Chapter 9. Authoring environment

You can deploy an environment for creating and modifying processes using Business Central. It consists of Business Central for the authoring work and KIE Server for test execution of the processes. If necessary, you can connect additional KIE Servers to the Business Central.

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

A single authoring environment contains two pods. One of the pods runs Business Central, the other runs KIE Server. The KIE Server by default includes an embedded H2 database engine. This environment is most suitable for single-user authoring or when your OpenShift infrastructure has limited resources. It does not require persistent volumes that support the ReadWriteMany access mode.

In a single authoring environment, you cannot scale Business Central. By default, you also cannot scale KIE Server, as the H2 database engine does not support scaling. However, you can modify the template to use a separate MySQL or PostgreSQL database server pod; in this case, you can scale KIE Server. For instructions about modifying the single authoring environment template, see Section 9.3, “Modifying the template for the single authoring environment”.

In an HA authoring environment, both Business Central and KIE Server are provided in scalable pods. When pods are scaled, persistent storage is shared between the copies. The database is provided by a separate pod.

To enable high-availability functionality in Business Central, additional pods with AMQ and Data Grid are required. These pods are configured and deployed by the high-availability authoring template. Use a high-availability authoring environment to provide maximum reliability and responsiveness, especially if several users are involved in authoring at the same time.

In the current version of Red Hat Process Automation Manager, an HA authoring environment is supported with certain limitations:

  • If a Business Central pod crashes while a user works with it, the user can get an error message and then is redirected to another pod. Logging on again is not required.
  • If a Business Central pod crashes during a user operation, data that was not committed (saved) might be lost.
  • If a Business Central pod crashes during creation of a project, an unusable project might be created.
  • If a Business Central pod crashes during creation of an asset, the asset might be created but not indexed, so it cannot be used. The user can open the asset in Business Central and save it again to make it indexed.
  • When a user deploys a service to the KIE Server, the KIE Server deployment is rolled out again. Users can not deploy another service to the same KIE Server until the roll-out completes.

In a high-availability authoring environment you can also deploy additional managed or immutable KIE Servers, if required. Business Central can automatically discover any KIE Servers in the same namespace, including immutable KIE Servers and managed KIE Servers.

If you want to deploy additional managed or immutable KIE Servers in a single authoring environment, you must complete an additional manual step to enable the OpenShiftStartupStrategy setting in the environment, as described in ]. This setting enables the discovery of other KIE Servers.

For instructions about deploying managed KIE Servers, see Section 11.2, “Deploying an additional managed KIE Server for a freeform environment”.

For instructions about deploying immutable KIE Servers, see Section 10.2, “Deploying an immutable KIE Server using an S2I build” and Section 10.4, “Deploying an immutable KIE Server from KJAR services”.

9.1. Deploying an authoring environment

You can use OpenShift templates to deploy a single or high-availability authoring environment. This environment consists of Business Central and a single KIE Server.

9.1.1. Starting configuration of the template for an authoring environment

If you want to deploy a single authoring environment, use the rhpam711-authoring.yaml template file. By default, the single authoring template uses the H2 database with permanent storage. If you prefer to create a MySQL or PostgreSQL pod or to use an external database server (outside the OpenShift project), modify the template before deploying the environment. For instructions about modifying the template, see Section 9.3, “Modifying the template for the single authoring environment”.

If you want to deploy a high-availability authoring environment, use the rhpam711-authoring-ha.yaml template file. By default, the high-availability authoring template creates a MySQL pod to provide the database server for the KIE Server. If you prefer to use PostgreSQL or to use an external server (outside the OpenShift project) you need to modify the template before deploying the environment. You can also modify the template to change the number of replicas initially created for Business Central. For instructions about modifying the template, see Section 9.4, “Modifying the template for the High Availability authoring environment”.

Procedure

  1. Download the rhpam-7.11.0-openshift-templates.zip product deliverable file from the Software Downloads page of the Red Hat Customer Portal.
  2. Extract the required template file.

  3. Use one of the following methods to start deploying the template:

    • To use the OpenShift Web UI, in the OpenShift application console select Add to Project → Import YAML / JSON and then select or paste the <template-file-name>.yaml file. In the Add Template window, ensure Process the template is selected and click Continue.

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

      oc new-app -f <template-path>/<template-file-name>.yaml -p BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_SECRET=businesscentral-app-secret -p KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_SECRET=kieserver-app-secret -p PARAMETER=value

      In this command line, make the following changes:

      • Replace <template-path> with the path to the downloaded template file.
      • Replace <template-file-name> with the name of the template file.
      • Use as many -p PARAMETER=value pairs as needed to set the required parameters.

Next steps

Set the parameters for the template. Follow the steps in Section 9.1.2, “Setting required parameters for an authoring environment” to set common parameters. You can view the template file to see descriptions for all parameters.

9.1.2. Setting required parameters for an authoring environment

When configuring the template to deploy an authoring environment, you must set the following parameters in all cases.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Set the following parameters:

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 9.1.13, “Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment”.

9.1.3. Configuring the image stream namespace for an authoring environment

If you created image streams in a namespace that is not openshift, you must configure the namespace in the template.

If all image streams were already available in your Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform environment, you can skip this procedure.

Prerequisites

Procedure

If you installed an image streams file according to instructions in Section 7.1, “Ensuring the availability of image streams and the image registry”, set the ImageStream Namespace (IMAGE_STREAM_NAMESPACE) parameter to the name of your OpenShift project.

9.1.4. Setting an optional Maven repository for an authoring environment

When configuring the template to deploy an authoring environment, if you want to place the built KJAR files into an external Maven repository, you must set parameters to access the repository.

Prerequisites

Procedure

To configure access to a custom Maven repository, set the following parameters:

  • Maven repository URL (MAVEN_REPO_URL): The URL for the Maven repository.
  • Maven repository ID (MAVEN_REPO_ID): An identifier for the Maven repository. The default value is repo-custom.
  • Maven repository username (MAVEN_REPO_USERNAME): The user name for the Maven repository.
  • Maven repository password (MAVEN_REPO_PASSWORD): The password for the Maven repository.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 9.1.13, “Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment”.

Important

To export or push Business Central projects as KJAR artifacts to the external Maven repository, you must also add the repository information in the pom.xml file for every project. For information about exporting Business Central projects to an external repository, see Packaging and deploying a Red Hat Process Automation Manager project.

9.1.5. Configuring access to a Maven mirror in an environment without a connection to the public Internet for an authoring environment

When configuring the template to deploy an authoring environment, if your OpenShift environment does not have a connection to the public Internet, you must configure access to a Maven mirror that you set up according to Section 7.9, “Preparing a Maven mirror repository for offline use”.

Prerequisites

Procedure

To configure access to the Maven mirror, set the following parameters:

  • Maven mirror URL (MAVEN_MIRROR_URL): The URL for the Maven mirror repository that you set up in Section 7.9, “Preparing a Maven mirror repository for offline use”. This URL must be accessible from a pod in your OpenShift environment.

  • Maven mirror of (MAVEN_MIRROR_OF): The value that determines which artifacts are to be retrieved from the mirror. For instructions about setting the mirrorOf value, see Mirror Settings in the Apache Maven documentation. The default value is external:*,!repo-rhpamcentr; with this value, Maven retrieves artifacts from the built-in Maven repository of Business Central directly and retrieves any other required artifacts from the mirror. If you configure an external Maven repository (MAVEN_REPO_URL), change MAVEN_MIRROR_OF to exclude the artifacts in this repository, for example, external:*,!repo-custom. Replace repo-custom with the ID that you configured in MAVEN_REPO_ID. The default value is external:*. With this value, Maven retrieves every required artifact from the mirror and does not query any other repositories.

    • If you configure an external Maven repository (MAVEN_REPO_URL), change MAVEN_MIRROR_OF to exclude the artifacts in this repository from the mirror, for example, external:*,!repo-custom. Replace repo-custom with the ID that you configured in MAVEN_REPO_ID.
    • If you configure a built-in Business Central Maven repository (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_MAVEN_SERVICE), change MAVEN_MIRROR_OF to exclude the artifacts in this repository from the mirror: external:*,!repo-rhpamcentr.
    • If you configure both repositories, change MAVEN_MIRROR_OF to exclude the artifacts in both repositories from the mirror: external:*,!repo-rhpamcentr,!repo-custom. Replace repo-custom with the ID that you configured in MAVEN_REPO_ID.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 9.1.13, “Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment”.

9.1.6. Configuring Business Central and KIE Server replicas for a high-availability authoring environment

If you are deploying a high-availability authoring environment, by default two replicas of Business Central and two replicas of the KIE Server are initially created.

Optionally, you can modify the number of replicas.

Skip this procedure for a single authoring environment.

Prerequisites

Procedure

To modify the numbers of initial replicas, set the following parameters:

  • Business Central Container Replicas (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_CONTAINER_REPLICAS): The number of replicas that the deployment initially creates for Business Central.
  • KIE Server Container Replicas (KIE_SERVER_CONTAINER_REPLICAS): The number of replicas that the deployment initially creates for the KIE Server.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 9.1.13, “Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment”.

9.1.7. Specifying the Git hooks directory for an authoring environment

You can use Git hooks to facilitate interaction between the internal Git repository of Business Central and an external Git repository.

If you want to use Git hooks, you must configure a Git hooks directory.

Prerequisites

Procedure

To configure a Git hooks directory, set the following parameter:

  • Git hooks directory (GIT_HOOKS_DIR): The fully qualified path to a Git hooks directory, for example, /opt/kie/data/git/hooks. You must provide the content of this directory and mount it at the specified path. For instructions about providing and mounting the Git hooks directory using a configuration map or a persistent volume, see Section 13.1, “(Optional) Providing the Git hooks directory”.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 9.1.13, “Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment”.

9.1.8. Configuring resource usage for a high-availability deployment

If you are deploying the high-availability template (rhpam711-authoring-ha.yaml), you can optionally configure resource usage to optimize performance for your requirements.

If you are deploying the single authoring environment template (rhpam711-authoring.yaml), skip this procedure.

For more information about sizing resources, see the following sections in the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 product documentation:

Prerequisites

Procedure

Set the following parameters of the template as applicable:

  • Business Central Container Memory Limit (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_MEMORY_LIMIT): The amount of memory requested in the OpenShift environment for the Business Central container. The default value is 8Gi.
  • Business Central JVM Max Memory Ratio (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_JAVA_MAX_MEM_RATIO): The percentage of container memory that is used for the Java Virtual Machine for Business Central. The remaining memory is used for the operating system. The default value is 80, for a limit of 80%.
  • Business Central Container CPU Limit (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_CPU_LIMIT): The maximum CPU usage for Business Central. The default value is 2000m.
  • KIE Server Container Memory Limit (KIE_SERVER_MEMORY_LIMIT): The amount of memory requested in the OpenShift environment for the KIE Server container. The default value is 1Gi.
  • KIE Server Container CPU Limit (KIE_SERVER_CPU_LIMIT): The maximum CPU usage for KIE Server. The default value is 1000m.
  • DataGrid Container Memory Limit (DATAGRID_MEMORY_LIMIT): The amount of memory requested in the OpenShift environment for the Red Hat Data Grid container. The default value is 2Gi.
  • DataGrid Container CPU Limit (DATAGRID_CPU_LIMIT): The maximum CPU usage for Red Hat Data Grid. The default value is 1000m.

9.1.9. Setting parameters for RH-SSO authentication for an authoring environment

If you want to use RH-SSO authentication, complete the following additional configuration when configuring the template to deploy an authoring environment.

Important

Do not configure LDAP authentication and RH-SSO authentication in the same deployment.

Prerequisites

  • A realm for Red Hat Process Automation Manager is created in the RH-SSO authentication system.

  • User names and passwords for Red Hat Process Automation Manager are created in the RH-SSO authentication system. For a list of the available roles, see Chapter 14, Red Hat Process Automation Manager roles and users.

    You must create a user with the username and password configured in the secret for the administrative user, as described in Section 7.5, “Creating the secret for the administrative user”. This user must have the kie-server,rest-all,admin roles.

  • Clients are created in the RH-SSO authentication system for all components of the Red Hat Process Automation Manager environment that you are deploying. The client setup contains the URLs for the components. You can review and edit the URLs after deploying the environment. Alternatively, the Red Hat Process Automation Manager deployment can create the clients. However, this option provides less detailed control over the environment.
  • You started the configuration of the template, as described in Section 9.1.1, “Starting configuration of the template for an authoring environment”.

Procedure

  1. Set the following parameters:

    • RH-SSO URL (SSO_URL): The URL for RH-SSO.
    • RH-SSO Realm name (SSO_REALM): The RH-SSO realm for Red Hat Process Automation Manager.
    • RH-SSO Disable SSL Certificate Validation (SSO_DISABLE_SSL_CERTIFICATE_VALIDATION): Set to true if your RH-SSO installation does not use a valid HTTPS certificate.

  2. Complete one of the following procedures:

    1. If you created the clients for Red Hat Process Automation Manager within RH-SSO, set the following parameters in the template:

      • Business Central RH-SSO Client name (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_SSO_CLIENT): The RH-SSO client name for Business Central.
      • Business Central RH-SSO Client Secret (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_SSO_SECRET): The secret string that is set in RH-SSO for the client for Business Central.
      • KIE Server RH-SSO Client name (KIE_SERVER_SSO_CLIENT): The RH-SSO client name for KIE Server.
      • KIE Server RH-SSO Client Secret (KIE_SERVER_SSO_SECRET): The secret string that is set in RH-SSO for the client for KIE Server.

    2. To create the clients for Red Hat Process Automation Manager within RH-SSO, set the following parameters in the template:

      • Business Central RH-SSO Client name (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_SSO_CLIENT): The name of the client to create in RH-SSO for Business Central.
      • Business Central RH-SSO Client Secret (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_SSO_SECRET): The secret string to set in RH-SSO for the client for Business Central.
      • KIE Server RH-SSO Client name (KIE_SERVER_SSO_CLIENT): The name of the client to create in RH-SSO for KIE Server.
      • KIE Server RH-SSO Client Secret (KIE_SERVER_SSO_SECRET): The secret string to set in RH-SSO for the client for KIE Server.
      • RH-SSO Realm Admin Username (SSO_USERNAME) and RH-SSO Realm Admin Password (SSO_PASSWORD): The user name and password for the realm administrator user for the RH-SSO realm for Red Hat Process Automation Manager. You must provide this user name and password in order to create the required clients.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 9.1.13, “Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment”.

After completing the deployment, review the URLs for components of Red Hat Process Automation Manager in the RH-SSO authentication system to ensure they are correct.

9.1.10. Setting parameters for LDAP authentication for an authoring environment

If you want to use LDAP authentication, complete the following additional configuration when configuring the template to deploy an authoring environment.

Important

Do not configure LDAP authentication and RH-SSO authentication in the same deployment.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Set the AUTH_LDAP* parameters of the template. These parameters correspond to the settings of the LdapExtended Login module of Red Hat JBoss EAP. For instructions about using these settings, see LdapExtended login module.

    Note

    If you want to enable LDAP failover, you can put set or more LDAP server addresses in the AUTH_LDAP_URL parameter, separated by a space.

    If the LDAP server does not define all the roles required for your deployment, you can map LDAP groups to Red Hat Process Automation Manager roles. To enable LDAP role mapping, set the following parameters:

    • RoleMapping rolesProperties file path (AUTH_ROLE_MAPPER_ROLES_PROPERTIES): The fully qualified path name of a file that defines role mapping, for example, /opt/eap/standalone/configuration/rolemapping/rolemapping.properties. You must provide this file and mount it at this path in all applicable deployment configurations; for instructions, see Section 13.3, “(Optional) Providing the LDAP role mapping file”.
    • RoleMapping replaceRole property (AUTH_ROLE_MAPPER_REPLACE_ROLE): If set to true, mapped roles replace the roles defined on the LDAP server; if set to false, both mapped roles and roles defined on the LDAP server are set as user application roles. The default setting is false.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 9.1.13, “Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment”.

9.1.11. Setting parameters for using an external database server for an authoring environment

If you modified the template to use an external database server for the KIE Server, as described in Section 9.3, “Modifying the template for the single authoring environment” or Section 9.4, “Modifying the template for the High Availability authoring environment”, complete the following additional configuration when configuring the template to deploy an authoring environment.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Set the following parameters:

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

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

    • KIE Server External Database URL (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_URL): The JDBC URL for the external database server

      Note

      If you are using the EntrepriseDB Postgres database server, use an URL starting with jdbc:postgresql:// and not with jdbc:edb://. Alternatively, do not set the URL and set the host and port parameters instead.

    • KIE Server External Database Host (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_SERVICE_HOST) and KIE Server External Database Port (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_SERVICE_PORT): The host name and port number of the external database server. You can set these parameters as an alternative to setting the KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_URL parameter.

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

      • org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5InnoDBDialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL8Dialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.MariaDB102Dialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQL95Dialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.PostgresPlusDialect (used for EntrepriseDB Postgres Advanced Server)
      • org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServer2012Dialect (used for MS SQL)
      • org.hibernate.dialect.DB2Dialect
      • org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle10gDialect

      • org.hibernate.dialect.SybaseASE15Dialect

        For a complete list of supported dialects, see the Hibernate SQL Dialects table in Hibernate properties in the Red Hat JBoss EAP documentation.

    • KIE Server External Database name (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_DB): The database name to use on the external database server
    • JDBC Connection Checker class (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_CONNECTION_CHECKER): The name of the JDBC connection checker class for the database server. Without this information, a database server connection cannot be restored after it is lost, for example, if the database server is rebooted.
    • JDBC Exception Sorter class (KIE_SERVER_EXTERNALDB_EXCEPTION_SORTER): The name of the JDBC exception sorter class for the database server. Without this information, a database server connection cannot be restored after it is lost, for example, if the database server is rebooted.

  2. If you created a custom image for using an external database server, as described in Section 7.10, “Building a custom KIE Server extension image for an external database”, set the following parameters:

    • Drivers Extension Image (EXTENSIONS_IMAGE): The ImageStreamTag definition of the extension image, for example, jboss-kie-db2-extension-openshift-image:11.1.4.4
    • Drivers ImageStream Namespace (EXTENSIONS_IMAGE_NAMESPACE): The namespace to which you uploaded the extension image, for example, openshift or your project namespace.

  3. If you are using a MySQL version 8 external database server, enable the mysql_native_password plugin and use it for authentication. For instructions about this pluding, see Native Pluggable Authentication in the MySQL 8.0 Reference Manual.

    If you are using a MySQL version 8 image provided by Red Hat on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, to enable the plugin, set the MYSQL_DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_PLUGIN environment variable to mysql_native_password.

    If you created users on the MySQL version 8 server before enabling the mysql_native_password plugin, you must update the mysql-user table after you enable the plugin.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 9.1.13, “Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment”.

9.1.12. Enabling Prometheus metric collection for an authoring environment

If you want to configure your KIE Server deployment to use Prometheus to collect and store metrics, enable support for this feature in KIE Server at deployment time.

Prerequisites

Procedure

To enable support for Prometheus metric collection, set the Prometheus Server Extension Disabled (PROMETHEUS_SERVER_EXT_DISABLED) parameter to false.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 9.1.13, “Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment”.

For instructions about configuring Prometheus metrics collection, see Managing and monitoring KIE Server.

9.1.13. Completing deployment of the template for an authoring environment

After setting all the required parameters in the OpenShift Web UI or in the command line, complete deployment of the template.

Procedure

Depending on the method that you are using, complete the following steps:

  • In the OpenShift Web UI, click Create.

    • If the This will create resources that may have security or project behavior implications message appears, click Create Anyway.
  • Complete the command line and press Enter.

Next steps

Depending on your needs for the environment, optionally complete procedures described in Chapter 13, Optional procedures after deploying your environment.

9.2. Enabling the OpenShiftStartupStrategy setting to connect additional KIE Servers to Business Central

In an environment deployed using Red Hat Process Automation Manager authoring templates, Business Central manages one KIE Server. If you use the high-avalability authoring template or if you modified the single authoring template to use a database server other than an embedded H2 database, you can scale the KIE Server pod, but all the copies execute the same services.

You can connect additional KIE Servers to Business Central. However, if you deployed a single authoring environment using the rhpam711-authoring.yaml, you must enable the OpenShiftStartupStrategy setting in the environment. When OpenShiftStartupStrategy is enabled, Business Central automatically discovers KIE Servers in the same namespace and these KIE Servers can be configured to connect to the Business Central.

With the OpenShiftStartupStrategy setting, when a user deploys a service to the KIE Server, the KIE Server deployment is rolled out again. Users can not deploy another service to the same KIE Server until the roll-out completes. Because the roll-out might take noticeable time, the OpenShiftStartupStrategy setting might not be suitable for some authoring environments.

Do not complete this procedure if you deployed a high-availability authoring environment using the rhpam711-authoring-ha.yaml template. In this environment, the OpenShiftStartupStrategy setting is enabled by default.

Do not complete this procedure unless you want to connect additional KIE Servers to Business Central.

Prerequisites

  • You deployed an authoring environment using the rhpam711-authoring.yaml template.
  • You are logged in to the OpenShift project where the environment is deployed using the oc tool.

Procedure

  1. Enter the following command to view the deployment configurations that are deployed in the project: 

    $ oc get dc

  2. In the output of the command, find the deployment configuration names for the Business Central and KIE Server pods:

    • The name of the deployment configuration for Business Central is myapp-rhpamcentr. Replace myapp with the application name of the environment, which is set in the APPLICATION_NAME parameter of the template.
    • The name of the deployment configuration for KIE Server is myapp-kieserver. Replace myapp with the application name.

  3. Enter the following commands to enable the OpenShiftStartupStrategy setting on the pods: 

    $ oc env myapp-rhpamcentr KIE_SERVER_CONTROLLER_OPENSHIFT_ENABLED=true
$ oc env myapp-kieserver KIE_SERVER_STARTUP_STRATEGY=OpenShiftStartupStrategy

    In these commands, replace myapp-rhpamcentr with the Business Central deployment configuration name and myapp-kieserver with the KIE Server deployment configuration name.

  4. When you enable the OpenShiftStartupStrategy setting, by default Business Central discovers only KIE Servers that are deployed with the same value of the APPLICATION_NAME parameter as the authoring template. If you want to connect KIE Servers with any other application names to the Business Central, enter the following command: 

    $ oc env myapp-rhpamcentr KIE_SERVER_CONTROLLER_OPENSHIFT_GLOBAL_DISCOVERY_ENABLED=true

    In this command, replace myapp-rhpamcentr with the Business Central deployment configuration name.

9.3. Modifying the template for the single authoring environment

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

You must use a MySQL or PostgreSQL pod or an external database server if you want to scale the KIE Server pod. An OpenShift template defines a set of objects that can be created by OpenShift. To change an environment configuration, you need to modify, add, or delete these objects. To simplify this task, comments are provided in the Red Hat Process Automation Manager templates.

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

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

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

Procedure

Edit the rhpam711-authoring.yaml template file to make any of the following changes as necessary.

  • If you want to use MySQL instead of the H2 database, you need to replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-mysql.yaml file that are also marked with comments. You also need to remove several other blocks and to add blocks in designated locations:

    1. Replace the block named H2 database parameters with the block named MySQL database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-mysql.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named H2 driver settings with the block named MySQL driver settings.
    3. Replace the block named H2 persistent volume claim with the block named MySQL persistent volume claim.
    4. Remove the blocks named H2 volume mount and H2 volume settings.
    5. Under the comment Place to add database service, add the block named MySQL service.
    6. Under the comment Place to add database deployment config, add the block named MySQL deployment config.

  • If you want to use PostgreSQL instead of the H2 database, you need to replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-postgresql.yaml file that are also marked with comments. You also need to remove several other blocks and to add blocks in designated locations:

    1. Replace the block named H2 database parameters with the block named PostgreSQL database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-postgresql.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named H2 driver settings with the block named PostgreSQL driver settings.
    3. Replace the block named H2 persistent volume claim with the block named PostgreSQL persistent volume claim.
    4. Remove the blocks named H2 volume mount and H2 volume settings.
    5. Under the comment Place to add database service, add the block named PostgreSQL service.
    6. Under the comment Place to add database deployment config, add the block named PostgreSQL deployment config.

  • If you want to use an external database server, replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-externaldb.yaml file, and also remove some blocks:

    1. Replace the block named H2 database parameters with the block named External database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-externaldb.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named H2 driver settings with the block named External database driver settings.

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

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

The standard KIE Server image includes drivers for MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL external database servers. If you want to use another database server, you must build a custom KIE Server image. For instructions, see Section 7.10, “Building a custom KIE Server extension image for an external database”.

9.4. Modifying the template for the High Availability authoring environment

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

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

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

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

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

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

Procedure

Edit the rhpam711-authoring-ha.yaml template file to make any of the following changes as necessary.

  • If you want to use PostgreSQL instead of MySQL, replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-postgresql.yaml file:

    1. Replace the block named MySQL database parameters with the block named PostgreSQL database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-postgresql.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named MySQL service with the block named PostgreSQL service.
    3. Replace the block named MySQL driver settings with the block named PostgreSQL driver settings.
    4. Replace the block named MySQL deployment config with the block named PostgreSQL deployment config.
    5. Replace the block named MySQL persistent volume claim with the block named PostgreSQL persistent volume claim.

  • If you want to use an external database server, replace several blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, with blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-externaldb.yaml file, and also remove some blocks:

    1. Replace the block named MySQL database parameters with the block named External database parameters. (Take this block and all subsequent replacement blocks from the rhpam711-kieserver-externaldb.yaml file.)
    2. Replace the block named MySQL driver settings with the block named External database driver settings.

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

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

The standard KIE Server image includes drivers for MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL external database servers. If you want to use another database server, you must build a custom KIE Server image. For instructions, see Section 7.10, “Building a custom KIE Server extension image for an external database”.

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