IBM App Connect components and resources

IBM® App Connect Enterprise as a Service provides environments for authoring and running integrations. Each environment provides tools and resources to create and deploy your integrations.

The tools that you use to create and manage your integrations depend on the pricing plan that you choose when you buy a subscription to App Connect Enterprise as a Service.

App Connect Designer

App Connect Designer is an authoring environment where you can develop and test flows. API developers can develop flows and share them with other users by using the built-in export and import functions for flows. You can also create event-driven flows in Designer, where an event in one application triggers your flow to complete actions in other applications. When you create a flow, you must set up accounts for each of the applications that the flow references. For more information, see Creating flows in App Connect Designer.

If you're on the VPC-hours price plan, the App Connect Designer authoring environment is supported for development and test. You can test your flow in Designer as you're developing it and when the flow is complete. To prepare an integration for production use, you export the flow as a BAR file that packages the integration. You then upload the BAR file to the App Connect Dashboard, where you deploy it to an integration runtime that runs the integration.

If you're on the flow runs price plan, you deploy your flows on the Manage page of your App Connect Designer instance.

App Connect Designer has several views where you can monitor your flows, connect to your application accounts, and configure your flows. Access each view from the navigation pane.

  • The icon that represents the Designer home page The Designer home page shows the flows that you worked on recently. It also has tiles to create or import a flow, manage an API flow with IBM API Connect, and download the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, which you can use to create more powerful integrations.
  • The icon that represents the dashboard view for Designer The Designer dashboard shows the event-driven and API flows that you create in Designer. You can create, edit, and export your flows from the Designer dashboard. If you're on the VPC hours plan, you can also start and stop your flows to test them.
  • The icon that represents the Monitor page The Monitor page is visible if you're on the flow runs plan and it shows CPU and memory usage data for your integration runtimes. You can use the monitoring data to check that your runtimes have the appropriate amount of resources. For more information, see Monitoring resources.
  • The icon that represents the Manage pane The Manage page is visible if you're on the flow runs plan and it lists your deployed flows and BAR files. You can deploy your flows here, operate tracing, and view the credentials that you need to connect securely to flows through HTTP requests. For more information, see Deploying integrations on the flow runs plan.
  • The icon that represents the BAR files page The BAR files page is visible in App Connect Designer if you're on the flow runs plan. The BAR files page lists the BAR files that you import and shows where they're deployed, if appropriate. You can delete BAR files or update a BAR file by uploading a replacement file. (If you're on the VPC hours plan, you use the BAR files page in the App Connect Dashboard.)
  • The icon that represents the Catalog of connectors The catalog lists the connectors that you can add to your flows, and the events and actions that are supported for each connector. You can connect to your application accounts here or you can connect to your accounts when you add a connector to a flow.
  • The icon that represents the template gallery The Templates gallery contains templates for common integration use cases. Use templates as a shortcut for creating event-driven or API flows. You can filter the list by searching for a particular application or action. Click a template to see more information about it and instructions for how to use it in a flow. When you create a flow from a template, the flow opens in the flow editor so that you can connect to your accounts and customize the flow for your needs. For more information, see Creating a flow from a template.
  • The icon that represents the logs Use the built-in log viewer to monitor the flows that are running in Designer and to view audit information. You can search and filter the logs, and choose the time period to show events. You can also download the logs as a JSON file. For more information, see Viewing log messages in the log viewer.
  • The icon that represents the Settings page Use the Settings page to configure a secure connection to a system on a private network, configure artificial intelligence (AI) features, and generate credentials to access the public API.
  • The icon that represents the configuration view The Configuration page is visible in App Connect Designer if you're on the flow runs plan. This page lists the configurations that you create. For example, you must create configurations to provide account details if your integrations connect to applications. You can reuse configurations for multiple integrations, and you can create configurations in this view. A configuration for a private network agent is created by default and is used to connect to a system on a private network. You can't edit or delete this default configuration. (If you're on the VPC hours plan, you use the Configuration page in the App Connect Dashboard.)
If you're on the VPC hours plan, you can use the instance switcher on the header to move between your App Connect Designer and App Connect Dashboard instances.
The screenshot shows the drop-down menu on the header where you can select your Designer or Dashboard instance

App Connect Dashboard

If you're on the VPC-hours price plan, the App Connect Dashboard provides a runtime environment for hosting your workloads. You can deploy integrations that you create in App Connect Designer and the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit to run on integration runtimes. These integrations are deployed from BAR files that you upload into the Dashboard instance. You can also use the Dashboard to store and manage BAR files.

If you're on the flow runs price plan, you don't need to configure an integration runtime to run your workload. Therefore, you don't have an App Connect Dashboard instance.

To deploy an integration on the VPC-hours price plan, you upload it in a BAR file, configure the BAR file with environment-specific settings, and create an integration runtime to run the integration. For more information, see Deploying integrations on the VPC plan.

App Connect Dashboard has several views where you can monitor your deployed integrations, and view your BAR files and configurations. Access each view from the navigation pane.

  • The icon that represents the Dashboard home page Use the Dashboard home page to deploy your integrations and access this documentation.
  • The icon that represents the dashboard view of the Dashboard instance The dashboard tab of the Dashboard instance lists the integration runtimes that you create and shows their status. Click an integration runtime to see the contents and properties of that runtime. Use the runtime tile menu to edit or delete the runtime, or change the version. You can also deploy integrations from this view.
  • The icon that represents the logs Use the built-in log viewer to monitor the integrations that are running in the Dashboard and to view audit information. You can search and filter the logs, and choose the time period to show events. You can also download the logs as a JSON file.
  • The icon that represents the Settings page Use the Settings page to configure a secure connection to a system on a private network, and generate credentials to access the public API.
  • The icon that represents the configuration view The configuration view lists the configurations that you create. For example, you must create configurations to provide account details if your integrations connect to applications. A configuration for a private network agent is created by default and is used to connect to a system on a private network. You can't edit or delete this default configuration. You can reuse configurations for multiple runtimes, and you can create configurations in this view.
  • The icon that represents the BAR files view The BAR files page lists the BAR files that you import to the Dashboard and list where they're deployed, if appropriate. You can delete BAR files or update a BAR file by uploading a replacement file.

Flows

A flow connects applications so that you can automate tasks or workflows. In App Connect Designer, you can create event-driven flows and API flows. In an event-driven flow, you can connect applications like Salesforce, Marketo, and SAP, so that when an event occurs in one application, the other connected applications are updated automatically. An API flow allows requests to be submitted through a mobile or web application. The flow completes a sequence of defined actions, then returns a response that indicates whether the actions were successful. The flow can also return response data.

You can also create message flow-based integrations in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, which you can package in BAR files to deploy to App Connect Enterprise as a Service. If you don't have App Connect Enterprise, you can get the Toolkit by downloading IBM App Connect Enterprise for Developers. Download the Toolkit from the Designer home page.

For more information, see Types of flows.

Connectors

A catalog of connectors is provided with App Connect that you use to connect to your applications and complete actions in them. You can access the catalog of connectors through App Connect Designer. You can also import connectors that other App Connect users develop. In the catalog, you can connect to your application accounts and you can see what events and actions are supported in the applications. The following types of connector are available.
Basic connectors

IBM develops and supports basic connectors, which are available to use in your integrations in production at no extra cost. Basic connectors are typically technology connectors, such as email, HTTP, JDBC, REST, and LDAP.

Premium connectors Premium connector label

IBM also develops and supports premium connectors. Your use of premium connectors isn't restricted when you use them in a trial subscription of App Connect Enterprise as a Service. You can also use them without restriction to develop and test flows in App Connect Designer or the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit. However, when you deploy your integrations, you must pay for the connectors that you use. Premium connectors typically integrate business-critical enterprise applications like SAP, Workday, and Salesforce. You can purchase add-on premium connectors in packs of three.

  • You don't need to specify which connectors you want to use when you purchase a connector pack.

    Each three-pack of connectors entitles you to deploy any three premium connectors of your choice to your App Connect Enterprise as a Service subscription. You don't need to specify which connectors you want to use when you buy the add-on packs. When you deploy your flows, you can deploy flows that contain only your entitled number of different premium connectors.

  • A three-pack of connectors entitles you to use that number of connectors across all instances of App Connect Enterprise as a Service.
    If you provision separate service instances under your subscription to represent different environments or geographical regions, the premium asset pack is available to all instances. For example, if you purchase a three-pack of premium connectors, then deploy a flow that includes only Salesforce connectors to all three environments, you are using one connector from your entitlement of three.
    The diagram shows that a 3-pack of connectors can be used across 3 instances in your subscription.

Premium connectors are available in both App Connect Enterprise as a Service and the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.

  • In App Connect Enterprise as a Service, the premium connector label Premium connector label denotes premium connectors in the catalog. For a list of premium connectors in App Connect Enterprise as a Service, see How-to guides for applications.
  • In the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, all discovery connectors are premium connectors. The following connectors are also premium connectors.
    • IBM ODM
    • IBM Sterling C:D
    • Oracle JD Edwards
    • Oracle PeopleSoft
    • Oracle Siebel
    • Salesforce
    • SAP
    For a list of connectors and discovery connectors in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, see Built-in nodes in the App Connect Enterprise documentation.
  • Connectors for different products from the same company (such as Salesforce or Microsoft) are counted as separate connectors. For example, if you deploy a flow with a Salesforce connector and a Salesforce Marketing Cloud connector, you're using two connectors of your entitlement.
  • If you deploy separate Designer and Toolkit flows that both contain Salesforce connectors, you're using one connector of your entitlement. If you deploy a flow that contains a Salesforce event and a Salesforce action, you're using one connector of your entitlement.

You can purchase premium connector packs from the AWS Marketplace by clicking View purchase options.

Community connectors

App Connect users develop community connectors and share them in the IBM Automation Explorer. You can import community connectors to use in App Connect. When you add a community connector to the catalog, it is marked with a community connector icon Community connector icon. If you need support with a community connector, use the App Connect community to ask questions.

You can also develop your own connectors, which you can then share with the community in the Automation Explorer. To find out how to use the Connector Development Kit to develop your own connectors, see Overview of the IBM Connector Development Kit.

Integration runtimes

If you're on the VPC-hours price plan, an integration runtime runs your integrations. An integration can be developed in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, or it can be developed as a flow in App Connect Designer. You deploy an integration in the App Connect Dashboard by packaging it or exporting it in one or more BAR files, then running the contents of the BAR file in an integration runtime. To configure an integration runtime with environment-specific settings, secrets, or data, you create one or more configurations to apply to the associated BAR files when you deploy it. For more information, see Deploying integrations on the VPC plan. You can also see which App Connect Enterprise resources are supported in BAR files that you deploy to App Connect Enterprise as a Service in Supported resources in imported BAR files.

After you deploy an integration runtime, you can enable tracing to help to diagnose problems. For more information, see Collecting trace for deployed flows. You can also monitor the CPU and memory usage data for your integration runtimes to check that your runtimes have the appropriate amount of resources. For more information, see Monitoring resources.

If you're on the flow runs price plan, you deploy your flows from App Connect Designer and you don't need to configure integration runtimes.