Changing Persistence Levels

Persistence level is the level of detail written to the database even as the business process runs. Sterling B2B Integrator can persist either all the data or only a small amount of data for each activity that is processed.

The default value for Sterling B2B Integrator is Full persistence. You may find that you have to change the persistence level to a lower level in order to enhance performance.

When you design your business processes, review your persistence requirements and set persistence levels appropriately to reduce the chances of your database filling up and slowing both your processing and your system. You may have some business processes for which you have to persist all the steps and data, and other business processes for which you do not have to persist any of the steps or data.

There are three levels at which you can set persistence:
  • Global – Change the value of the persistence_level property in the install_dir/properties/noapp.properties_gis_ext.in file. The default value is SYSTEM DEFAULT. You cannot set the value to PERSISTENCE_WF_NONE or PERSISTENCE_ERROR_ONLY.
    Note: It is more efficient to set persistence levels at either the business process level or the activity level.
  • Business Process – Change the persistence level during the check-in process. The business process persistence level overrides the global persistence level.
  • Activity Level – Change the persistence level in the service or adapter. The activity persistence level overrides the business process persistence level and the global persistence level. However, changing the persistence level at the Activity level is rarely necessary.

Changing Persistence at the Global Level

To edit the global persistence levels:
  1. Open the install_dir/properties/noapp.properties_gis_ext.in file using a text editor.
  2. In the property file, locate the persistence_level property, and change the value to the persistence level you want.
    Note: If the persistence level property is a comment in the noapp.properties_gis_ext.in file (#persistence_level=value), the persistence level is the default value of full (PERSISTENCE_FULL).
    • PERSISTENCE_FULL – Saves a complete copy the of process data along each step of the process.
    • PERSISTENCE_MINIMAL – Saves all the steps in a business process and selected copies of process data.
    • PERSISTENCE_NONE – Saves the first and last steps of a business process and any steps with an override persistence level.
      Note: Use PERSISTENCE_NONE for day-to-day processing.
  3. Stop Sterling B2B Integrator.
  4. In the install_dir/bin directory, run one the following commands:
    • (For UNIX or Linux®) setupfiles.sh
    • (For Windows) setupfiles.cmd
  5. Start Sterling B2B Integrator.

Changing Persistence at the Business Process Level

To edit the persistence at the business process level:

  1. From the Administration menu, select Business Processes > Manager.
  2. Enter either the entire business process name for which you want to edit the persistence level or a part of the business process name in the Search box and click Go!.
  3. Click source manager adjacent to the business process you want to edit.
  4. Click edit adjacent to the corresponding business process in order to lock the business process and access the Graphical Process Modeler.
  5. In the BPML Specification page that is displayed, enter a new description that will help you identify this version of the business process.
  6. Click Next.
  7. In the Process Levels page, indicate the level of persistence you want to assign for the business process:
    • Full - Retains all the data for this business process, including associated documents, activities, and all the process data.
      Note: This choice uses the maximum amount of system resources compared to other persistence settings.
    • Step Status (Engine May Override) - Retains the process data and documents for services configured to always persist data for a business process. Sterling B2B Integrator may persist the additional data that is requested by the process engine or service parameters.

      This setting is recommended for most processes because it helps optimize performance and provides a level of process recovery that is suitable for most business requirements.

    • BP Start Stop (Engine May Override) - Retains additional data as requested by the process engine or service parameters.
    • System Default - Assumes that Sterling B2B Integrator is already configured to retain data.
    • Step Status Only - Every step in the business process runs with minimal persistence, even if a service or adapter is preconfigured for full persistence. Sterling B2B Integrator does not persist additional data.

      Select this setting if you want to persist only the status information for each step, you are certain that your process will execute successfully without persisted data, and your recovery requirements do not depend on the step data being saved.

    • BP Start Stop Only - Retains only error information. Select this setting when you are certain that your process will execute successfully without persisted data, and when your recovery requirements do not depend on the process step data being saved.
    • Zero - Does not retain any data.
    • Error Only - Retains process information only when an error occurs. If nothing is wrong and streamed document data is not used, nothing is retained.
    • BP Start Stop Only(No Errors) - Retains information only on business process start and stop steps only. The first step of the business process is persisted in full and the last step is persisted in minimal. However, when the business process encounters an error and stops, the error step is not persisted and the business process stays in the ACTIVE state.
    • Override None No IC - Does not retain any details while the business process is running or in the current process, and will not retain any details after the business process is run.
  8. Click Next.
  9. In the Deadline Settings page that is displayed, click Next.
  10. In the Life Span page that is displayed , click Next.
  11. In the Default Version page that is displayed , click Next.
  12. In the Confirm page that is displayed , click Finish.
Note: When the workflow has the storage set to file system or document tracking is enabled, regardless of the persistence level setting of the workflow, the documents processed by the workflow will be saved in the storage internally. The payload in the file system can be purged later or the document can be tracked by the end user using the Current Documents search page. It is invisible to the end user directly. Because the documents are saved to storage, it will have an impact on the performance.