Running WSO2 Carbon based products on IBM JDK

The next minor release of WSO2 Carbon product platform (2.0.2) will be fully compatible with IBM JDK (IBM J9 VM 2.4). You simply need to update transports.xml as follows in order to run any of the WSO2 carbon based product on IBM JDK.

Open CARBON_HOME/transports.xml

Add the following parameter to HTTPS transport configuration

<parameter name="algorithm">IBMX509</parameter>

Now, restart carbon. Server will be started successfully on IBM JDK.

Carbon-2.0.2 product platform will be released within next week. Stay tuned..

How to configure persistent RM in WSO2 WSAS

WSO2 Web Services Application Server (WSAS) provides with a storage manager in which you can persist messages transmitted between RMS (reliable messaging source) and RMD (reliable messaging destination). By configuring persistent RM, you can prevent messages loses even if the server is down. This post guides you through the steps to configure persistent RM in the latest versions of WSO2 WSAS (WSAS-3.*). I assume you have a basic understanding about WS-RM, if not, please read http://www.infoq.com/articles/fremantle-wsrm-introduction first.
Pre-requisites
Download and install WSO2 WSAS-3.1.1

Persistent implementation of WS-RM will be supported in most of the popular DBMSs. However, I will use MySQL server 5.* in this demonstration. Therefore, install and configure MySQL.

Step 1
As the first step, we need to create the persistent storage which is going to be used in reliable message transmission. Lets create a data base and the necessary table as follows.

mysql>create database SANDESHA_DB;


mysql>use SANDESHA_DB;


mysql>create table wsrm_sender (
message_id varchar(255) not null,
message_context_ref_key varchar(255),
internal_sequence_id varchar(255),
sequence_id varchar(255),
to_address varchar(255),
inbound_sequence_id varchar(255),
send smallint,
sent_count integer,
message_number bigint,
resend smallint,
time_to_send bigint,
message_type integer,
last_message smallint,
inbound_message_number bigint,
transport_available smallint,
flags integer,
primary key (message_id)
);

mysql>create table wsrm_rmd (
sequence_id varchar(255) not null,
to_epr_addr varchar(255),
to_epr blob,
reply_to_epr_addr varchar(255),
reply_to_epr blob,
acks_to_epr_addr varchar(255),
acks_to_epr blob,
rm_version varchar(255),
security_token_data varchar(255),
last_activated_time bigint,
closed smallint,
terminated_flag smallint,
polling_mode smallint,
service_name varchar(255),
flags integer,
reference_message_key varchar(255),
highest_in_message_id varchar(255),
last_in_message_id varchar(255),
server_completed_messages blob,
outof_order_ranges blob,
to_address varchar(255),
outbound_internal_sequence varchar(255),
next_msgno_to_process bigint,
highest_in_message_number bigint,
rmd_flags integer,
primary key (sequence_id)
);

mysql>create table wsrm_rms (
create_seq_msg_id varchar(255) not null,
sequence_id varchar(255),
to_epr_addr varchar(255),
to_epr blob,
reply_to_epr_addr varchar(255),
reply_to_epr blob,
acks_to_epr_addr varchar(255),
acks_to_epr blob,
rm_version varchar(255),
security_token_data varchar(255),
last_activated_time BIGINT,
closed smallint,
terminated_flag smallint,
polling_mode smallint,
service_name varchar(255),
flags integer,
id bigint,
internal_sequence_id varchar(255),
create_sequence_msg_store_key varchar(255),
reference_msg_store_key varchar(255),
last_send_error blob,
highest_out_relates_to varchar(255),
client_completed_messages blob,
transport_to varchar(255),
offered_endpoint varchar(255),
offered_sequence varchar(255),
anonymous_uuid varchar(255),
last_send_error_timestamp bigint,
last_out_message bigint,
highest_out_message_number bigint,
next_message_number bigint,
terminate_added smallint,
timed_out smallint,
sequence_closed_client smallint,
expected_replies bigint,
soap_version integer,
termination_pauser_for_cs smallint,
avoid_auto_termination smallint,
rms_flags integer,
primary key (create_seq_msg_id)
);

mysql>create table wsrm_invoker (
message_context_ref_key varchar(255) not null,
sequence_id varchar(255),
context blob,
msg_no bigint,
flags integer,
PRIMARY KEY (message_context_ref_key)
);

mysql>create table wsrm_msgctx (
ctx_key varchar(255) not null,
ctx blob,
PRIMARY KEY (ctx_key)
);

Step 2

Since we are going to establish a JDBC connection to a MySQL DB, copy mysql jdbc driver to WSAS_HOME/repository/components/lib and restart WSAS
Log in to WSAS management console and click on modules -->list. Click on configure link of the sandesha2 module.
By default, WSO2 WSAS uses an inmemory implementation of WS-RM. You can change it to persistent by changing Storage Manager property. Configure the rest of the persistent storage details as follows.

Connection String - jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/SANDESHA_DB
Driver Name - com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
Username - your mysql username 
Password - your mysql password

Step 3

Now, you have enabled persistent RM in WSO2 WSAS. However, due to a bug in the latest WSAS releases, you should update the following property in WSAS_HOME/conf/axis2.xml

<parameter name="Sandesha2StorageManager">persistent</parameter>

Make sure to restart WSAS after configuring the above element in axis2.xml

Step 4

Now, you are ready to send requests to a service hosted in WSAS through RM and verify persistent RM. In order to do that, engage sandesha2 module in a service and send series of requests (say 100 requests) using a RM client (I assume you are familiar with sending soap messages with RM headers. I will publish a separate post on complete RM client-server invocation soon). After transmitting 30 requests, shutdown WSAS and restart. You will notice that after the server is restarted, the message transmission will be resumed from the message no: 31

If you have any issues with the steps given above, please drop me a mail.

Key factors for successful test automation

At WSO2, we have been making considerable progress in building a complete test automation solution. According to my experience on that effort, I think the followings are the key factors contributed to a successful test automation project.

• Dedication to automation (Instead of treating it as a spare-time activity)

• Commitment by the entire team (rather than just one or two testers),

• Commitment to automation from the start (rather than trying to automate a manual process later)

• Making use of correct tools/frameworks/technology

• Allocating sufficient time and resources
  

How to pass system properties to maven surefire plugin test run

While developing WSO2 QA test framework (which is based on selenium RC), we wanted to give users the choice of selecting test cases without running whole suite at once. Our plan was to pass a system property during maven test run. However, passing a system property directly through command line does not work since the surefire plugin is run under a different JVM instance that is launched by Maven.
In order to overcome this, maven surefire plugin can be configured as follows by specifying the required system property.

<systemProperties>
<property>
<name>test.suite</name>
<value>${test.suite}</value>
</property>
</systemProperties>

According to this example configuration, we can run test suite with passing a system property as follows.

'mvn clean install -Dtest.suite=test-case'

The newest version (2.0.1) of WSO2 carbon family of prodcuts released!!

The latest version of WSO2 carbon based products were released yesterday. More info can be found at http://wso2.org/projects/carbon

New Features in This Release
----------------------------
* Improved transaction support.
* Improved Support for deploying on top of WebSphere, WebLogic, and
JBoss.
* P2 based provisioning for WSO2 Carbon family of products.
* Numerous bug fixes.

How to run multiple WSO2 WSAS instances in a single host

I have published a simple three step tutorial on running multiple WSO2 WSAS instances in a single host in WSO2 Oxygen Tank. Have a look!

How to enable JMS in WSO2 WSAS-3.*

WSO2 WSAS provides with a simple and easily configurable UI to enable transports. In this post, we are going to look at how JMS is enabled in WSAS-3.* versions.

Pre-requisites:
----------------
You can use any JMS provider as you preferred. I'm going to use Apache ActiveMQ-5.2.0 for this example.
Download the latest version of WSO2 WSAS from here

Step 1
-------
Suppose you have downloaded WSO2 WSAS-3.* and extracted in to a directory in your file system. Let it be WSAS_HOME

First, we need to start ActiveMQ message broker. Go to ActiveMQ_Install_dir/bin and run activemq.bat
Also, the following ActiveMQ libraries must be copied to WSAS_HOME/repository/components/lib directory

• activeio-core-3.1-SNAPSHOT.jar (ActiveMQ_Install_dir\lib\optional)
  
• activemq-core-5.0.0.jar (ActiveMQ_Install_dir\lib\)
• geronimo-j2ee-management_1.0_spec-1.0.jar (ActiveMQ_Install_dir\lib\)
• geronimo-jms_1.1_spec-1.0.jar (ActiveMQ_Install_dir\lib\)

Now, restart WSO2 WSAS

Step 2
-------
Log in to WSAS management console (username=admin, password=admin) and click on Manage --> Transports at the left navigation menu.
You will be directed to the Transport Management page as follows.



Step 3
-------
Locate JMS transport in the above Transport Management page and click on enable next to transportListener
Following page will be shown where you can configure JMS listener according to your JMS provider.



similarly, you can enable JMSSender.

If JMS is configured correctly as in the above steps, you will see the JMS endpoints of your service will be shown in the WSDLs or service dashboard as follows.

WSO2 Carbon is among InfoWorlds best open source software

WSO2 has been named an InfoWorld 2009 Best of Open Source Software (Bossie) Award winner.

http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/best-open-source-platforms-and-middleware-758?current=9&last=8?r=76

Proud to be a member of the award winning team :)

Where to put third party jars in WSO2 WSAS?

In the pre-carbon versions of WSO2 WSAS (2.* and older), you may have used WSAS_HOME/lib/extensions directory to put third party jars such as jdbc drivers.

After WSO2 WSAS became a part of WSO2 Carbon platform, a.k.a WSAS-3.* versions, all third party jars should be placed inside WSAS_HOME/repostiroy/components/lib directory of your WSAS distribution.

**This is applicable to all WSO2 Carbon products (WSAS, ESB, G-reg, IS, BPS)

Remotely starting OSGI console when WSO2 Carbon runs on an application server

When WSO2 Carbon based product (WSAS, ESB, G-reg, BPS, IS) runs in standalone mode, you can start server with equinox OSGI console just by issuing -DosgiConsole system property.

wso2server.bat -DosgiConsole

How do you connect to OSGI console when you are running Carbon on an application server such as WebSphere or WebLogic (or tomcat, JBoss etc..)?

1. Open WEB-INF/web.xml file of the carbon web application
2. Uncomment the following element

<init-param>

<param-name>osgiConsole</param-name>

<param-value>-console 19444</param-value>

</init-param>

3. Now restart carbon with these settings.
4. Open a new command window/shell and connect to osgiConsole using telnet as follows

telnet localhost 19444