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Configure connection to Bonita Engine

Learn how to configure your application to connect to a remote Bonita Engine, in order to access Engine APIs

If you want your application to use Bonita Engine APIs of a remote engine, your application (the client) must configure the connection to the remote engine (the server)

The engine (the server) must also be configured to accept the connection.

the Bonita Portal can be configured to be used as a Client of the Bonita Engine. documentation for more information

Client configuration

There is three ways to configure the client to connect to the Bonita Engine.

First the engine client verify if the configuration is set programmatically, then it tries to get the configuration set in system properties, finally it falls back to the legacy way of configuration that is the bonita home client.

Configure Client using programmatic configuration

You can configure the connection to the engine directly using org.bonitasoft.engine.util.APITypeManager, please refer to the Javadoc.

Here is an example of programmatic configuration to an engine

HashMap<String,String> parameters= new HashMap<>();
parameters.put("server.url", "http://myserver.com:8080");
parameters.put("application.name", "bonita-application");
APITypeManager.setAPITypeAndParams(ApiAccessType.HTTP, parameters)

Configure Client using System properties

You can set the system property org.bonitasoft.engine.api-type to HTTP, EJB3 or LOCAL.

  • HTTP: The HTTP connection mode will connect the client to the engine using the http protocol. This is the most common way to connect to engine remotly.
    When using HTTP mode, you must set the following system properties

    • org.bonitasoft.engine.api-type.server.url: it is the url of the server, e.g. for a engine on the same host it can be http://localhost:8080

    • org.bonitasoft.engine.api-type.application.name: it is the name of the web aplication on wich the engine HTTP API is deployed, e.g. bonita

    In addition, starting from version 7.9.4, the number of connections used by the client can be configured with system property org.bonitasoft.engine.api-type.connections.max, the default is 20.

We do not guarantee to keep the http protocol stable, so we strongly recommend that you use the same version for both the client and the server

EJB communication protocol is removed in 7.10.

  • EJB3 (deprecated, removed in 7.10) The EJB3 connection mode will connect the client to the engine using EJBs.
    You will need to specify at least org.bonitasoft.engine.ejb.naming.reference that is the name use to lookup the ServerAPI

  • LOCAL This is the default connection mode, it connects to the server in the same JVM (not remote). If nothing is set this mode will be used.

Configure client using Bonita Home client

Deprecated, use the programmatic way instead, see APITypeManager.

This is a legacy way to configure the connection to the remote engine.

In this case you have to create a folder containing a engine-client directory and a conf subdirectory. This last subdirectory must contain a file named bonita-client-custom.properties having as content configuration of the engine client (see below). Finally set the System property bonita.home to the root folder you created.

Here is the default content of this configuration file, uncomment the part of the file corresponding to the type of connection you want and customize it according to your application.

###template file
# LOCAL
org.bonitasoft.engine.api-type = LOCAL

# HTTP
#org.bonitasoft.engine.api-type = HTTP
#server.url = http://localhost:8080
#application.name = bonita
#connections.max = 20

# Remote: EJB3
#org.bonitasoft.engine.api-type = EJB3
# WildFly 10
#java.naming.factory.url.pkgs = org.jboss.ejb.client.naming
#default EJB reference name
#org.bonitasoft.engine.ejb.naming.reference=ejb:bonita-ear/bonita-ejb/serverAPIBean!org.bonitasoft.engine.api.internal.ServerAPI

Server configuration

Server configuration to accept HTTP Connection

By default Tomcat and WildFly bundles are configured to accept connection for HTTP connections.

It is configured in the web.xml file of the web application like this:

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>HttpAPIServlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.bonitasoft.engine.api.internal.servlet.HttpAPIServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>

This HTTP access is not secured, it should not be exposed outside a trusted area. We recommend you to deactivate it if you expose directly your deployment to the outside world.

Server configuration to accept EJB3 connection

EJB communication protocol is removed in 7.10.

By default the WildFly bundle is configured to accept connection for EJB3.

For an EJB3 client connection to work with WildFly 10, there are some additional configuration steps.

If the client is not located on the same host than the WildFly server, you need to create a Application user in the WildFly administration console.
So open the WildFly administration console and create a user account to be used for remote connections (for example, username bonita and password bpm).

Your Java client needs to have the WildFly client classes in the classpath for it to communicate correctly with the server.
If you use Maven to manage your dependencies, add the following dependency in your pom.xml :

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.wildfly</groupId>
    <artifactId>wildfly-ejb-client-bom</artifactId>
    <version>10.1.0.Final</version>
    <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

The same kind of configuration is possible if you use some other dependency management tool like gradle or ivy.
If you do not use any management tool, you have to include the jboss-client.jar to your classpath. It is available in the WildFly bundle in the $WILDFLY_HOME/bin/client folder.

Create a property file named jboss-ejb-client.properties, to the client classpath.
It contains information needed to make the remote connection, including the username and password of the user you created in the WildFly console, as shown below:

endpoint.name=client-endpoint
remote.connectionprovider.create.options.org.xnio.Options.SSL_ENABLED=false
remote.connections=default

remote.connection.default.host=myhostname
remote.connection.default.port = 8080
remote.connection.default.connect.options.org.xnio.Options.SASL_POLICY_NOANONYMOUS=false
remote.connection.default.username=bonita
remote.connection.default.password=bpm

Update the bonita-client.properties file configured in the ${bonita.home}/client/conf folder for the bonita client to connect to the server with the appropriate API type.

# Remote: EJB3
org.bonitasoft.engine.api-type = EJB3
# WildFly 10
java.naming.factory.url.pkgs = org.jboss.ejb.client.naming
#default EJB reference name
org.bonitasoft.engine.ejb.naming.reference=ejb:bonita-ear/bonita-ejb/serverAPIBean!org.bonitasoft.engine.api.internal.ServerAPI

If it is not already done for the WildFly server to accept remote connections, update the WildFly configuration file, standalone.xml:

  • In the interfaces section, modify the IP address so that the Bonita Engine is visible to the network.

  • Specify that port 4447 comes from the remoting socket-binding.

Troubleshooting

If the following stacktrace appears in your client console :

IllegalStateException
Sep 29, 2015 3:46:16 PM org.jboss.ejb.client.EJBClient <clinit>
INFO: JBoss EJB Client version 1.0.5.Final
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalStateException: No EJB receiver available for handling [appName:bonita-ear,modulename:bonita-ejb,distinctname:] combination for invocation context org.jboss.ejb.client.EJBClientInvocationContext@24e6d224
        at org.jboss.ejb.client.EJBClientContext.requireEJBReceiver(EJBClientContext.java:584)
        at org.jboss.ejb.client.ReceiverInterceptor.handleInvocation(ReceiverInterceptor.java:119)
        at org.jboss.ejb.client.EJBClientInvocationContext.sendRequest(EJBClientInvocationContext.java:181)
        at org.jboss.ejb.client.EJBInvocationHandler.doInvoke(EJBInvocationHandler.java:136)
        at org.jboss.ejb.client.EJBInvocationHandler.doInvoke(EJBInvocationHandler.java:121)
        at org.jboss.ejb.client.EJBInvocationHandler.invoke(EJBInvocationHandler.java:104)
        at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy0.invokeMethod(Unknown Source)
        at org.bonitasoft.engine.api.EJB3ServerAPI.invokeMethod(EJB3ServerAPI.java:68)
        at org.bonitasoft.engine.api.impl.ClientInterceptor.invoke(ClientInterceptor.java:86)
        at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy1.login(Unknown Source)
        at org.support.bonitasoft.example.CountInstances.login(CountInstances.java:127)
        at org.support.bonitasoft.example.CountInstances.main(CountInstances.java:90)

It means that the jboss-ejb-client.properties has not been found in the classpath or that it has not been configured correctly.