Chapter 12. Fixed managed server environment

You can deploy a fixed managed server environment that, in a single deployment, includes several different pods running KIE Server. No processes are initially loaded on the servers. The database servers are, by default, also run in pods. Each KIE Server pod can be separately scaled as necessary.

A pod with Business Central Monitoring and a pod with Smart Router are also deployed. You must use Business Central Monitoring to deploy, load, and unload processes on your KIE Servers. You can also use it to view monitoring information.

Smart Router is a single endpoint that can receive calls from client applications to any of your processes and route each call automatically to the server that runs the process.

By default, the templates create two independent KIE Servers. You can modify the template to change the number of KIE Servers before deployment. You cannot easily add or remove KIE Servers at a later time.

You must provide a Maven repository with the processes (KJAR files) that you want to deploy on the servers. Your integration process must ensure that the required versions of the processes are uploaded to the Maven repository. You can use Business Central in a development environment to create the processes and upload them to the Maven repository.

12.1. Deploying a fixed managed server environment

You can deploy a fixed managed server environment using a single template. The name of the template file is rhpam711-prod.yaml.

The template includes two KIE Server pods (with PostgreSQL database pods), Smart Router in a high-availability configuration, and Business Central Monitoring in a high-availability configuration.

You can change the number of replicas of all components when configuring the deployment. If you want to modify the number of independent KIE Server pods or to use a different database server, you must modify the template. For instructions about modifying the template, see Section 12.2, “Modifying a template for a fixed managed environment”.

Note

The fixed managed environment template is deprecated in Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.11. It will be removed in a future release.

12.1.1. Starting configuration of the template for a fixed managed server environment

To deploy a fixed managed server environment, use the rhpam711-prod.yaml template file.

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 rhpam711-prod.yaml template file.
  3. By default, the template includes two KIE Servers. Each of the serves uses a PostgreSQL database server in a pod. To change the number of KIE Servers or to use a MySQL database server in a pod or an external database server, modify the template as described in Section 12.2, “Modifying a template for a fixed managed environment”.

  4. 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 rhpam711-prod.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>/rhpam711-prod.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.
      • 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 12.1.2, “Setting required parameters for a fixed managed server environment” to set common parameters. You can view the template file to see descriptions for all parameters.

12.1.2. Setting required parameters for a fixed managed server environment

When configuring the template to deploy a fixed managed server environment, you must set the following parameters in all cases.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Set the following parameters:

    • Credentials secret (CREDENTIALS_SECRET): The name of the secret containing the administrative user credentials, as created in Section 7.5, “Creating the secret for the administrative user”.
    • Business Central Monitoring Server Keystore Secret Name (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_SECRET): The name of the secret for Business Central, as created in Section 7.3, “Creating the secrets for Business Central”.
    • KIE Server Keystore Secret Name (KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_SECRET): The name of the secret for KIE Server, as created in Section 7.2, “Creating the secrets for KIE Server”.
    • Smart Router Keystore Secret Name (KIE_SERVER_ROUTER_HTTPS_SECRET): The name of the secret for Smart Router, as created in Section 7.4, “Creating the secrets for Smart Router”.
    • Business Central Monitoring Server Certificate Name (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_NAME): The name of the certificate in the keystore that you created in Section 7.3, “Creating the secrets for Business Central”.
    • Business Central Monitoring Server Keystore Password (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_HTTPS_PASSWORD): The password for the keystore that you created in Section 7.3, “Creating the secrets for Business Central”.
    • KIE Server Certificate Name (KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_NAME): The name of the certificate in the keystore that you created in Section 7.2, “Creating the secrets for KIE Server”.
    • KIE Server Keystore Password (KIE_SERVER_HTTPS_PASSWORD): The password for the keystore that you created in Section 7.2, “Creating the secrets for KIE Server”.
    • Smart Router Certificate Name (KIE_SERVER_ROUTER_HTTPS_NAME): The name of the certificate in the keystore that you created in Section 7.4, “Creating the secrets for Smart Router”.
    • Smart Router Keystore Password (KIE_SERVER_ROUTER_HTTPS_PASSWORD): The password for the keystore that you created in Section 7.4, “Creating the secrets for Smart Router”.
    • Application Name (APPLICATION_NAME): The name of the OpenShift application. It is used in the default URLs for Business Central Monitoring and KIE Server. OpenShift uses the application name to create a separate set of deployment configurations, services, routes, labels, and artifacts. You can deploy several applications using the same template into the same project, as long as you use different application names. Also, the application name determines the name of the server configuration (server template) that the KIE Server joins on Business Central Monitoring. If you are deploying several KIE Servers, you must ensure each of the servers has a different application name.
    • Maven repository URL (MAVEN_REPO_URL): A URL for a Maven repository. You must upload all the processes (KJAR files) that are to be deployed on the KIE Server into this 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.
    • KIE Server Mode (KIE_SERVER_MODE): In the rhpam711-kieserver-*.yaml templates the default value is PRODUCTION. In PRODUCTION mode, you cannot deploy SNAPSHOT versions of KJAR artifacts on the KIE Server and cannot change versions of an artifact in an existing container. To deploy a new version with PRODUCTION mode, create a new container on the same KIE Server. To deploy SNAPSHOT versions or to change versions of an artifact in an existing container, set this parameter to DEVELOPMENT.
    • ImageStream Namespace (IMAGE_STREAM_NAMESPACE): The namespace where the image streams are available. If the image streams were already available in your OpenShift environment (see Section 7.1, “Ensuring the availability of image streams and the image registry”), the namespace is openshift. If you have installed the image streams file, the namespace is the name of the OpenShift project.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 12.1.10, “Completing deployment of the template for a fixed managed server environment”.

12.1.3. Configuring the image stream namespace for a fixed managed server 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.

12.1.4. Configuring pod replica numbers for a fixed managed server environment

When configuring the template to deploy a fixed managed server environment, you can set the initial number of replicas for KIE Server, Business Central Monitoring, and Smart Router.

Prerequisites

Procedure

To configure the numbers of replicas, set the following parameters:

  • Business Central Monitoring Container Replicas (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_MONITORING_CONTAINER_REPLICAS): The number of replicas that the deployment initially creates for Business Central Monitoring. If you do not want to use a high-availability configuration for Business Central Monitoring, set this number to 1.
  • KIE Server Container Replicas (KIE_SERVER_CONTAINER_REPLICAS): The number of replicas that the deployment initially creates for KIE Server.
  • Smart Router Container Replicas (SMART_ROUTER_CONTAINER_REPLICAS): The number of replicas that the deployment initially creates for Smart Router.

Next steps

If necessary, set additional parameters.

To complete the deployment, follow the procedure in Section 12.1.10, “Completing deployment of the template for a fixed managed server environment”.

12.1.5. Configuring access to a Maven mirror in an environment without a connection to the public Internet for a fixed managed server environment

When configuring the template to deploy a fixed managed server 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:*. 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 12.1.10, “Completing deployment of the template for a fixed managed server environment”.

12.1.6. Setting parameters for RH-SSO authentication for a fixed managed server environment

If you want to use RH-SSO authentication, complete the following additional configuration when configuring the template to deploy a fixed managed server 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 12.1.1, “Starting configuration of the template for a fixed managed server 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 client for Red Hat Process Automation Manager within RH-SSO, set the following parameters in the template:

      • Business Central Monitoring RH-SSO Client name (BUSINESS_CENTRAL_SSO_CLIENT): The RH-SSO client name for Business Central Monitoring.

      • For each KIE Server defined in the template:

        • KIE Server n RH-SSO Client name (KIE_SERVERn_SSO_CLIENT): The RH-SSO client name for this KIE Server.
        • KIE Server n RH-SSO Client Secret (KIE_SERVERn_SSO_SECRET): The secret string that is set in RH-SSO for the client for this KIE Server.

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

      • For each KIE Server defined in the template:

        • KIE Server n RH-SSO Client name (KIE_SERVERn_SSO_CLIENT): The name of the client to create in RH-SSO for this KIE Server.
        • KIE Server n RH-SSO Client Secret (KIE_SERVERn_SSO_SECRET): The secret string to set in RH-SSO for the client for this 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 12.1.10, “Completing deployment of the template for a fixed managed server 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.

12.1.7. Setting parameters for LDAP authentication for a fixed managed server environment

If you want to use LDAP authentication, complete the following additional configuration when configuring the template to deploy a fixed managed server 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 12.1.10, “Completing deployment of the template for a fixed managed server environment”.

12.1.8. Setting parameters for using an external database server for a fixed managed server environment

If you modified the template to use an external database server for the KIE Server, as described in Section 12.2, “Modifying a template for a fixed managed environment”, complete the following additional configuration when configuring the template to deploy a fixed managed server 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 12.1.10, “Completing deployment of the template for a fixed managed server environment”.

12.1.9. Enabling Prometheus metric collection for a fixed managed server 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 12.1.10, “Completing deployment of the template for a fixed managed server environment”.

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

12.1.10. Completing deployment of the template for a fixed managed server 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.

12.2. Modifying a template for a fixed managed environment

To adjust the fixed managed environment to your needs, you need to modify the rhpam711-prod.yaml template before deploying the environment.

By default, the templates create two replicated KIE Server pods. You can deploy separate processes on each of the pods. To add more replicated KIE Server pods, you need to modify the template before deploying the environment.

By default, the templates create a PostgreSQL pod to provide the database server for each replicated 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.

For the rhpam711-prod.yaml template you can also adjust the initial number of replicas for Business Central Monitoring.

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.

Note that named blocks can be nested.

Procedure

  • If you want to add more replicated KIE Server pods, repeat the following actions for every additional pod:

    1. Pick a number for the new pod. The default pods have the numbers 1 and 2, so you can use 3 for the first new pod, then 4 and so on.

    2. Copy the following blocks of the file, marked with comments from BEGIN to END, into the end of the file:

      • KIE server services 1
      • PostgreSQL service 1
      • KIE server routes 1
      • KIE server deployment config 1
      • PostgreSQL deployment config 1
      • PostgreSQL persistent volume claim 1
    3. In the new copies, replace all instances of -1 with the new pod number, for example, -3.

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

    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.)

      Repeat the following actions for every replicated KIE Server pod number, for example, 1 and 2 in the unmodified template. N refers to the pod number, for example, 1.

      • Replace the block named PostgreSQL service N with the block named MySQL service.
      • Replace the block named PostgreSQL driver settings N with the block named MySQL driver settings.
      • Replace the block named PostgreSQL deployment config N with the block named MySQL deployment config.
      • Replace the block named PostgreSQL persistent volume claim N with the block named MySQL persistent volume claim.

      • In all the newly added blocks, make the following replacements manually, where N is the pod number:

        • -mysql with -mysql-N, except in -mysql-pvol and in -mysql-claim
        • -mysql-claim with -mysql-claim-N

  • 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, remove some blocks, and modify some of the newly added 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-external.yaml file.)

      Repeat the following actions for every replicated KIE Server pod number, for example, 1 and 2 in the unmodified template. N refers to the pod number, for example, 1.

      • Remove the block named PostgreSQL service N
      • Remove the block named PostgreSQL deployment config N
      • Remove the block named PostgreSQL persistent volume claim N
      • Replace the block named PostgreSQL driver settings N with the block named External database driver settings.

      • In the new External database driver settings block, if any of the following values are different for different KIE Server pods in the infrastructure, set the values for this particular pod:

        • RHPAM_USERNAME: The user name for logging in to the database server
        • RHPAM_PASSWORD: The password for logging in to the database server
        • RHPAM_XA_CONNECTION_PROPERTY_URL: The full URL for logging in to the database server
        • RHPAM_SERVICE_HOST: The host name of the database server
        • RHPAM_DATABASE: The database name
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 Monitoring, on the line below the comment ## Replicas for Business Central Monitoring, change the number of replicas to the desired value.