Chapter 10. Installing and running the headless Process Automation Manager controller

You can configure KIE Server to run in managed or unmanaged mode. If KIE Server is unmanaged, you must manually create and maintain KIE containers (deployment units). If KIE Server is managed, the Process Automation Manager controller manages the KIE Server configuration and you interact with the Process Automation Manager controller to create and maintain KIE containers.

Business Central has an embedded Process Automation Manager controller. If you install Business Central, use the Execution Server page to create and maintain KIE containers. If you want to automate KIE Server management without Business Central, you can use the headless Process Automation Manager controller.

10.1. Using the installer to configure KIE Server with the Process Automation Manager controller

KIE Server can be managed by the Process Automation Manager controller or it can be unmanaged. If KIE Server is unmanaged, you must manually create and maintain KIE containers (deployment units). If KIE Server is managed, the Process Automation Manager controller manages the KIE Server configuration and you interact with the Process Automation Manager controller to create and maintain KIE containers.

The Process Automation Manager controller is integrated with Business Central. If you install Business Central, you can use the Execution Server page in Business Central to interact with the Process Automation Manager controller.

You can use the installer in interactive or CLI mode to install Business Central and KIE Server, and then configure KIE Server with the Process Automation Manager controller.

Prerequisites

  • Two computers with backed-up Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.4 server installations are available.
  • Sufficient user permissions to complete the installation are granted.

Procedure

  1. On the first computer, run the installer in interactive mode or CLI mode. See Installing and configuring Red Hat Process Automation Manager on Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.4 for more information.
  2. On the Component Selection page, clear the KIE Server box.
  3. Complete the Business Central installation.
  4. On the second computer, run the installer in interactive mode or CLI mode.
  5. On the Component Selection page, clear the Business Central box.
  6. On the Configure Runtime Environment page, select Perform Advanced Configuration.
  7. Select Customize KIE Server properties and click Next.

  8. Enter the controller URL for Business Central and configure additional properties for KIE Server. The controller URL has the following form where <HOST:PORT> is the address of Business Central on the second computer: 

    <HOST:PORT>/business-central/rest/controller
  9. Complete the installation.
  10. To verify that the Process Automation Manager controller is now integrated with Business Central, go to the Execution Servers page in Business Central and confirm that the KIE Server that you configured appears under REMOTE SERVERS.

10.2. Installing the headless Process Automation Manager controller

You can install the headless Process Automation Manager controller and use the REST API or the KIE Server Java Client API to interact with it.

Prerequisites

  • A backed-up Red Hat JBoss EAP installation version 7.4 is available. The base directory of the Red Hat JBoss EAP installation is referred to as EAP_HOME.
  • Sufficient user permissions to complete the installation are granted.

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: Process Automation Manager
    • Version: 7.12
  2. Download Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.12.0 Add Ons (the rhpam-7.12.0-add-ons.zip file).
  3. Extract the rhpam-7.12.0-add-ons.zip file. The rhpam-7.12.0-controller-ee7.zip file is in the extracted directory.
  4. Extract the rhpam-7.12.0-controller-ee7.zip archive to a temporary directory. In the following examples this directory is called TEMP_DIR.

  5. Copy the TEMP_DIR/rhpam-7.12.0-controller-ee7/controller.war directory to EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/.

    Warning

    Ensure that the names of the headless Process Automation Manager controller deployments you copy do not conflict with your existing deployments in the Red Hat JBoss EAP instance.

  6. Copy the contents of the TEMP_DIR/rhpam-7.12.0-controller-ee7/SecurityPolicy/ directory to EAP_HOME/bin.
  7. When prompted to overwrite files, select Yes.
  8. In the EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/ directory, create an empty file named controller.war.dodeploy. This file ensures that the headless Process Automation Manager controller is automatically deployed when the server starts.

10.2.1. Creating a headless Process Automation Manager controller user

Before you can use the headless Process Automation Manager controller, you must create a user that has the kie-server role.

Prerequisites

  • The headless Process Automation Manager controller is installed in the base directory of the Red Hat JBoss EAP installation (EAP_HOME).

Procedure

  1. In a terminal application, navigate to the EAP_HOME/bin directory.

  2. Enter the following command and replace <USERNAME> and <PASSWORD> with the user name and password of your choice. 

    $ ./bin/jboss-cli.sh --commands="embed-server --std-out=echo,/subsystem=elytron/filesystem-realm=ApplicationRealm:add-identity(identity=<USERNAME>),/subsystem=elytron/filesystem-realm=ApplicationRealm:set-password(identity=<USERNAME>, clear={password='<PASSWORD>'}),/subsystem=elytron/filesystem-realm=ApplicationRealm:add-identity-attribute(identity=<USERNAME>, name=role, value=['kie-server'])"
    Note

    Make sure that the specified user name is not the same as an existing user, role, or group. For example, do not create a user with the user name admin.

    The password must have at least eight characters and must contain at least one number and one non-alphanumeric character, but not & (ampersand).

  3. Make a note of your user name and password.

10.2.2. Configuring KIE Server and the headless Process Automation Manager controller

If KIE Server will be managed by the headless Process Automation Manager controller, you must edit the standalone-full.xml file in KIE Server installation and the standalone.xml file in the headless Process Automation Manager controller installation.

Prerequisites

  • KIE Server is installed in an EAP_HOME.

  • The headless Process Automation Manager controller is installed in an EAP_HOME.

    Note

    You should install KIE Server and the headless Process Automation Manager controller on different servers in production environments. However, if you install KIE Server and the headless Process Automation Manager controller on the same server, for example in a development environment, make these changes in the shared standalone-full.xml file.

  • On KIE Server nodes, a user with the kie-server role exists.

  • On the server nodes, a user with the kie-server role exists.

    Procedure

    1. In the EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone-full.xml file, add the following properties to the <system-properties> section and replace <USERNAME> and <USER_PWD> with the credentials of a user with the kie-server role: 

         <property name="org.kie.server.user" value="<USERNAME>"/>
   <property name="org.kie.server.pwd" value="<USER_PWD>"/>

    2. In the KIE Server EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone-full.xml file, add the following properties to the <system-properties> section: 

        <property name="org.kie.server.controller.user" value="<CONTROLLER_USER>"/>
  <property name="org.kie.server.controller.pwd" value="<CONTROLLER_PWD>"/>
  <property name="org.kie.server.id" value="<KIE_SERVER_ID>"/>
  <property name="org.kie.server.location" value="http://<HOST>:<PORT>/kie-server/services/rest/server"/>
  <property name="org.kie.server.controller" value="<CONTROLLER_URL>"/>
    3. In this file, replace the following values:
  • Replace <CONTROLLER_USER> and <CONTROLLER_PWD> with the credentials of a user with the kie-server role.
  • Replace <KIE_SERVER_ID> with the ID or name of the KIE Server installation, for example, rhpam-7.12.0-kie-server-1.
  • Replace <HOST> with the ID or name of the KIE Server host, for example, localhost or 192.7.8.9.

  • Replace <PORT> with the port of the KIE Server host, for example, 8080.

    Note

    The org.kie.server.location property specifies the location of KIE Server.

  • Replace <CONTROLLER_URL> with the URL of the headless Process Automation Manager controller. KIE Server connects to this URL during startup.

10.3. Running the headless Process Automation Manager controller

After you have installed the headless Process Automation Manager controller on Red Hat JBoss EAP, use this procedure to run the headless Process Automation Manager controller.

Prerequisites

  • The headless Process Automation Manager controller is installed and configured in the base directory of the Red Hat JBoss EAP installation (EAP_HOME).

Procedure

  1. In a terminal application, navigate to EAP_HOME/bin.

  2. If you installed the headless Process Automation Manager controller on the same Red Hat JBoss EAP instance as the Red Hat JBoss EAP instance where you installed KIE Server, enter one of the following commands:

    • On Linux or UNIX-based systems: 

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

    • On Windows: 

      standalone.bat -c standalone-full.xml

  3. If you installed the headless Process Automation Manager controller on a separate Red Hat JBoss EAP instance from the Red Hat JBoss EAP instance where you installed KIE Server, start the headless Process Automation Manager controller with the standalone.sh script:

    Note

    In this case, ensure that you made all required configuration changes to the standalone.xml file.

    • On Linux or UNIX-based systems: 

      $ ./standalone.sh

    • On Windows: 

      standalone.bat

  4. To verify that the headless Process Automation Manager controller is working on Red Hat JBoss EAP, enter the following command where <CONTROLLER> and <CONTROLLER_PWD> is the user name and password. The output of this command provides information about the KIE Server instance. 

    curl -X GET "http://<HOST>:<PORT>/controller/rest/controller/management/servers" -H  "accept: application/xml" -u '<CONTROLLER>:<CONTROLLER_PWD>'
Note

Alternatively, you can use the KIE Server Java API Client to access the headless Process Automation Manager controller.

10.4. Clustering KIE Servers with the headless Process Automation Manager controller

The Process Automation Manager controller is integrated with Business Central. However, if you do not install Business Central, you can install the headless Process Automation Manager controller and use the REST API or the KIE Server Java Client API to interact with it.

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: Process Automation Manager
    • Version: 7.12
  2. Download Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.12.0 Add Ons (the rhpam-7.12.0-add-ons.zip file).
  3. Extract the rhpam-7.12.0-add-ons.zip file. The rhpam-7.12.0-controller-ee7.zip file is in the extracted directory.
  4. Extract the rhpam-7.12.0-controller-ee7.zip archive to a temporary directory. In the following examples this directory is called TEMP_DIR.

  5. Copy the TEMP_DIR/rhpam-7.12.0-controller-ee7/controller.war directory to EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/.

    Warning

    Ensure that the names of the headless Process Automation Manager controller deployments you copy do not conflict with your existing deployments in the Red Hat JBoss EAP instance.

  6. Copy the contents of the TEMP_DIR/rhpam-7.12.0-controller-ee7/SecurityPolicy/ directory to EAP_HOME/bin.
  7. When prompted to overwrite files, click Yes.
  8. In the EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/ directory, create an empty file named controller.war.dodeploy. This file ensures that the headless Process Automation Manager controller is automatically deployed when the server starts.
  9. Open the EAP_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone.xml file in a text editor.

  10. Add the following properties to the <system-properties> element and replace <NFS_STORAGE> with the absolute path to the NFS storage where the template configuration is stored: 

    <system-properties>
  <property name="org.kie.server.controller.templatefile.watcher.enabled" value="true"/>
  <property name="org.kie.server.controller.templatefile" value="<NFS_STORAGE>"/>
</system-properties>

    Template files contain default configurations for specific deployment scenarios.

    If the value of the org.kie.server.controller.templatefile.watcher.enabled property is set to true, a separate thread is started to watch for modifications of the template file. The default interval for these checks is 30000 milliseconds and can be further controlled by the org.kie.server.controller.templatefile.watcher.interval system property. If the value of this property is set to false, changes to the template file are detected only when the server restarts.

  11. To start the headless Process Automation Manager controller, navigate to EAP_HOME/bin and enter the following command:

    • On Linux or UNIX-based systems: 

      $ ./standalone.sh

    • On Windows: 

      standalone.bat

For more information about running Red Hat Process Automation Manager in a Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform clustered environment, see Installing and configuring Red Hat Process Automation Manager in a Red Hat JBoss EAP clustered environment.