Choosing the deployment environment type

When you configure IBM® Business Automation Workflow, you must choose your deployment environment type: IBM Workflow Center or IBM Workflow Server, and Advanced, Standard, or AdvancedOnly.

Workflow Center provides a repository for process assets, a runtime environment for testing and studying the performance of processes, and a console for administering access to assets and deploying processes to development, test, staging, or production environments. You need at least one Workflow Center deployment environment somewhere in your system. The environment type of a Workflow Center will always be Development.

Workflow Server is a runtime environment for process applications and a data warehouse for collecting performance data from the applications. It includes administrative consoles for managing and maintaining the runtime environments and data warehouses.

When you install (deploy) a process application snapshot to a Workflow Server, the assets of that snapshot are moved from the Workflow Center repository to the selected Workflow Server. The Workflow Server can be connected to a Workflow Center or offline. Depending on your needs and whether the Workflow Server is connected or offline, you can use Workflow Center or wsadmin commands to install the snapshot. See Installing process application snapshots.

If you choose the offline server option during typical installation, Workflow Center is not installed. You might choose to install an offline Workflow Server if you already have a Workflow Center installed, or if the Workflow Server is behind a firewall. Once Workflow Server is installed, you can add the offline server to a Workflow Center in order to deploy your process applications.

Choose an Advanced deployment environment if you are not sure which to choose. The Advanced deployment environment gives you access to all features and functions. Choose Standard if you are sure you do not need the BPEL, SCA, or mediation flow (ESB) features. A Standard deployment environment has a slightly smaller footprint. If you discover later that you need Advanced components after all, you can update your deployment environment from Standard to Advanced. The AdvancedOnly deployment environment was added mainly for customers migrating from WebSphere® Process Server.