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Identification

This document belongs to a series of documents describing the IBM® Lotus® Expeditor integrator package which is based on the IBM product Lotus Expeditor Client for Desktops. It comprises information about the configuration, operation and maintenance of the software components provided and developed for the integration of remote locations into an existing enterprise service bus (e.g. integration of retail store servers into an existing messaging back-end system).

The Installing and Configuring the IBM Lotus Expeditor integrator platform document captures all information that is required for a seamless operation of the Expeditor integrator under test and production conditions. It was created for system administrators who need to operate solutions based on Expeditor integrator. Back-end system administrators will find appropriate information about the integration options in the existing IT landscape (e.g. connectivity to existing Enterprise/Back-bone Service Bus, monitoring systems etc.). Administrators who are responsible for the seamless operation of the integrator application at the remote location (e.g. on a store server in a local hypermarket) will also find helpful information about the behavior, configuration options, start/stop possibilities as well as first aid steps in case of problems.
Solution Architects, IT Specialists and Developers focusing on the design and implementation of the business use cases will find further information in the Using the IBM Expeditor integrator platform (see ‎Ref_2, e.g. for tips how the Expeditor integrator can be adjusted to changed requirements and new business use cases through new flow definitions, and how the Expeditor integrator can be interacted with by using specific messages).

Solution Overview Example

Figure 1 shows an architectural overview diagram example including the nearby systems of an overall IBM Lotus Expeditor integrator solution for retail enterprises. The solution example is based on existing retail customer requirements and business use cases which drove the development of Expeditor integrator based on the IBM® Lotus® Expeditor Client for Desktops product (see red box in Figure 1).
In this Installing and Configuring the IBM Lotus Expeditor integrator platform document, it is focused on the configuration and operation of the Expeditor integrator. The Expeditor integrator and its applications (bundles/plug-ins) are also referenced as XPDinteg Application.

Figure 1 - Lotus Expeditor integrator Architectural Overview example for retail solutions

The Lotus Expeditor integrator solutions can extend the reach of an existing Application Integration back-end based on a common Backbone Service Bus (e.g. WebSphere® Message Broker and WBI Adapter for Flat Files) to remote locations with restricted hardware and software resources.
Today, data exchange between the 4690 point of sales controllers and the Backbone Service Bus is usually done via FTP and file system access. Expeditor integrator replaces the existing process by providing:

• Reliable data exchange between enterprise Backbone Service Bus and remote locations (e.g. stores).
• Centralized management (monitoring & software distribution).
• Near zero operating effort for the integration infrastructure at the remote location (e.g. store infrastructure such as PoS and scale systems).
• Local file access support for local and mounted file systems as well as FTP, FTPs, SSH protocol support at the remote location.
• Local data access through JDBC and REST data adapters at the remote location.
• Convenient graphical user interface for status information, administration, configuration and test purposes.

The Expeditor integrator was developed based on open standards (e.g. OSGi®, Eclipse®).

Figure 1 shows the core components for Expeditor integrator. The main processing unit is the Expeditor integrator Access Control Service (ACS) which manages Flows of Activities. These flows can be manually configured to fulfill distinct (business) use cases. The Resource Monitor monitors given resources of different types through the different Resource Adapters (e.g. FTP Adapter). It fires events for triggering ACS Flows for configurable states of a given resource (e.g. when a given file appears in a given directory an event is published which triggers an ACS Flow). The Lotus Expeditor micro broker is the message provider of Expeditor integrator which ensures reliable and secure data exchange with the back-end or other local resources. Monitoring Services create (configurable) standards based CBE events which can be either sent to the back-end messaging system or to other (business) monitoring systems such as IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console.
Further details about the Expeditor integrator and how it is used can be found in the Using the IBM Expeditor integrator platform (Ref_2).

References

This document is based on and refers to the following documents:

Ref_1 S. Fassmann (IBM), A. Dannhauer (IBM), Installing and Configuring the IBM Lotus Expeditor integrator platform, “AdministratorsGuide_vxx.doc”, solution deployment artifact
Ref_2 S. Fassmann (IBM), A. Dannhauer (IBM), Using the IBM Lotus Expeditor integrator platform, “UsersGuide_ vxx.doc”, solution deployment artifact
Ref_3 IBM Lotus online documentation, IBM Lotus Expeditor Integrator Wiki, http://www.lotus.com/ldd/lewiki.nsf/xpViewCategories.xsp?lookupName=Expeditor%20Integrator, 17.11.2010
Ref_4 IBM Lotus online documentation, IBM Lotus Expeditor Wiki, http://www.lotus.com/ldd/lewiki.nsf, 17.11.2010
Ref_5 IBM Online Support, IBM micro broker JavaDoc (24.01.2013)
Ref_6 Eclipse Consortium, Open Messaging for Machine-to-Machine and Internet of Things (MQTT v3 Clients), http://www.eclipse.org/paho/ (14.02.2013)
Ref_7 IBM developerWorks, MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) V3.1 Protocol Specification, http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-mqtt/index.html (14.02.2013)
Ref_8 IBM developerWorks, IBM Patterns for e-Business, http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/patterns/, 16.06.2008
Ref_9 IBM Redbook press, Patterns: SOA Client - Access Integration Solutions, http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/sg246775.html?Open, 16.06.2008
Ref_10 IBM Online, IBM Lotus Expeditor overview, http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product1.nsf/wdocs/expeditor, 16.06.2008
Ref_11 IBM Online Support, IBM Lotus Expeditor Wiki, http://www.lotus.com/ldd/lewiki.nsf , 24.11.2011
Ref_12 IBM Online Support, IBM Lotus Expeditor integrator Wiki, http://www.lotus.com/ldd/lewiki.nsf/xpViewCategories.xsp?lookupName=Expeditor%20Integrator , 24.11.2011
Ref_13 IBM Redbook press, Building Smarter Planet Solutions with MQTT and IBM WebSphere MQ Telemetry, http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/sg248054.html?Open (14.02.2013)
Ref_14 IBM developerWorks, Extending Java Message Service messaging to retail store devices, http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/documentation/retailjms/ (14.02.2013)
Ref_15 IBM developerWorks, Messaging security guide for IBM Lotus Expeditor 6.2.3 integrator software, http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/documentation/expeditorsecurity/ (14.02.2013)
Ref_16 IBM Online, IBM WebSphere Premises Server overview, http://www-01.ibm.com/software/integration/premises_server, 29.09.2008
Ref_17 IBM WebSphere Premises Server information center, http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pvcsensa/v6r1m0/index.jsp, 29.09.2008
Ref_18 OSGi Consortium, http://www.osgi.org , 16.06.2008
Ref_19 Eclipse Consortium, http://www.eclipse.org , 16.06.2008
Ref_20 IBM Developer Works Library, Autonomic Computing with CBEs, http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/library/ac-edge11/, 16.06.2008
Ref_21 Canonical Situation Data Format: The Common Base Event V1.0.1, http://www.eclipse.org/tptp/platform/documents/resources/cbe101spec/CommonBaseEvent_SituationData_V1.0.1.pdf, 16.06.2008
Ref_22 Microsoft Help and Support Site, Installation for a User-Defined Service, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/137890, 09.11.2007
Ref_23 Microsoft Downloads for Windows 2000 and 2003 Server, http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/remove404.mspx, 16.06.2008
Ref_24 Microsoft Download Center, Windows 2003 Resource Kit Tools, http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en, 16.06.2008
Ref_25 Apache Group, Apache Commons project, http://commons.apache.org/ , 13.08.2008
Ref_26 JCraft Inc., Java Secure Channel implementation, http://www.jcraft.com/jsch/ , 13.08.2008
Ref_27 the dojo foundation, dojo Open Source project, http://www.dojotoolkit.com/ , 16.03.2009
Ref_28 MIME type reference, http://www.w3schools.com/media/media_mimeref.asp , 27.07.2009
Ref_29 Apache HTTP client reference, http://hc.apache.org/httpclient-3.x/userguide.html , 27.07.2009

Notation

The graphical notation used in this document is adopted from Ivar Jacobson, supplemented by the use of a distinct symbol to distinguish non-human actors (i.e., other systems or external hardware) from human actors.