Tag Archives: cast iron

File Transfer Integration Flow With Websphere Cast Iron V6

I had a great comment from Shashi Kiran on my blog that my previous post on File Transfer with Cast Iron was outdated as the new version of Cast Iron V6 changes the way some configurations when an integration flow is created.

The following is what we want to achieve:

Step 1: When I click on “Select Inputs”, another popup  appears.

Step 2. Clicked on “Data”

Step 3. I had to drag /draw a line from “From” to “to”  for the green line to appear. ( I have to make some sort of a relation I think )

Step 4. Click on Run Test, and then this is where I am lost ! It asks for the test data file and when I enter the data file., it comes back as “Could not process file due to the following error. Content is not allowed in Prolog.”

Above is the new Cast Iron V6 config that Shashi Kiran shared with me, many thanks mate and I know the community appreciate your input.

Insert row DB2 with Websphere Cast Iron

How to insert a row into DB2 using Websphere Cast Iron.

Step 1: Create an DB2 Endpoint by specifying the following information:

  • DB2 Database Name
  • DB2 Host Name
  • DB2 Port Number
  • DB2 Username
  • DB2 Password

Please make sure that the Cast Iron appliance or Virtual image has rights to insert a row onto DB2. This can be done by specifying the Privileges in the DB2 Control Centre.

Step 2: Test the connection to verify all information is correct.

Step 3: Create your integration flow

Step 4: Specify the DB2 Endpoint created in Step 1 and select the table and row you want the data to be inserted into

Step 5: Create the input and output maps for both activities

Step 6: Verify and test the flow.

This flow will update a website that is located in a cloud environment (like Amazon EC2) and updated an on-premise DB2 instance.

File Transfer Integration flow with Websphere Cast Iron

How to integrate file transfer with Cast Iron

Step 1: Create or start your ftp server (in this case I just use FileZilla Server)

Step 2: In your file server create a user or role and specify the permissions of the user and some username and password

Step 3: Create an FTP endpoint by specifying:

  • FTP Host Name
  • FTP Port Number
  • FTP Username
  • FTP Password

Step 4: Test the connection by clicking on the ‘Test Connection’ button.

Step 5: Create your FTP integration flow

In this flow we will be moving Files from a Cloud Server to a local user machine

Step 6: Specify the folder of the file from origin to destination

Step 7. Test the integration flow by dropping a file into the origin folder and see if it has been move to the destination folder.

    Cast Iron Websphere MQ integration Flow

    How to integrate Websphere MQ integration flow with Cast Iron tutorial.

    Before starting this tutorial make sure that you have the MQ jar files added to the -> Install Module Providers Menu

    Step 1: Create a Websphere MQ endpoint by specifying the following information:

    • Websphere MQ hostname
    • Websphere MQ port
    • Queue Manager Name
    • Server Connection Channel Name
    • MQ Privilege User – Username
    • MQ Privilege User – Password

    Step 2:  On Websphere MQ Explorer create the following:

    • Local Queue
    • Create Server Connection Channel

    Step 3: Create your integration Flow

    Step 4: Specify the the MQ Endpoint as one create in Step 1

    Step 5: Create the input and output maps for the two activities.

    Step 6: Verify and test the integration flow.

    Salesforce and DB2 integration with Cast Iron

    Below is a short tutorial on how to integrate Salesforce with IBM DB2 using Cast Iron.

    1. Define your SalesForce Endpoint by providing the following information (you must be a registered member of Salesforce):

    • Username
    • Password

    Ste 2: Test the connection and make sure that it is successful.

    Step 3: Define the DB2 Endpoint by providing the following information:

    • DB2 Hostname
    • DB2 Port Number
    • DB2 Username
    • DB2 Password
    • PackageCollection: 100 (this can be any value)

    Step 4: Test your DB2 connection to make sure it successfully connects to DB2

    Step 5: Create you Orchestration flow

    Step 6: Select the Salesforce Endpoint in Step 1 as the Endpoint for the ‘Poll Updated Activities’ Activity

    Step 7: Select the Salesforce table that you want to poll.

    In this instance in the Account Table the Name field was selected and will be used to update into DB2.

    Step 8: Create the Ouput Map that will be the Input to the DB2 Activity

    Step 9: On the Insert Rows activity select the DB2 Endpoint created in Step 3. Select the table that you want to insert the new row.

    Step 10: Select the field of the DB2 Endpoint to insert the Salesforce data.

    Step 11: Map the output from the Salesforce Poll Update Object activity to the input of the DB2 insert row activity.

    Step 12: Validate the flow and run the flow

    What will happen is when any update or new entry is added in the Accounts Salesforce browser and new row entry will be added to the DB2 database.

    Setup Websphere Cast Iron Virtual Appliance

    How to setup Websphere Cast Iron Virtual Appliance.

    Step 1: Get the iso file for the virtual appliance, the one used for this scenario was: factory-19k-official-5_0_0_6-102.iso

    Step 2: Open VM Workstation and create a new virtual appliance, see the steps below:

    Step 3: As you can see we have added another Network adapter that is also bridged. Please make sure your VM has not started before you add another Network Adapter, the reason for this is the one Network Adapter is for the Web and the other for the Data.

    Step 4: Config the New DVD/CD Settings to the following:

    Step 5: Run the virtual appliance and after it has started up the first command to run is: install

    Step 6: Enter the value 1 into the console to start the Installation.

    Step 7: Select Fresh Install

    Step 8: Select yes to confirm that you would like to start a fresh install of the Cast Iron Appliance

    Step 9: Press any key to continue

    Step 10: Select the option ‘Exit and Reboot’

    Step 11: Add your virtual identity to register your appliance. The command looks as follows and fill in your appliance ID where … is specified.

    Step 12: After you have registered the virtual appliance you can call the help keyword to see all the relevant keywords.

    Step 13: View the two interfaces for the appliance:

    Step 14: Log into into the appliance with any browser:

    Now you are ready to deploy Cast Iron flows into your virtual appliance.

    Websphere Cast Iron – Hello World Integration Flow

    This is my first of many integration flows in Websphere Cast Iron. See the steps below to create a Cast Iron Integration Flow.

    Step 1; Open Cast Iron Studio and create a new project (My project was called Project 1)

    Step 2: An orchestration will be created for you automatically which you can rename. The following step is to create an endpoint, in this instance we will create an HTTP endpoint that listens on port 80.

    Step 3:  Below is all the setting for the HTTP Endpoint that you can set:

    Step 4: Drag the following 2 activities into your editor: Receive Request and Post Request and connect your HTTP endpoint. It must look like the following:

    Step 5: Click on the Send Response Activity and click on Map Inputs, then right click on the Body field and select ‘Define Default Value’. Enter in ‘Hello World!’ or any other default value.

    Step 6: Validate the project by clicking on the Validate Project button in the IDE, the following message is expected.

    Step 7: Publish the flow to my virtual appliance by specifying the IP address of my Web Interface by clicking on Publish Project and completing the relevant information.

    Step 8: Verify that the project has been published successfully.

    Step 9: Log into your Virtual Appliance to see the project (Project1) being published. See project in Red Box.

    Step 10: Start the Project by clicking on the green play button.

    Step 11: Open Cast Iron HTTP Post Utility and the Data IP address followed by the URI that was specified in the Receive Request activity and click Submit.

    Last Step: Enjoy the success of your first Cast Iron flow.

    Cast Iron must be one of the easiest and most user friendly integration tools that I have used. This whole exercise was done in less than 5 min…just show that their motto “Integration in days” is definitely true.

    Cast Iron integration into the current IBM ESB stack

    So where does Cast Iron fit into the IBM Websphere stack?Cast Iron primary used for Cloud to on-premise integration. Where you can create a message flow diagram using the Cast Iron Studio and deploy that flow to the following environments:

    1. Cast Iron Appliance (which is now the Datapower XH35 Cast Iron V5.1)

    http://www.castiron.com/ibm/websphere/datapower/castiron/appliance/xh35

    2. The virtual Cast Iron appliance which can be installed in VMWare.

    3. Amazon EC2

    So how can you integrate Cast Iron with current IBM ESB’s:

    1. Datapower XI50

    2. Websphere Message Broker

    3. WESB (Websphere ESB)

    The simple answer is:

    1. Websphere MQ

    2. Web Services

    Cast Iron integrates natively to Websphere MQ and any Web Services call can be made. This is a great addition to the IBM Stack and will be a great solution for customers that want to do any cloud integration.