjar</goal>
                </goals>
              </execution>
            </executions>
            <configuration>
              <artifactItems>
                <artifactItem>
                  <groupId><GROUP_ID></groupId>
                  <artifactId><ARTIFACT_ID></artifactId>
                  <version><VERSION></version>
                </artifactItem>
              </artifactItems>
            </configuration>
          </plugin>
        <plugins>
      <build>

    The artifacts required to run the KJAR will be resolved at build time.

    The following example adds two version of the Evaluation artifact:

      <build>
        <plugins>
          <plugin>
            <groupId>org.kie</groupId>
            <artifactId>kie-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>${version.org.kie}</version>
            <executions>
              <execution>
                <id>copy</id>
                <phase>prepare-package</phase>
                <goals>
                  <goal>package-dependencies-kjar</goal>
                </goals>
              </execution>
            </executions>
            <configuration>
              <artifactItems>
                <artifactItem>
                  <groupId>com.myspace</groupId>
                  <artifactId>Evaluation</artifactId>
                  <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
                </artifactItem>
                <artifactItem>
                  <groupId>com.myspace</groupId>
                  <artifactId>Evaluation</artifactId>
                  <version>2.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
                </artifactItem>
              </artifactItems>
            </configuration>
          </plugin>
        <plugins>
      <build>
  5. To build the self-contained Spring Boot image, enter the following command in the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service directory:

    mvn install
  6. Optional: to run the self-contained Spring Boot image, locate the JAR file in the target subdirectory and enter the following command:

    java -jar <FILENAME>.jar

    In this command, replace <FILENAME> with the name of the JAR file.

Chapter 7. Business application execution

By default, business applications contain a single executable project, the service project. You can execute the service project on Windows or Linux, in standalone (unmanaged) or development (managed) mode. Standalone mode enables you to start your application without additional requirements. Applications started in development mode require Business Central to be available as the Process Automation Manager controller.

7.1. Running business applications in standalone mode

Standalone (unmanaged) mode enables you to start your business application without additional requirements.

Prerequisites

  • You have a <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>.zip file that you created using the business applications website, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  • The business application is configured.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service folder.
  2. Enter one of the following commands:

    Table 7.1. Standalone launch options

    Command

    Description

    ./launch.sh clean install

    Launches in standalone mode on Linux or UNIX.

    ./launch.bat clean install

    Launches in standalone mode on Windows.

    ./launch.sh clean install -Pmysql

    Launches in standalone mode on Linux or UNIX if you have configured the application with a MySQL database.

    ./launch.bat clean install -Pmysql

    Launches in standalone mode on Windows if you have configured the application with a MySQL database.

    ./launch.sh clean install -Ppostgres

    Launches in standalone mode on Linux or UNIX if you have configured the application with a postgreSQL database.

    ./launch.bat clean install -Ppostgres

    Launches in standalone mode on Windows if you have configured the application with a PostgreSQL database.

    The clean install argument directs Maven to build a fresh installation. The projects are then built in the following order:

    • Data model
    • Business assets
    • Service

      The first time that you run the script, it might take a while to build the project because all dependencies of the project are downloaded. At the end of the build, the application starts.

  3. Enter the following command to access your business application:

    http://localhost:8090/
  4. Enter the credentials user/user or kieserver/kieserver1!.

7.2. Running business applications in development mode

Development (managed) mode enables developers to work on a Red Hat Process Automation Manager business application business assets project and dynamically deploy changes to the business application without the need to restart it. In addition, development mode provides a complete monitoring environment for business automation capabilities, for example process instances, tasks, and jobs.

Prerequisites

  • You have a Spring Boot application ZIP file that you created using the business applications website.
  • You configured the business application.
  • Business Central is installed and running.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-service folder, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Enter one of the following commands:

    Table 7.2. Managed launch options

    Command

    Description

    ./launch-dev.sh clean install

    Launches in development mode on Linux or UNIX.

    ./launch-dev.bat clean install

    Launches in development mode on Windows.

    ./launch-dev.sh clean install -Pmysql

    Launches in development mode on Linux or UNIX if you have configured the application with a MySQL database.

    ./launch-dev.bat clean install -Pmysql

    Launches in development mode on Windows if you have configured the application with a MySQL database.

    ./launch-dev.sh clean install -Ppostgres

    Launches in development mode on Linux or UNIX if you have configured the application with a postgreSQL database.

    ./launch-dev.bat clean install -Ppostgres

    Launches in development mode on Windows if you have configured the application with a PostgreSQL database.

    The clean install argument directs Maven to build a fresh installation. The projects are then built in the following order:

    • Data model
    • Business assets
    • Service

      The first time that you run the script, it might take a while to build the project because all dependencies of the project are downloaded. At the end of the build, the application starts.

  3. Enter the following command to access your business application:

    http://localhost:8090/
  4. Enter the credentials user/user or kieserver/kieserver1!. After the business application starts, it connects to the Process Automation Manager controller and is visible in MenuDeployExecution Servers in Business Central.

Chapter 8. Importing and deploying business assets projects in Business Central

You can import a business assets project that is part of a Red Hat Process Automation Manager business application into Business Central and then deploy that project to a business application.

Prerequisites

  • You have a business application project running in development mode.
  • Red Hat Process Automation Manager Business Central is installed.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the <BUSINESS-APPLICATION>/<BUSINESS-APPLICATION>-kjar folder, where <BUSINESS-APPLICATION> is the name of your Spring Boot project.
  2. Execute the following following commands to initialize the Git repository for your project:

    $ git init
    $ git add -A
    $ git commit -m "Initial project structure"
  3. Log in to Business Central and go to MenuDesignProjects.
  4. Select Import Project and enter the following URL:

     file:///<business-application-path>/<business-application-name>-kjar
  5. Click Import and confirm the project to be imported.
  6. After the business assets project is imported into Business Central, open the project and click Add Assets to add assets such as business processes to your business assets project.
  7. Click Deploy on your project page to deploy your project to a running business application.

    Note

    You can also select the Build & Install option to build the project and publish the KJAR file to the configured Maven repository without deploying to a KIE Server. In a development environment, you can click Deploy to deploy the built KJAR file to a KIE Server without stopping any running instances (if applicable), or click Redeploy to deploy the built KJAR file and replace all instances. The next time you deploy or redeploy the built KJAR, the previous deployment unit (KIE container) is automatically updated in the same target KIE Server. In a production environment, the Redeploy option is disabled and you can click Deploy only to deploy the built KJAR file to a new deployment unit (KIE container) on a KIE Server.

    To configure the KIE Server environment mode, set the org.kie.server.mode system property to org.kie.server.mode=development or org.kie.server.mode=production. To configure the deployment behavior for a corresponding project in Business Central, go to project SettingsGeneral SettingsVersion and toggle the Development Mode option. By default, KIE Server and all new projects in Business Central are in development mode. You cannot deploy a project with Development Mode turned on or with a manually added SNAPSHOT version suffix to a KIE Server that is in production mode.

  8. To review project deployment details, click View deployment details in the deployment banner at the top of the screen or in the Deploy drop-down menu. This option directs you to the MenuDeployExecution Servers page.
  9. To interact with your newly deployed business assets, go to MenuManageProcess Definitions and Process Instances.

Chapter 9. Replicating audit data in a JMS message broker

You can replicate KIE Server audit data to a Java Message Service (JMS) message broker, for example ActiveMQ or Artemis, and then dump the data in an external database schema so that you can improve the performance of your Spring Boot application by deleting the audit data from your application schema.

If you configure your application to replicate data in a message broker, when an event occurs in KIE Server the record of that event is stored in the KIE Server database schema and it is sent to the message broker. You can then configure an external service to consume the message broker data into an exact replica of the application’s database schema. The data is appended in the message broker and the external database every time an event is produce by KIE Server.

Note

Only audit data is stored in the message broker. No other data is replicated.

Prerequisites

  • You have an existing Red Hat Process Automation Manager Spring Boot project.

Procedure

  1. Open the Spring Boot application’s pom.xml file in a text editor.
  2. Add the KIE Server Spring Boot audit dependency to the pom.xml file:

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.kie</groupId>
      <artifactId>kie-server-spring-boot-autoconfiguration-audit-replication</artifactId>
      <version>${version.org.kie}</version>
    </dependency>
  3. Add the dependency for your JMS client. The following example adds the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) dependency:

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.amqphub.spring</groupId>
      <artifactId>amqp-10-jms-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
      <version>2.2.6</version>
    </dependency>
  4. Add the JMS pool dependency:

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.messaginghub</groupId>
      <artifactId>pooled-jms</artifactId>
    </dependency>
  5. To configure KIE Server audit replication to use queues, complete the following tasks:

    1. Add the following lines to your Spring Boot application’s application.properties file:

      kieserver.audit-replication.producer=true
      kieserver.audit-replication.queue=audit-queue
    2. Add the properties required for your message broker client. The following example shows how to configure KIE Server for AMPQ, where <JMS_HOST_PORT> is the port that the broker listens on and <USERNAME> and <PASSWORD are the login credentials for the broker:

      amqphub.amqp10jms.remote-url=amqp://<JMS_HOST_PORT>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.username=<USERNAME>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.password=<PASSWORD>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.pool.enabled=true
    3. Add the following lines to the application.properties file of the service that will consume the message broker data:

      kieserver.audit-replication.consumer=true
      kieserver.audit-replication.queue=audit-queue
    4. Add the properties required for your message broker client to the application.properties file of the service that will consume the message broker data. The following example shows how to configure KIE Server for AMPQ, where <JMS_HOST_PORT> is the port that your message broker listens on and <USERNAME> and <PASSWORD> are the login credentials for the message broker:

      amqphub.amqp10jms.remote-url=amqp://<JMS_HOST_PORT>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.username=<USERNAME>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.password=<PASSWORD>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.pool.enabled=true
  6. To configure KIE Server audit replication to use topics, complete the following tasks:

    1. Add the following lines to your Spring Boot application’s application.properties file:

      kieserver.audit-replication.producer=true
      kieserver.audit-replication.topic=audit-topic
    2. Add the properties required for your message broker client to the application.properties file of the service that will consume the message broker data. The following example shows how to configure KIE Server for AMPQ, where <JMS_HOST_PORT> is the port that your message broker listens on and <USERNAME> and <PASSWORD are the login credentials for the message broker:

      spring.jms.pub-sub-domain=true
      amqphub.amqp10jms.remote-url=amqp://<JMS_HOST_PORT>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.username=<USERNAME>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.password=<PASSWORD>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.pool.enabled=true
    3. Add the following lines to the application.properties file of the service that will consume the message broker data:

      kieserver.audit-replication.consumer=true
      kieserver.audit-replication.topic=audit-topic::jbpm
      kieserver.audit-replication.topic.subscriber=jbpm
      spring.jms.pub-sub-domain=true
    4. Add the properties required for your message broker client to the application.properties file of the service that will consume the message broker data. The following example shows how to configure KIE Server for AMPQ, where <JMS_HOST_PORT> is the port that your message broker listens on and <USERNAME> and <PASSWORD> are the login credentials for the message broker:

      amqphub.amqp10jms.remote-url=amqp://<JMS_HOST_PORT>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.username=<USERNAME>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.password=<PASSWORD>
      amqphub.amqp10jms.pool.enabled=true
      amqphub.amqp10jms.clientId=jbpm
  7. Optional: To configure the KIE Server that contains the replicated data to be read only, set the org.kie.server.rest.mode.readonly property in the application.properties file to true:

    org.kie.server.rest.mode.readonly=true

9.1. Spring Boot JMS audit replication parameters

The following table describes the parameters used to configure JMS audit replication for Red Hat Process Automation Manager applications on Spring Boot.

Table 9.1. Spring Boot JMS audit replication parameters

ParameterValuesDescription

kieserver.audit-replication.producer

true, false

Specifies whether the business application will act as a producer to replicate and send the JMS messages to either a queue or a topic.

kieserver.audit-replication.consumer

true, false

Specifies whether the business application will act as a consumer to receive the JMS messages from either a queue or a topic.

kieserver.audit-replication.queue

string

The name of the JMS queue to either send or consume messages.

kieserver.audit-replication.topic

string

The name of the JMS topic to either send or consume messages.

kieserver.audit-replication.topic.subscriber

string

The name of the topic subscriber.

org.kie.server.rest.mode.readonly

true, false

Specifies read only mode for the business application.

Part II. Integrating Red Hat Fuse with Red Hat Process Automation Manager

As a system administrator, you can integrate Red Hat Process Automation Manager with Red Hat Fuse on Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform to facilitate communication between integrated services.

Note

Red Hat Process Automation Manager does not support integration with Red Hat Fuse on Spring Boot.

Note

Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.10 does not support integration with Red Hat Fuse on Apache Karaf. If you want to integrate Red Hat Process Automation Manager with Red Hat Fuse on Apache Karaf, use Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.9 with Red Hat Fuse 7.7.

Chapter 10. Red Hat Fuse and Red Hat Process Automation Manager

Red Hat Fuse is a distributed, cloud-native integration platform that is part of an agile integration solution. Its distributed approach enables teams to deploy integrated services where required. Fuse has the flexibility to service diverse users, including integration experts, application developers, and business users, each with their own choice of deployment, architecture, and tooling. The API-centric, container-based architecture decouples services so they can be created, extended, and deployed independently. The result is an integration solution that supports collaboration across the enterprise.

Red Hat Process Automation Manager is the Red Hat platform for creating business automation applications and microservices. It enables enterprise business and IT users to document, simulate, manage, automate, and monitor business processes and policies. Red Hat Process Automation Manager is designed to empower business and IT users to collaborate more effectively, so business applications can be changed easily and quickly.

You can install Red Hat Fuse on a separate instance of Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform and integrate it with Red Hat Process Automation Manager. The kie-camel module provides integration between Red Hat Fuse and Red Hat Process Automation Manager.

Important

For the version of Red Hat Fuse that Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.10 supports, see Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7 Supported Configurations.

Chapter 11. Installing Fuse on Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform

Install Red Hat Fuse 7.8 on Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.3.2 to integrate it with Red Hat Process Automation Manager.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Install Red Hat Fuse 7.8 on Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.3.2. For installation instructions, see the Installing on JBoss EAP section in Red Hat Fuse documentation.
  2. Open the pom.xml file in the Fuse home directory in a text editor.
  3. Create the integration project with a dependency on the kie-camel component by editing the pom.xml file as shown in the following example:

    <dependency>
      	<groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
      	<artifactId>camel-core</artifactId>
      	<scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      	<groupId>org.kie</groupId>
      	<artifactId>kie-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      	<groupId>org.kie</groupId>
      	<artifactId>kie-ci</artifactId>
      	<exclusions>
        	<exclusion>
          	<groupId>aopalliance</groupId>
          	<artifactId>aopalliance</artifactId>
        	</exclusion>
      	</exclusions>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      	<groupId>org.kie.server</groupId>
      	<artifactId>kie-server-api</artifactId>
      	<exclusions>
        	<exclusion>
          	<groupId>org.jboss.spec.javax.xml.bind</groupId>
          	<artifactId>jboss-jaxb-api_2.3_spec</artifactId>
        	</exclusion>
        	<exclusion>
          	<groupId>javax.activation</groupId>
          	<artifactId>activation</artifactId>
        	</exclusion>
      	</exclusions>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      	<groupId>org.jbpm</groupId>
      	<artifactId>jbpm-bpmn2</artifactId>
    	</dependency>
    	<dependency>
      	<groupId>org.kie</groupId>
      	<artifactId>kie-camel</artifactId>
      	<exclusions>
        	<exclusion>
          	<groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
          	<artifactId>cxf-core</artifactId>
        	</exclusion>
        	<exclusion>
          	<groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
          	<artifactId>camel-cxf</artifactId>
        	</exclusion>
        	<exclusion>
          	<groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
          	<artifactId>camel-cxf-transport</artifactId>
        	</exclusion>
        	<exclusion>
          	<groupId>com.thoughtworks.xstream</groupId>
          	<artifactId>xstream</artifactId>
        	</exclusion>
      	</exclusions>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
       	<groupId>org.kie.server</groupId>
       	<artifactId>kie-server-client</artifactId>
       	<exclusions>
         	<exclusion>
           	<groupId>org.jboss.spec.javax.ws.rs</groupId>
           	<artifactId>jboss-jaxrs-api_2.0_spec</artifactId>
         	</exclusion>
       	</exclusions>
    </dependency>

Chapter 12. The kie-camel component

The kie-camel component is an Apache Camel endpoint provided by Red Hat Fuse that integrates Fuse with Red Hat Process Automation Manager. It enables you to specify a Red Hat Process Automation Manager module by using a Maven group ID, artifact ID, and version (GAV) identifier which you can pull into the route and execute. It also enables you to specify portions of the message body as facts. You can use the kie-camel component with embedded engines or with KIE Server.

Embedded engines

In this scenario, KIE engines run in the same container as the Fuse integration project and you can communicate with engines using KIE commands. To create the Camel producer, use the following URI:

kie-local:kie-session-name?action=execute

For example, enter the following command to initialize a Camel route in Spring:

<from uri="direct:runCommand" />
  	<to uri="kie-local:kie-session1?action=execute"/>

KIE Server

In this scenario, the kie-camel component connects to KIE Server using the KIE Server REST API. This enables users to communicate with the KIE Server using the KIE Server API. To create a producer, use the following URI:

kie:http://username:password@kie-server-url`

For example, enter the following command to initialize a Camel route in Spring:

<from uri="direct:runCommand" />
  	<to uri="kie:http://user:psswd@localhost:8080/kie-server-services/services/rest/server"/>

The message has the following headers:

Table 12.1. Message headers and descriptions

HeaderDescription

CamelKieClient

KIE Server client (mandatory)

CamelKieOperation

KIE Server client (mandatory)

CamelKieParameterName

The value of the client method parameter (optional)

CamelKieBodyParam

The method parameter where the message body is stored (optional)

Part III. Integrating Red Hat Process Automation Manager with Red Hat Single Sign-On

As a system administrator, you can integrate Red Hat Single Sign-On with Red Hat Process Automation Manager to secure your Red Hat Process Automation Manager browser applications with a single authentication method.

Prerequisites

Chapter 13. Integration Options

Red Hat Single Sign-On (RH-SSO) is a single sign-on solution that you can use to secure your browser applications with your REST web services and Git access.

When you integrate Red Hat Process Automation Manager with RH-SSO, you create an SSO and identity management (IDM) environment for Red Hat Process Automation Manager. The session management feature of RH-SSO enables you to use a single authentication for different Red Hat Process Automation Manager environments on the internet.

The following chapters describe how you can integrate RH-SSO with Red Hat Process Automation Manager:

  • Chapter 16, Authenticating Business Central through RH-SSO

    To authenticate Red Hat Process Automation Manager through an RH-SSO server, you must secure both the Red Hat Process Automation Manager web client (Business Central) and remote services through RH-SSO.This integration enables you to connect to Red Hat Process Automation Manager through RH-SSO using either Business Central or a remote service consumer.

  • Chapter 17, Authenticating KIE Server through RH-SSO

    To authenticate KIE Server through an RH-SSO server, you must secure the remote services provided by KIE Server. Doing this enables any remote Red Hat Process Automation Manager service consumer (user or a service) to authenticate through RH-SSO. Note that KIE Server does not have a web interface.

  • Chapter 18, Authenticating third-party clients through RH-SSO

    If Business Central or KIE Server are using RH-SSO, third-party clients must authenticate themselves using RH-SSO. After authentication, they can consume the remote service endpoints provided by Business Central and KIE Server, such as the REST API or remote file system services.

To facilitate LDAP integration with Red Hat Process Automation Manager, consider using RH-SSO with LDAP. For information, see the "LDAP and Active Directory" section of the Red Hat Single Sign-On Server Administration Guide.

Chapter 14. Installing and configuring RH-SSO

A realm is a security policy domain defined for a web or application server. Security realms are used to restrict access for different application resources. You should create a new realm whether your RH-SSO instance is private or shared with other products. You can keep the master realm as a place for super administrators to create and manage the realms in your system. If you are integrating with an RH-SSO instance that is shared with other product installations to achieve single sign-on with those applications, all of those applications must use the same realm. To create an RH-SSO realm, download, install, and configure RH-SSO 7.4.

Note

If Business Central and KIE Server are installed on different servers, complete this procedure on both servers.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Software Downloads page in the Red Hat Customer Portal (login required), and select the product and version from the drop-down options:

    • Product: Red Hat Single Sign-On
    • Version: 7.4
  2. Download Red Hat Single Sign-on 7.4.3 Server (rh-sso-7.4.3.zip) and apply the latest patches.
  3. To install and configure a basic RH-SSO standalone server, follow the instructions in the "Installing and Booting" chapter of the Red Hat Single Sign On Getting Started Guide. For advanced settings for production environments, see the Red Hat Single Sign On Server Administration Guide.

    Note

    If you want to run both RH-SSO and Red Hat Process Automation Manager servers on the same system, ensure that you avoid port conflicts. by doing one of the following:

    • Update the RHSSO_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone-full.xml file and set a port offset to 100. For example:

      <socket-binding-group name="standard-sockets" default-interface="public" port-offset="${jboss.socket.binding.port-offset:100}">
    • Use an environment variable to run the server:

      bin/standalone.sh -Djboss.socket.binding.port-offset=100

Chapter 15. Red Hat Process Automation Manager roles and users

To access Business Central or KIE Server, you must create users and assign them appropriate roles before the servers are started. You can create users and roles when you install Business Central or KIE Server.

Business Central and KIE Server use the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) login module to authenticate users. If both Business Central and KIE Server are running on a single instance, then they share the same JAAS subject and security domain. Therefore, a user who is authenticated for Business Central can also access KIE Server.

However, if Business Central and KIE Server are running on different instances, then the JAAS login module is triggered for both individually. Therefore, a user who is authenticated for Business Central must be authenticated separately to access KIE Server. For example, if a user who is authenticated on Business Central but not authenticated on KIE Server tries to view or manage process definitions in Business Central, a 401 error is logged in the log file and the Invalid credentials to load data from remote server. Contact your system administrator. message appears in Business Central.

This section describes Red Hat Process Automation Manager user roles.

Note

The admin, analyst, developer, manager, process-admin, user, and rest-all roles are reserved for Business Central. The kie-server role is reserved for KIE Server. For this reason, the available roles can differ depending on whether Business Central, KIE Server, or both are installed.

  • admin: Users with the admin role are the Business Central administrators. They can manage users and create, clone, and manage repositories. They have full access to make required changes in the application. Users with the admin role have access to all areas within Red Hat Process Automation Manager.
  • analyst: Users with the analyst role have access to all high-level features. They can model and execute their projects. However, these users cannot add contributors to spaces or delete spaces in the Design → Projects view. Access to the Deploy → Execution Servers view, which is intended for administrators, is not available to users with the analyst role. However, the Deploy button is available to these users when they access the Library perspective.
  • developer: Users with the developer role have access to almost all features and can manage rules, models, process flows, forms, and dashboards. They can manage the asset repository, they can create, build, and deploy projects. Only certain administrative functions such as creating and cloning a new repository are hidden from users with the developer role.
  • manager: Users with the manager role can view reports. These users are usually interested in statistics about the business processes and their performance, business indicators, and other business-related reporting. A user with this role has access only to process and task reports.
  • process-admin: Users with the process-admin role are business process administrators. They have full access to business processes, business tasks, and execution errors. These users can also view business reports and have access to the Task Inbox list.
  • user: Users with the user role can work on the Task Inbox list, which contains business tasks that are part of currently running processes. Users with this role can view process and task reports and manage processes.
  • rest-all: Users with the rest-all role can access Business Central REST capabilities.
  • kie-server: Users with the kie-server role can access KIE Server REST capabilities. This role is mandatory for users to have access to Manage and Track views in Business Central.

15.1. Adding Red Hat Process Automation Manager users

Before you can use RH-SSO to authenticate Business Central or KIE Server, you must add users to the realm that you created. To add new users and assign them a role to access Red Hat Process Automation Manager, complete the following steps:

  1. Log in to the RH-SSO Admin Console and open the realm that you want to add a user to.
  2. Click the Users menu item under the Manage section.

    An empty user list appears on the Users page.

  3. Click the Add User button on the empty user list to start creating your new user.

    The Add User page opens.

  4. On the Add User page, enter the user information and click Save.
  5. Click the Credentials tab and create a password.
  6. Assign the new user one of the roles that allows access to Red Hat Process Automation Manager. For example, assign the admin role to access Business Central or assign the kie-server role to access KIE Server.

    Note

    For projects that deploy from Business Central on OpenShift, create an RH-SSO user called mavenuser without any role assigned, then add this user to the BUSINESS_CENTRAL_MAVEN_USERNAME and BUSINESS_CENTRAL_MAVEN_PASSWORD in your OpenShift template.

  7. Define the roles as realm roles in the Realm Roles tab under the Roles section.

    Alternatively, for roles used in Business Central, you can define the roles as client roles for the kie client. For instructions about configuring the kie client, see Section 16.1, “Creating the Business Central client for RH-SSO”. To use client roles, you must also configure additional settings for Business Central, as described in Section 16.2, “Installing the RH-SSO client adapter for Business Central”.

    You must define roles used in the KIE Server as realm roles.

  8. Click the Role Mappings tab on the Users page to assign roles.

Chapter 16. Authenticating Business Central through RH-SSO

This chapter describes how to authenticate Business Central through RH-SSO. It includes the following sections:

Prerequisites

Note

Except for Section 16.1, “Creating the Business Central client for RH-SSO”, this section is intended for standalone installations. If you are integrating RH-SSO and Red Hat Process Automation Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, complete only the steps in Section 16.1, “Creating the Business Central client for RH-SSO” and then deploy the Red Hat Process Automation Manager environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. For information about deploying Red Hat Process Automation Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, see Deploying Red Hat Process Automation Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

16.1. Creating the Business Central client for RH-SSO

After the RH-SSO server starts, use the RH-SSO Admin Console to create the Business Central client for RH-SSO.

Procedure

  1. Enter http://localhost:8180/auth/admin in a web browser to open the RH-SSO Admin Console and log in using the admin credentials that you created while installing RH-SSO.

    Note

    If you are configuring RH-SSO with Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, enter the URL that is exposed by the RH-SSO routes. Your OpenShift administrator can provide this URL if necessary.

    When you login for the first time, you can set up the initial user on the new user registration form.

  2. In the RH-SSO Admin Console, click the Realm Settings menu item.
  3. On the Realm Settings page, click Add Realm.

    The Add realm page opens.

  4. On the Add realm page, provide a name for the realm and click Create.
  5. Click the Clients menu item and click Create.

    The Add Client page opens.

  6. On the Add Client page, provide the required information to create a new client for your realm. For example:

    • Client ID: kie
    • Client protocol: openid-connect
    • Root URL: http://localhost:8080/business-central

      Note

      If you are configuring RH-SSO with Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, enter the URL that is exposed by the KIE Server routes. Your OpenShift administrator can provide this URL if necessary.

  7. Click Save to save your changes.

    After you create a new client, its Access Type is set to public by default. Change it to confidential.

    The RH-SSO server is now configured with a realm with a client for Business Central applications and running and listening for HTTP connections at localhost:8180. This realm provides different users, roles, and sessions for Business Central applications.

16.2. Installing the RH-SSO client adapter for Business Central

After you install RH-SSO, you must install the RH-SSO client adapter for Red Hat JBoss EAP and configure it for Business Central.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Software Downloads page in the Red Hat Customer Portal (login required), and select the product and version from the drop-down options:

    • Product: Red Hat Single Sign-On
    • Version: 7.4
  2. Download Red Hat Single Sign-on 7.4 Client Adapter for JBoss EAP 7 (rh-sso-7.4.3-eap7-adapter.zip or the latest version).
  3. Extract and install the adapter zip file. For installation instructions, see the "JBoss EAP Adapter" section of the Red Hat Single Sign On Securing Applications and Services Guide.

    Note

    Install the adapter with the -Dserver.config=standalone-full.xml property.

  4. Navigate to the EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration directory in your Red Hat JBoss EAP installation and open the standalone-full.xml file in a text editor.
  5. Add the system properties listed in the following example to <system-properties>:

    <system-properties>
      <property name="org.jbpm.workbench.kie_server.keycloak" value="true"/>
      <property name="org.uberfire.ext.security.management.api.userManagementServices" value="KCAdapterUserManagementService"/>
      <property name="org.uberfire.ext.security.management.keycloak.authServer" value="http://localhost:8180/auth"/>
    </system-properties>

    If you want to use client roles, also add the following system property:

      <property name="org.uberfire.ext.security.management.keycloak.use-resource-role-mappings" value="true"/>
  6. Add the RH-SSO subsystem configuration. For example:

    <subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:keycloak:1.1">
     <secure-deployment name="business-central.war">
       <realm>demo</realm>
       <realm-public-key>MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCrVrCuTtArbgaZzL1hvh0xtL5mc7o0NqPVnYXkLvgcwiC3BjLGw1tGEGoJaXDuSaRllobm53JBhjx33UNv+5z/UMG4kytBWxheNVKnL6GgqlNabMaFfPLPCF8kAgKnsi79NMo+n6KnSY8YeUmec/p2vjO2NjsSAVcWEQMVhJ31LwIDAQAB</realm-public-key>
       <auth-server-url>http://localhost:8180/auth</auth-server-url>
       <ssl-required>external</ssl-required>
       <enable-basic-auth>true</enable-basic-auth>
       <resource>kie</resource>
       <credential name="secret">759514d0-dbb1-46ba-b7e7-ff76e63c6891</credential>
       <principal-attribute>preferred_username</principal-attribute>
     </secure-deployment>
    </subsystem>

    In this example:

    • secure-deployment name is the name of your application’s WAR file.
    • realm is the name of the realm that you created for the applications to use.
    • realm-public-key is the public key of the realm you created. You can find the key in the Keys tab in the Realm settings page of the realm you created in the RH-SSO Admin Console. If you do not provide a value for realm-public-key, the server retrieves it automatically.
    • auth-server-url is the URL for the RH-SSO authentication server.
    • enable-basic-auth is the setting to enable basic authentication mechanism, so that the clients can use both token-based and basic authentication approaches to perform the requests.
    • resource is the name for the client that you created.
    • credential name is the secret key for the client you created. You can find the key in the Credentials tab on the Clients page of the RH-SSO Admin Console.
    • principal-attribute is the login name of the user. If you do not provide this value, your User Id is displayed in the application instead of your user name.

      Note

      The RH-SSO server converts the user names to lower case. Therefore, after integration with RH-SSO, your user name will appear in lower case in Red Hat Process Automation Manager. If you have user names in upper case hard coded in business processes, the application might not be able to identify the upper case user.

      If you want to use client roles, also add the following setting under <secure-deployment>:

      <use-resource-role-mappings>true</use-resource-role-mappings>
  7. The Elytron subsystem provides a built-in policy provider based on JACC specification. To enable the JACC manually in the standalone.xml or in the file where Elytron is installed, do any of the following tasks:

    • To create the policy provider, enter the following commands in the management command-line interface (CLI) of Red Hat JBoss EAP:

      /subsystem=elytron/policy=jacc:add(jacc-policy={})
      /subsystem=undertow/application-security-domain=other:remove
      /subsystem=undertow/application-security-domain=other:add(http-authentication-factory=keycloak-http-authentication,enable-jacc=true)

      For more information about management CLI of Red Hat JBoss EAP, see the Management CLI Guide.

    • Navigate to the EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration directory in your Red Hat JBoss EAP installation. Locate the Elytron and undertow subsystem configurations in the standalone.xml and standalone-full.xml files and enable JACC. For example:

      <subsystem xmlns="urn:wildfly:elytron:4.0" ...>
      ......
       <policy name="jacc"><jacc-policy/></policy>
      </subsystem>
      <subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:undertow:7.0" ...>
      ......
       <application-security-domains>
          <application-security-domain name="other" http-authentication-factory="keycloak-http-authentication" enable-jacc="true"/>
       </application-security-domains>
      </subsystem>
  8. Navigate to EAP_HOME/bin/ and enter the following command to start the Red Hat JBoss EAP server:

    ./standalone.sh -c standalone-full.xml
Note

You can also configure the RH-SSO adapter for Business Central by updating your application’s WAR file to use the RH-SSO security subsystem. However, Red Hat recommends that you configure the adapter through the RH-SSO subsystem. Doing this updates the Red Hat JBoss EAP configuration instead of applying the configuration on each WAR file.

16.3. Securing Business Central file system services using RH-SSO

To consume other remote services such as file systems (for example, a remote GIT service), you must specify the correct RH-SSO login module.

Procedure

  1. Generate a JSON configuration file:

    1. Navigate to the RH-SSO Admin Console located at http://localhost:8180/auth/admin.
    2. Click Clients.
    3. Create a new client with the following settings:

      • Set Client ID as kie-git.
      • Set Access Type as confidential.
      • Disable the Standard Flow Enabled option.
      • Enable the Direct Access Grants Enabled option.
      kie git client settings
    4. Click Save.
    5. Click the Installation tab at the top of the client configuration screen and choose Keycloak OIDC JSON as a Format Option.
    6. Click Download.
  2. Move the downloaded JSON file to an accessible directory in the server’s file system or add it to the application class path.
  3. Specify the correct RH-SSO login module in the EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone-full.xml file. By default, the security domain in Red Hat Process Automation Manager is set to other. Replace the default values of the login-module in this security domain with the values in the following example:

    <security-domain name="other" cache-type="default">
      <authentication>
        <login-module code="org.keycloak.adapters.jaas.DirectAccessGrantsLoginModule" flag="required">
          <module-option name="keycloak-config-file" value="$EAP_HOME/kie-git.json"/>
        </login-module>
      </authentication>
    </security-domain>
  4. The JSON file specified in the module-option element contains a client used for securing the remote services. Replace the $EAP_HOME/kie-git.json value of the module-option element with the absolute path or the class path (classpath:/EXAMPLE_PATH/kie-git.json) to this JSON configuration file.

    At this point, all users authenticated through the RH-SSO server can clone internal GIT repositories. In the following command, change USER_NAME to a RH-SSO user, for example admin:

    git clone ssh://USER_NAME@localhost:8001/system

Chapter 17. Authenticating KIE Server through RH-SSO

KIE Server provides a REST API for third-party clients. If you integrate KIE Server with RH-SSO, you can delegate third-party client identity management to the RH-SSO server.

After you create a realm client for Red Hat Process Automation Manager and set up the RH-SSO client adapter for Red Hat JBoss EAP, you can set up RH-SSO authentication for KIE Server.

Prerequisites

This chapter contains the following sections:

Note

Except for Section 17.1, “Creating the KIE Server client on RH-SSO”, this section is intended for standalone installations. If you are integrating RH-SSO and Red Hat Process Automation Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, complete the steps in Section 17.1, “Creating the KIE Server client on RH-SSO” and then deploy the Red Hat Process Automation Manager environment on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. For information about deploying Red Hat Process Automation Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, see see Deploying Red Hat Process Automation Manager on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

17.1. Creating the KIE Server client on RH-SSO

Use the RH-SSO Admin Console to create a KIE Server client in an existing realm.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. In the RH-SSO Admin Console, open the security realm that you created in Chapter 14, Installing and configuring RH-SSO.
  2. Click Clients and click Create.

    The Add Client page opens.

  3. On the Add Client page, provide the required information to create a KIE Server client for your realm, then click Save. For example:

    • Client ID: kie-execution-server
    • Root URL: http://localhost:8080/kie-server
    • Client protocol: openid-connect

      Note

      If you are configuring RH-SSO with Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, enter the URL that is exposed by the KIE Server routes. Your OpenShift administrator can provide this URL if necessary.

  4. The new client Access Type is set to public by default. Change it to confidential and click Save again.
  5. Navigate to the Credentials tab and copy the secret key. The secret key is required to configure the kie-execution-server client.

17.2. Installing and configuring KIE Server with the client adapter

After you install RH-SSO, you must install the RH-SSO client adapter for Red Hat JBoss EAP and configure it for KIE Server.

Prerequisites

Note

If you deployed KIE Server to a different application server than Business Central, install and configure RH-SSO on your second server as well.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Software Downloads page in the Red Hat Customer Portal (login required), and select the product and version from the drop-down options:

    • Product: Red Hat Single Sign-On
    • Version: 7.4
  2. Download Red Hat Single Sign-on 7.4 Client Adapter for JBoss EAP 7 (rh-sso-7.4.3-eap7-adapter.zip or the latest version).
  3. Extract and install the adapter zip file. For installation instructions, see the "JBoss EAP Adapter" section of the Red Hat Single Sign On Securing Applications and Services Guide.
  4. Go to EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration and open the standalone-full.xml file.
  5. Delete the <single-sign-on/> element from both of the files.
  6. Navigate to EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration directory in your Red Hat JBoss EAP installation and edit the standalone-full.xml file to add the RH-SSO subsystem configuration. For example:
  7. Navigate to EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration in your Red Hat JBoss EAP installation and edit the standalone-full.xml file to add the RH-SSO subsystem configuration. For example:

    <subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:keycloak:1.1">
      <secure-deployment name="kie-server.war">
         <realm>demo</realm>
         <realm-public-key>MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCrVrCuTtArbgaZzL1hvh0xtL5mc7o0NqPVnYXkLvgcwiC3BjLGw1tGEGoJaXDuSaRllobm53JBhjx33UNv+5z/UMG4kytBWxheNVKnL6GgqlNabMaFfPLPCF8kAgKnsi79NMo+n6KnSY8YeUmec/p2vjO2NjsSAVcWEQMVhJ31LwIDAQAB</realm-public-key>
         <auth-server-url>http://localhost:8180/auth</auth-server-url>
         <ssl-required>external</ssl-required>
         <resource>kie-execution-server</resource>
         <enable-basic-auth>true</enable-basic-auth>
         <credential name="secret">03c2b267-7f64-4647-8566-572be673f5fa</credential>
         <principal-attribute>preferred_username</principal-attribute>
      </secure-deployment>
    </subsystem>
    
    <system-properties>
      <property name="org.kie.server.sync.deploy" value="false"/>
    </system-properties>

    In this example:

    • secure-deployment name is the name of your application WAR file.
    • realm is the name of the realm that you created for the applications to use.
    • realm-public-key is the public key of the realm you created. You can find the key in the Keys tab in the Realm settings page of the realm you created in the RH-SSO Admin Console. If you do not provide a value for this public key, the server retrieves it automatically.
    • auth-server-url is the URL for the RH-SSO authentication server.
    • resource is the name for the server client that you created.
    • enable-basic-auth is the setting to enable basic authentication mechanism, so that the clients can use both token-based and basic authentication approaches to perform the requests.
    • credential name is the secret key of the server client you created. You can find the key in the Credentials tab on the Clients page of the RH-SSO Admin Console.
    • principal-attribute is the login name of the user. If you do not provide this value, your User Id is displayed in the application instead of your user name.
  8. Save your configuration changes.
  9. Use the following command to restart the Red Hat JBoss EAP server and run KIE Server.

    EXEC_SERVER_HOME/bin/standalone.sh -c standalone-full.xml -Dorg.kie.server.id=<ID> -Dorg.kie.server.user=<USER> -Dorg.kie.server.pwd=<PWD> -Dorg.kie.server.location=<LOCATION_URL> -Dorg.kie.server.controller=<CONTROLLER_URL> -Dorg.kie.server.controller.user=<CONTROLLER_USER> -Dorg.kie.server.controller.pwd=<CONTOLLER_PASSWORD>

    For example:

    EXEC_SERVER_HOME/bin/standalone.sh -c standalone-full.xml -Dorg.kie.server.id=kieserver1 -Dorg.kie.server.user=kieserver -Dorg.kie.server.pwd=password -Dorg.kie.server.location=http://localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server -Dorg.kie.server.controller=http://localhost:8080/business-central/rest/controller -Dorg.kie.server.controller.user=kiecontroller -Dorg.kie.server.controller.pwd=password
  10. When KIE Server is running, enter the following command to check the server status, where <KIE_SERVER_USER> is a user with the kie-server role and <PASSWORD> is the password for that user:

    curl http://<KIE_SERVER_USER>:<PASSWORD>@localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/

17.3. KIE Server token-based authentication

You can also use token-based authentication for communication between Red Hat Process Automation Manager and KIE Server. You can use the complete token as a system property of your application server, instead of the user name and password, for your applications. However, you must ensure that the token does not expire while the applications are interacting because the token is not automatically refreshed. To get the token, see Section 18.2, “Token-based authentication”.

Procedure

  1. To configure Business Central to manage KIE Server using tokens:

    1. Set the org.kie.server.token property.
    2. Make sure that the org.kie.server.user and org.kie.server.pwd properties are not set.

      Red Hat Process Automation Manager will then use the Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN authentication method.

  2. To use the REST API using the token-based authentication:

    1. Set the org.kie.server.controller.token property.
    2. Make sure that the org.kie.server.controller.user and org.kie.server.controller.pwd properties are not set.
Note

Because KIE Server is unable to refresh the token, use a high-lifespan token. A token’s lifespan must not exceed January 19, 2038. Check with your security best practices to see whether this is a suitable solution for your environment.

Chapter 18. Authenticating third-party clients through RH-SSO

To use the different remote services provided by Business Central or by KIE Server, your client, such as curl, wget, web browser, or a custom REST client, must authenticate through the RH-SSO server and have a valid token to perform the requests. To use the remote services, the authenticated user must have the following roles:

  • rest-all for using Business Central remote services.
  • kie-server for using the KIE Server remote services.

Use the RH-SSO Admin Console to create these roles and assign them to the users that will consume the remote services.

Your client can authenticate through RH-SSO using one of these options:

  • Basic authentication, if it is supported by the client
  • Token-based authentication

18.1. Basic authentication

If you enabled basic authentication in the RH-SSO client adapter configuration for both Business Central and KIE Server, you can avoid the token grant and refresh calls and call the services as shown in the following examples:

  • For web based remote repositories endpoint:

    curl http://admin:password@localhost:8080/business-central/rest/repositories
  • For KIE Server:

    curl http://admin:password@localhost:8080/kie-server/services/rest/server/

18.2. Token-based authentication

If you want a more secure option of authentication, you can consume the remote services from both Business Central and KIE Server by using a granted token provided by RH-SSO.

Procedure

  1. In the RH-SSO Admin Console, click the Clients menu item and click Create to create a new client.

    The Add Client page opens.

  2. On the Add Client page, provide the required information to create a new client for your realm. For example:

    • Client ID: kie-remote
    • Client protocol: openid-connect
  3. Click Save to save your changes.
  4. Change the token settings in Realm Settings:

    1. In the RH-SSO Admin Console, click the Realm Settings menu item.
    2. Click the Tokens tab.
    3. Change the value for Access Token Lifespan to 15 minutes.

      This gives you enough time to get a token and invoke the service before it expires.

    4. Click Save to save your changes.
  5. After a public client for your remote clients is created, you can now obtain the token by making an HTTP request to the RH-SSO server’s token endpoint using:

    RESULT=`curl --data "grant_type=password&client_id=kie-remote&username=admin&password=password" http://localhost:8180/auth/realms/demo/protocol/openid-connect/token`

    The user in this command is a Business Central RH-SSO user. For more information, see Section 15.1, “Adding Red Hat Process Automation Manager users”.

  6. To view the token obtained from the RH-SSO server, use the following command:

    TOKEN=`echo $RESULT | sed 's/.*access_token":"//g' | sed 's/".*//g'`

You can now use this token to authorize the remote calls. For example, if you want to check the internal Red Hat Process Automation Manager repositories, use the token as shown below:

curl -H "Authorization: bearer $TOKEN" http://localhost:8080/business-central/rest/repositories

Part IV. Integrating Red Hat Process Automation Manager with Red Hat AMQ Streams

As a developer, you can integrate Red Hat Process Automation Manager with Red Hat AMQ Streams or Apache Kafka. A business process can send and receive Kafka messages.

Chapter 19. Kafka messages in a business process

Red Hat AMQ Streams, based on Apache Kafka, is a streaming platform. It acts as a message broker, passing messages, which are sorted into topics, between applications in a software environment.

Using Red Hat Process Automation Manager, you can create business processes that send and receive Kafka messages in the following ways:

  • Create a start event, intermediate catch event, or boundary event (attached to a human task) of the type message. The KIE Server automatically subscribes to the Kafka topic that is defined in the message. A message triggers the event. The event node acts as the consumer of the message and can pass the content of the message to the subsequent node in the process.
  • Create an end event or intermediate throw event of the type message. When the process triggers the event, the KIE Server sends a Kafka message in the topic that is defined in the message. The message contains the data that is configured in the event. The event node acts as the producer of the message.
  • Add the KafkaPublishMessages custom task to the process. This task does not require the KIE Server Kafka capability but can be more complicated to configure than message events.
  • Configure your service and the KIE Server to emit Kafka messages about every completed process, case, and task when transactions are committed.

19.1. Creating an event that receives Kafka messages

When designing your business process in Business Central, you can create an event that receives Kafka messages.

This event is triggered each time a message arrives in the configured topic. The message is expected to contain data that matches a predefined data object. The process engine parses the message and provides it as an output of the event.

Procedure

  1. Open the project that contains your business process in Business Central.
  2. Create a data object defining the data that the message will contain. For instructions about creating data objects, see Designing business processes using BPMN models.
  3. Select the business process and open the business process designer.
  4. Add a start event, an intermediate catch event, or a boundary event (attached to a human task) of the type message.
  5. Open the properties of the event.
  6. In the Message field, select New and then enter the name of the message. This name must be the same as the name of the topic from which the event is to receive Kafka messages, or else must be defined in an org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.topics.broker-topic-name system property of the KIE Server.

    For instructions about using org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.topics.* system properties to define topic names, see Chapter 20, Configuring a KIE Server to send and receive Kafka messages from the process.

  7. Add an output data item. Select the data object that you created as its type.
  8. Save the business process.
Note

If a Kafka message event starts a new process instance, the initiator field of the instance is set to unknown by default, because the Kafka consumer extension does not receive the identity of the user associated with the Kafka message.

Next steps

To enable Red Hat AMQ Streams integration when running the process, you must configure the KIE Server according to instructions in Chapter 20, Configuring a KIE Server to send and receive Kafka messages from the process.

19.2. Creating an event that sends Kafka messages

When designing your business process in Business Central, you can create an event that sends Kafka messages.

The event can have a data object as an input data item. The process engine sends the content of a data object as a message in the configured topic.

Procedure

  1. Open the project that contains your business process in Business Central.
  2. Add the work item handler that is required for message-sending events:

    1. Select the SettingsDeploymentsWork Item Handlers tab.
    2. Click Add Work Item Handler.
    3. Enter the following values in the new empty line:

      • Name: Send Task
      • Value : new org.jbpm.bpmn2.handler.SendTaskHandler()
      • Resolver type: MVEL
  3. Create a data object defining the data that the message must contain. For instructions about creating data objects, see Designing business processes using BPMN models.
  4. Select the business process and open the business process designer.
  5. Add an intermediate throw event or an end event of the type message.
  6. Open the properties of the event.
  7. In the Message field, select New and then enter the name of the message. This name must be the same as the name of the topic to which the event is to send Kafka messages, or else must be defined in an org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.topics.broker-topic-name system property of the KIE Server.

    For instructions about using org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.topics.* system properties to define topic names, see Chapter 20, Configuring a KIE Server to send and receive Kafka messages from the process.

  8. Add an input data item. Select the data object that you created as its type.
  9. Save the business process.

Next steps

To enable Red Hat AMQ Streams integration when running the process, you must configure the KIE Server according to instructions in Chapter 20, Configuring a KIE Server to send and receive Kafka messages from the process.

19.3. Adding a custom task that sends Kafka messages

You can add a KafkaPublishMessages custom task to your process. This task sends Kafka messages. It does not use the KIE Server Kafka capability, so you can use this task in processes that do not run on a KIE Server. However, this task can be more complicated to configure than other Red Hat AMQ Streams integration options.

Procedure

  1. In the Business Central administrative settings menu, as the administrative user, select Custom Tasks Administration.
  2. Ensure that KafkaPublishMessages is set to On.
  3. In Business Central, select MenuDesignProjects and then click the space name and the project name.
  4. Select the SettingsCustom Tasks tab.
  5. In the KafkaPublishMessages line, click Install.
  6. Enter the following information:

    • Bootstrap Servers: The host and port of the Kafka broker, for example, localhost:9092. You can use a comma-separated list of multiple host:port pairs.
    • Client ID: An identifier string to pass to the broker when making requests. Red Hat AMQ Streams uses this string for logging.
    • Key Serializer class: The class that provides the key serializer. You can use the standard serializer class name: org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringSerializer. Alternatively you can use your own custom serializer class.
    • Value Serializer class: The class that provides the value serializer. You can use the standard serializer class name: org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringSerializer. Alternatively you can use your own custom serializer class.

      In any of these fields, you can enter an env[property] value. In this case, the process engine reads the setting from a system property at runtime. For example, you can set Client ID to env[application.client.id] and then, before running the process service, set the client ID value in the application.client.id system property.

  7. Select the Assets tab.
  8. Select the business process and open the business process designer.
  9. Add the KafkaPublishMessages custom task, available under Custom Tasks in the BPMN modeler palette.
  10. In the properties of the custom task, open the data assignments.
  11. Assign the Key, Topic, and Value inputs to define the message.

Next steps

If you entered a custom serializer class, you must upload the source code and configure the class, as described in Section 19.3.1, “Adding a custom serializer class for the KafkaPublishMessages custom task”.

19.3.1. Adding a custom serializer class for the KafkaPublishMessages custom task

If you want to use a custom serializer class for the KafkaPublishMessages custom task, you must upload the source code and configure the class.

Procedure

  1. Prepare a Java source file with the custom serializer class, for example, MyCustomSerializer. Use the package name for your space and project, for example, com.myspace.test. Also prepare the source files for any other required custom classes.
  2. In Business Central, enter your project and select the SettingsDependencies tab.
  3. Add any dependencies that your custom classes require, for example, org.apache.kafka.kafka-clients.
  4. Select the Assets tab.
  5. For each of the class source files, complete the following steps:

    1. Click Import Asset.
    2. In the Please select a file to upload field, select the location of the Java source file for the custom serializer class.
    3. Click Ok to upload the file.
  6. Select the SettingsDeploymentsWork Item Handlers tab.
  7. In the KafkaPublishMessages line, modify the Value field to add the classLoader parameter. For example, the initial value of this field can be the following string:

    new org.jbpm.process.workitem.kafka.KafkaWorkItemHandler("127.0.0.1:9092", "jbpm", "com.myspace.test.MyCustomSerializer", "com.myspace.test.MyCustomSerializer")

    In this example, change the value to the following string:

    new org.jbpm.process.workitem.kafka.KafkaWorkItemHandler("127.0.0.1:9092", "jbpm", "com.myspace.test.MyCustomSerializer", "com.myspace.test.MyCustomSerializer", classLoader)

Chapter 20. Configuring a KIE Server to send and receive Kafka messages from the process

To run a process that sends or receives Kafka messages (except when using the custom task), you must use a KIE Server. You must configure this KIE Server to integrate with Red Hat AMQ Streams.

Procedure

  1. To enable integration with Red Hat AMQ Streams, set the following system properties according to your environment:

    • If you are using the KIE Server on Red Hat JBoss EAP, set the org.kie.kafka.server.ext.disabled system property of the KIE Server to false.
    • If you are using Spring Boot, set the kieserver.kafka.enabled system property to true.
  2. To configure the connection to the Kafka broker, set the org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.bootstrap.servers system property to the host and port of the broker. The default value is localhost:9092. You can use a comma-separated list of multiple host:port pairs.
  3. Optional: Set any of the following system properties to configure sending and receiving Kafka messages:

    • org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.client.id: An identifier string to pass to the broker when making requests. Red Hat AMQ Streams uses this string for logging.
    • org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.topics.*: Mapping of message names to topic names. For example, if you want to send or receive a message in the ExampleTopic topic when ExampleName is the name of the message, set the org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.topics.ExampleName system property to ExampleTopic. You can set any number of such system properties. If a message name is not mapped using a system property, the process engine uses this name as the topic name.
  4. Optional: Set any of the following system properties to configure receiving Kafka messages:

    • org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.allow.auto.create.topics: Allow automatic topic creation. Enabled by default.
    • org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.group.id: A unique string that identifies the group to which this Kafka message consumer belongs. The default value is jbpm-consumer.
  5. Optional: Set any of the following system properties to configure sending Kafka messages:

    • org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.acks: The number of acknowledgements that the Kafka leader must receive before marking the request as complete. The default value is 1, which means the leader writes the record to its local log and then responds to the process engine, without waiting for full acknowledgement from all followers.
    • org.kie.server.jbpm-kafka.ext.max.block.ms: The number of milliseconds for which the publish method blocks. After this time, the process engine can resume execution of the business process. The default value is 2000 (2 seconds).

Chapter 21. Configuring a service and the KIE Server to emit Kafka messages when a transaction is committed

You can configure the KIE Server to emit Kafka messages about every event when a process, case, or task is completed. The KIE Server sends the messages when it commits transactions.

You can use this functionality with any business process or case. You do not need to change anything in the process design.

This configuration is also available if you run your process service using SpringBoot.

By default, the KIE Server publishes the messages in the following topics:

  • jbpm-processes-events for messages about completed processes
  • jbpm-tasks-events for messages about completed tasks
  • jbpm-cases-events for messages about completed cases

You can configure the topic names.

The published messages comply with the CloudEvents specification version 1.0. Each message contains the following fields:

  • id: The unique identifier of the event
  • type: The type of the event (process, task, or case)
  • source: The event source as a URI
  • time: The timestamp of the event, by default in the RFC3339 format
  • data: Information about the process, case, or task, presented in a JSON format

Procedure

  1. To enable emitting Kafka messages, complete one of the following steps:

    1. If you deployed the KIE Server on Red Hat JBoss EAP or another application server:

      1. Download the rhpam-7.10.0-maven-repository.zip product deliverable file from the Software Downloads page of the Red Hat Customer Portal.
      2. Extract the contents of the file.
      3. Copy the maven-repository/org/jbpm/jbpm-event-emitters-kafka/7.48.0.Final-redhat-00004/jbpm-event-emitters-kafka-7.48.0.Final-redhat-00004.jar file into the deployments/kie-server.war/WEB-INF/lib subdirectory of the application server.
    2. If you deployed the application using SpringBoot, add the following lines to the <dependencies> list in the pom.xml file of your service:

      <dependency>
        <groupId>org.jbpm</groupId>
        <artifactId>jbpm-event-emitters-kafka</artifactId>
        <version>${version.org.kie}</version>
      </dependency>
  2. Configure any of the following system properties for the KIE Server as necessary:

    • org.kie.jbpm.event.emitters.kafka.bootstrap.servers: The host and port of the Kafka broker. The default value is localhost:9092. You can use a comma-separated list of multiple host:port pairs.
    • org.kie.jbpm.event.emitters.kafka.date_format: The timestamp format for the time field of the messages. The default value is yyyy-MM-dd’T’HH:mm:ss.SSSZ .
    • org.kie.jbpm.event.emitters.kafka.topic.processes: The topic name for process event messages. The default value is jbpm-processes-events.
    • org.kie.jbpm.event.emitters.kafka.topic.cases: The topic name for process event messages. The default value is jbpm-cases-events.
    • org.kie.jbpm.event.emitters.kafka.topic.tasks: The topic name for process event messages. The default value is jbpm-processes-tasks.
    • org.kie.jbpm.event.emitters.kafka.client.id: An identifier string to pass to the server when making requests. The server uses this string for logging.

Chapter 22. Additional Resources

Appendix A. Versioning information

Documentation last updated on Tuesday, March 8, 2022.

Appendix B. Contact information

Red Hat Process Automation Manager documentation team: brms-docs@redhat.com

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