FAQ

https://developer.ibm.com/integration/docs/app-connect-enterprise/faq/
What is IBM App Connect Enterprise?

IBM App Connect Enterprise v11 combines the existing industry-trusted IBM Integration Bus technology with new cloud native technologies and with IBM App Connect Professional, to deliver a platform that supports the full breadth of integration needs across a modern digital enterprise.

• IBM App Connect Enterprise v11 software release was announced on 30th January 2018.
• IBM App Connect Enterprise v11.0.0.0 was released on 30th March 2018.
• IBM App Connect Enterprise v11.0.0.1 was released on 14th August 2018. This is the first fix pack for the product which includes both functional enhancements and maintenance.

Is IBM App Connect Enterprise a cloud package or is it software that I can download, install and run on-premises?

It’s both!

• The IBM App Connect cloud service is fully managed and hosted on IBM Cloud (the new name for Bluemix).
  Customers with proof of entitlement, including active Software & Support subscription, for IBM App Connect Enterprise (ACE) v11 can get the Cloud Connectors plan. This plan provides access (for no additional charge) to IBM App Connect on IBM Cloud solely to support flows running in the ACE runtime as part of the customer’s integration solutions. To request access to the Cloud Connectors plan, contact your IBM Representative.
  Customers can also get the free Lite plan that includes the enterprise integration capabilities on IBM Cloud, a Professional plan that charges you based on the number of flow runs you run, or a Custom Enterprise (annual subscription) plan that provides everything in the Professional plan in addition to running integrations in containers.
• IBM App Connect Enterprise software can be installed directly on a physical machine running in your own Data Center, in a VMWare virtual machine, in a Docker image, as part of an IBM Cloud Private installation, or installed by you into a public cloud such as IBM Cloud, AWS or Microsoft Azure.

What is happening with IBM Integration Bus?

IBM Integration Bus version 10 was first released in March 2015, and since then it has been constantly enhanced with new features delivered alongside maintenance as part of quarterly fix packs. The most recent fix pack was v10.0.0.13, released in June 2018. You can find out more about the capabilities delivered alongside maintenence updates here. We will continue to ship fix packs for IIBv10, but there will not be an IIBv11 because the next major engineering release for the IBM Integration Bus technology is named IBM App Connect Enterprise v11. This is the official successor to IBM Integration Bus and is the follow on offering that Integration Bus customers should upgrade to.

At its initial release IBM App Connect Enterprise focussed on changes to the IIB runtime architecture which make it even better for running inside containers such as:

• Integration servers which exist independently and do not need an integration node definition
• “Unzip and go” deployment including support for generating pre-compiled BAR files carrying maps and message model schemas
• A new administrative REST APIv2 for configuring App Connect Enterprise servers
• Replacement of IIB configurable services with policies. Policies provide configuration information as environment-specific overrides, which can be placed directly on the runtime filesystem, or which can be deployed in a BAR file.

Other major enhancements include:

• A new administrative web user interface for interacting with independent integration servers
• Entitlement to deploy the Salesforce Request node to App Connect Enterprise v11 without the need for purchase of an Application Integration Suite license.

What platforms are available for IBM App Connect Enterprise software?

At first release, IBM App Connect Enterprise will offer support for a selection of operating systems on x86-64 hardware:

Linux on x86-64

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS V7.3 and above
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12 SP3 and above
• Ubuntu 16.04

Microsoft Windows x86-64

• Windows 8.1 Basic, Professional, and Enterprise Editions
• Windows Server 2012 R2, Datacenter and Standard Edition
• Windows 10 Basic, Professional, and Enterprise Editions
• Windows Server 2016

As part of the IBM App Connect Enterprise announce we made a statement of direction regarding other platforms which are not in the above lists such as IBM AIX, Linux on z System, Linux on IBM Power and IBM System Z.

Will there be separate editions available to try IBM App Connect Enterprise software?

There is a Developer edition of IBM App Connect Enterprise, which is free for users to download in order to try out the software and use in non-production circumstances. The download for the IBM App Connect Enterprise v11 Developer edition is available, on the same page as the IIB Developer edition downloads: https://www.ibm.com/marketing/iwm/iwm/web/pick.do?source=swg-wmbfd.

Tip: If the download page does not show the options for IBM App Connect Enterprise, such as ACE-WIN64-DEVELOPER.exe, it is probably due to an issue with your browser cache for the page; either opening the page link in a private/incognito window or clearing your browser cache should get you the correct page and options.

Will IBM App Connect Enterprise be available for Apple Mac users?

The Developer Edition of App Connect Enterprise software is available for Linux x86-64, Windows x86-64 and macOS. Integrations and BAR files which are created using the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit on macOS, can be deployed to the full set of operating systems supported by IBM App Connect Enterprise. Delivering IBM App Connect Enterprise for Mac users in this way lets us provide the Toolkit as a development platform whilst excluding from support a few runtime features which we know will not work (those based upon the need for MQ support on the Mac, and pattern authoring). With our single package installation, Mac users will still have the benefits of the product runtime installation, which will assist with easy local development and unit testing.

I have IBM Integration Bus v10 – when should I migrate to IBM App Connect Enterprise v11?

When initially released, in IBM App Connect Enterprise v11.0.0.0, integration servers are started directly as operating system processes, either using the IntegrationServer command in the IBM App Connect Enterprise command console, or through an external framework such as within a Docker container. The Integration server process can be pointed directly at previously generated integrations in a working directory on the file system, delivering a truly cloud-native “unzip and go” style of operation. Configurable services have been replaced with policies, to enable environment specific overrides. Policies can also be deployed within BAR files making configuration of App Connect Enterprise v11 much more flexible than its v10 predecessor. If you are considering a change to your IT architecture to embrace 12-Factor applications and cloud-native principles, then you should consider these new capabilities of IBM App Connect Enterprise v11. In this circumstance you can take advantage of your past investments on the IIB platform by re-using your message flows and deploying then to a new IBM App Connect Enterprise v11 architecture built upon independent integration server processes. At initial release, App Connect Enterprise v11.0.0.0 does not have the concept of an integration node. App Connect Enterprise v11.0.0.1 reintroduces the integration node concept (as a Technology Preview). For users wanting to continue using an architecture built around integration nodes controlling server processes, v11.0.0.1 demonstrates these capabilities and can be utilised in non-production environments. Full production support for these aspects of the product is expected in the next fix pack.

I have IBM Integration Bus v9 – when should I migrate to IBM App Connect Enterprise v11?

In September 2017, IBM announced the End of Service for IBM Integration Bus v9 would occur in September 2018. If you are considering a change to your IT architecture to embrace 12-Factor applications and cloud-native principles, then you should consider the new capabilities of IBM App Connect Enterprise v11. In this circumstance you can take advantage of your past investments on the IIB platform by re-using your message flows and deploying then to a new IBM App Connect Enterprise v11 architecture built upon independent integration server processes. In many cases like this, you might choose to coordinate your integration servers using a wider configuration framework / toolset outside of IBM App Connect Enterprise, such as the open source Kubernetes framework for example. If you prefer to continue using an architecture which includes integration nodes for controlling your integration servers, then you should either migrate to the latest fix pack release of IBM Integration Bus v10 (at the time of writing, IIBv10.0.0.13) or wait for the integration node feature to be made production-ready. The integration node capability is provided as a Technology Preview feature for lower environments in IBM App Connect Enterprise v11.0.0.1

When will IBM Integration Bus v10 end of support be announced?

IBM has not yet announced any end of support date for IIB v10. IBM intends to support IIB v10 beyond the usual IBM policy of 5 years from initial General Availability – until at least 2021. When the end of support date is set IBM will announce this at least 12 months prior to the date. and IBM will offer extended support for 3 years beyond the end of support date.

Are there any features of IBM Integration Bus v10 which are not being carried forward into IBM App Connect Enterprise v11?

As normal with a major new version of the software, there are a few lesser used features which IBM has decided not to carry forward.

• The SCA message flow nodes (SCAInput, SCAReply, SCARequest, SCAAsyncRequest and SCAAsyncResponse) are not available in ACEv11
• The WSRR message flow nodes (RegistryLookup and EndpointLookup) are not available in ACEv11
• There will be no direct equivalent of the IBM Decision Server Rules Edition for Integration Bus moving forward, so the DecisionService message flow node (and its associated configurable service) are not present in ACEv11. It is still possible to integrate ACEv11 message flows with Operational Decision Manager using its SOAP or REST interfaces. IBM is considering adding a new built-in message flow node for ODM integration in a future fix pack.
• The WebSphere Application Server console plugin. IIBv9 and IIBv10 provided this plugin for WebSphere Application Server to enable WAS administrators to control IIB integration node. IBM has no plans to carry forward this feature into ACEv11.
• The java IBM Integration API in App Connect Enterprise v11 is smaller than its IIBv10 equivalent. Methods are provided to allow code for the creation and edit of message flows, but the configuration methods which started life in earlier WebSphere Message Broker versions known as the Configuration Manager Proxy API or CMP, are no longer supported.

If you are concerned about any of the above items, or about any aspect of migration, then please do not hesitate to get in direct contact with us by emailing AskAppIn@uk.ibm.com and we will be happy to discuss the right way to move you forward.

Are there any features of IBM Integration Bus v10 which are not yet available in IBM App Connect Enterprise v11?

IBM App Connect Enterprise v11.0.0.1 reintroduces the Integration Node and the node-wide HTTP Listener as Technology Preview Code. While other features of App Connect Enterprise are for production use, Technology Preview Code has been provided for evaluation/non-production workloads only. There are some further features of IBM Integration Bus v10 which are not yet enabled in App Connect Enterprise v11, but which IBM intends to reintroduce in future fix packs: Global Cache, Record & Replay, Business Transaction Monitoring, Multi-instance HA and User-defined nodes.

IBM Integration Bus v10 configurable services are replaced in App Connect Enterprise with policies. Policies provide configuration information as environment-specific overrides, which can be placed directly on the runtime filesystem, or which can be deployed in a BAR file. Policies are not yet provided for interactions with CORBA, IMS, JDEdwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel (these message flow nodes are available, but cannot yet be configured by policy).

What is meant by Technology Preview Code?

Technology Preview Code is delivered to allow customers early access to capability for internal evaluation purposes, and so that customers can provide feedback and functionality suggestions to IBM before the code becomes Generally Available. Usage of Technology Preview Code is authorized under these terms.

• Which features are considered Technology Preview Code?
  The Integration Node capability and the node-wide HTTP Listener, delivered in App Connect Enterprise v11.0.0.1, are being delivered as Technology Preview Code. While other features of ACE are for production use, the Integration Node and node-wide HTTP Listener have been provided for evaluation/non-production workloads only in this fix pack.
• Are Technology Preview Code features supported?
  Customers can report defects with ACEv11.0.0.1, including the Technology Preview Code, through the normal IBM Support process. Please note that IBM reserves the right to defer shipping fixes for Technology Preview Code to the next logical fix pack.
• When will the Technology Preview features be fully supported?
  IBM intends to make the Integration Node and node-wide HTTP Listener Generally Available in the next fix pack.

Where can I find documentation for IBM App Connect Enterprise v11?

The main source of product documentation is IBM Knowledge Center online at http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSTTDS_11.0.0, which is also accessible from the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit with an internet connection.

You might also want to browse the IBM Think 2018 presentation Introduction to IBM App Connect Enterprise and Where It’s Headed.