Configuring the storage of events for timeout nodes

You can use a Timer policy to control the storage of events for TimeoutNotification and TimeoutControl nodes.

About this task

Information about the state of in-flight messages is held on storage queues that are controlled by IBM® MQ. The storage queues that hold the state information are owned by the queue manager that is associated with the integration server.

If you are using TimeoutControl and TimeoutNotification nodes on an integration server that is managed by an integration node, you must install IBM MQ on the same computer as your integration node in order to use the capabilities that are provided by these nodes. If you are using TimeoutControl and TimeoutNotification nodes on an independent integration server, you can use a remote default queue manager to control the system queues, without the need to install IBM MQ on the same machine as the integration server. Interactions between an independent integration server and IBM MQ can use a client connection to a remote queue manager, by using a default policy setting. For more information about using a remote default queue manager, see Using a remote default queue manager and Configuring an integration server to use a remote default queue manager.

If the integration server has the necessary permissions to create the default system queues, they are created automatically when a flow containing TimeoutControl or TimeoutNotification nodes is deployed. If the default queues are not created automatically, you can create them manually by running the iib_createqueues command, as described in Creating the default system queues on an IBM MQ queue manager.

By default, the storage queue used by all timeout nodes is the SYSTEM.BROKER.TIMEOUT.QUEUE. However, you can control the queues that are used by different timeout nodes by creating alternative queues that contain a QueuePrefix variable, and by using a Timer policy to specify the names of those queues for storing events.

Follow these steps to specify the queue that is used to store event states:

Procedure

  1. Create the storage queue to be used by the timeout nodes.
    The following queue is required:
    • SYSTEM.BROKER.TIMEOUT.QueuePrefix.QUEUE

    The QueuePrefix variable can contain any characters that are valid in an IBM MQ queue name, but must be no longer than eight characters and must not begin or end with a period (.). For example, SET1 and SET.1 are valid queue prefixes, but .SET1 and SET1. are invalid.

    If you do not create the storage queue, IBM App Connect Enterprise creates the queue when the node is deployed; this queue is based on the default queue. If the queue cannot be created, the message flow is not deployed.

  2. Create a Timer policy (see Creating policies with the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit).
    1. You can create a policy to be used with either specific timeout requests or with all timeout requests in an integration server. If the policy is to be used with specific timeout requests, create the policy with the same name as the Unique identifier property on the TimeoutNotification and TimeoutControl nodes.

      To specify a default Timer policy for all message flows that are deployed to an integration server, set the Timer property in the server.conf.yaml file to the name of a Timer policy. For information about setting properties in the server.conf.yaml file, see Configuring an integration server by modifying the server.conf.yaml file. If the default policy is in the default policy project, you do not need to specify the name of the policy project. If the default policy is in a non-default policy project, qualify the name of the policy with the name of the policy project in the format {policyProjectName}:PolicyName.

    2. Set the Queue prefix property of the Timer policy to the required value (see Timer policy).
    If you delete the Timer policy, the storage queue is not deleted automatically when the policy is deleted, so you must delete it separately.
  3. In the TimeoutNotification and TimeoutControl nodes, ensure that the name of the Timer policy is the same as the name specified in the Unique Identifier property on the Basic tab; for example, myTimer. Specify the name of the policy project and the policy on the message flow node in the format {policyProjectName}:PolicyName. If there is no Timer policy with the same name as the Unique Identifier, and if there is a default Timer policy specified in the server.conf.yaml file, that Timer policy is used instead.

What to do next

The properties for the policy are not used by the integration server until you restart or redeploy the message flow, or restart the integration server.