IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Authoring services in Integration Designer > Services and service-related functions > Access external services with adapters

Trade-offs when developing adapter imports and exports

The external service wizard provides options for you. This section examines the meaning of choosing certain options and guidance in the use of the wizard.

Use connection properties specified on a server or using the discovered ones

When using the external service wizard with adapters that access EIS systems, the wizard will detect the connection properties and towards the end of building your import or export component, you can use these properties or you can specify your own. Using the connection properties specified on a server means that someone, usually a system administrator, has set up the connection properties ahead of time. The system administrator provides you with the Java™ Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) lookup name and Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) alias name. You insert the information and continue using the wizard. The advantage to this method is that you and others do not waste your development time in this area, security is maintained by one person, the system administrator, and there is one central control area to maintain. However, you may not have such a person, particularly if you are in a smaller organization, or you do not have many servers to maintain. In this case, the external service wizard provides you with the connection information it has found and you need to only add a few extra values.

For example, the adapter you use might require that you add the password and national language information.

Deploying or not deploying the adapter in the module

When you build a component using the external service wizard, you are given the option of including the adapter in your module. Why might you consider this option and what is the trade-off? Sometimes you may have several versions of the same adapter. Including the adapter with the module could be a way of handling the different versions. There is also a security consideration. You may not want a user accessing an adapter and so you could contain it in the module. Is the user accessing the adapter from the same application? Then you might include it. But if the user is accessing the adapter from another application, then it needs to be separate from the module.

The trade-off for including the adapter in the module is that with each deployed service you are carrying the cost of an additional adapter, which can occupy considerable space on your application server. Also, there is a higher maintenance cost. When you have to upgrade an adapter, if it is installed on a server then you only have to make a single update. One more point: some adapters may only support being deployed embedded in a module or on the server.

Federated namespaces

A federated namespace is a logical namespace where elements of the logical namespace may reside in other places. Federated namespaces are supported in IBM Integration Designer. Generally, federated namespaces will not pose a problem to you, however, you must be careful that you do not have collisions of types within a single namespace you have specified.

Grouping import or export components

It is good practice to group the import and export components for a single EIS system.

For example, you should not mix components created from querying a PeopleSoft server with components created from querying a CICS server. If you have different PeopleSoft systems referred to in the same module, the components should be grouped accordingly.

Access external services with adapters

Related concepts:
Pattern of accessing external services with adapters
Developing services with adapters
Simple adapter wizard
Migrating applications using previous adapter levels

Related tasks:
Configure and using adapters
Create a business object from a source file

Related reference:
J2C data bindings
A closer look at business objects from data structures
J2C imports and exports at run time
Considerations when using adapters
Considerations when refactoring
Contributing your own external service or data wizard plug-in
Limitations for adapter imports and exports