PoliciesVsConfigurableServicesInACE

The below blog explains the concept of Policies in IBM App Connect Enterprise v11 and how is it related to configurable services which was available in earlier versions.

What do you mean by Policies and what is its use in ACE?

• Policies are reusable XML document that are defined by XML schema definition called Policy.xsd which can be used by developers/administrators and operators

• These policies control particular configurations like 
• node properties,
•  flow rate, 
• connection credentials, 
• certain aspects of message flow behavior
• A policy can be attached to the entities that one wants to control like
• Message flows
• Message flow nodes
• Integration servers.

How is Policy in ACE different from Configurable services in IIB?

• Configurable services in IIB are runtime properties which can be used to change the flow or node level properties at run time
• Policies in ACE replaces configurable services in IIB. There is no concept of configurable services available in ACE. Even if you try to create configurable services using mqsicreateconfigurableservice it would create a equivalent policies in ACE.

mqsicreateconfigurable service.

• mqsicreateconfigurable service has been deprecated in ACE and any usage of this command in ACE will create equivalent policies in the default policy project that gets associated with integration node.
• These default policies gets inherited by all the integration servers present for that integration node.
• One can override a policy that is inherited by an integration server by deploying an updated version of the policy in that integration server or by placing an updated policy in the overrides sub-directory of the integration server directory.

Default policy project

Default policy project can be created in two ways

• Using mqsicreateconfigurableservice
• Using server.conf.yaml file.

I have already explained the process of policy creation using mqsicreateconfigurable service above (and its the least preferred option)

The other way to create policy file is by modifying the server.conf.yaml file that has certain properties related to it.

Creating policies using Toolkit

Below image provides details on step by step process of policy creation via toolkit

Associating Policy project with Node

In order to associate policy project with the node, please follow the below steps

• Go to the MQ Input node properties
• Click on Policy tab
• Enter the policy text box field in the format {PolicyProjectName}:PolicyName where Policy Project name is the Project name of the policy. In this case it is Demo_Policy and PolicyName is the policy xml file that got created under Demo_Policy which in this case is MQPolicy

Deployment of Policies:

You can deploy the policy project either as part of the application in a single bar file or the policy project can be deployed separately as an independent bar file

Please note that if the policy name is set on a message flow or message flow node, one must deploy the policy before the message flow can be started.

Once the policies gets deployed, the deployed policies are shown in the run sub-directory of the integration work directory 

Viewing Policies

One can view the policies in multiple ways

• Through ACE toolkit
• Through web user interface
• Through REST-API

Viewing Policy through ACE toolkit

In order to view the Policy through ACE toolkit, follow the below steps

• Click on the deployed policy on the Integration Server
• In the toolkit under Properties section, you can view the policy properties

Viewing policy through web user interface

• Login to web user interface 
• Click on Policy Projects tab
• Click on the Demo_Policy project and you will be able to view the properties

Viewing policy through REST API

• Go to the api-docs URL of the Node
• Click on the Get the Policy Object Object
• Click on Try It
• Enter username and password if applicable
• Enter the Integration Server name
• Enter the policy project name to view its properties and click on Send