TDI Sandboxing

I've been looking over the use of the Sandbox feature.

It's been around for sometime, although I'm not aware of many people using it.

Here's some scenarios of use:

• Someone encounters a problem while developing an assemblyline in a closed environment. They need your help in debugging the Assemblyline, although aren't able to give you network access to the backend systems which the connectors are communicating with.
• You have a resource which isn't always available on the network.
• You want to debug the Assemblyline without having to connect to the Company's network, while at home in the evening.

By using the Sandbox feature included with the TDI Config Editor, we're able to create a repository of the sources which the Assemblyline interacts with. With the Sandbox and the Assemblyline, you can run the solution in another TDI CE & Server and debug the Assemblyline without the connectivity to the backend sources.

To Sandbox an Assemblyline, do the following:

NOTE: The Sandbox facility is not supported in AssemblyLines containing a Connector in Server mode, or an Iterator Connector with Delta enabled. The server will abort the running of the AssemblyLine if this is discovered.

Setup:

Define which resources you want captured in the Sandbox

The 'Database' name, used to store the Sandbox, will be the name of the directory created in the Solution directory. In this panel we also define which resources we want available to Record and to Playback.

Record Mode:

On the first initial run, you will have the Assemblyline in Record Mode.

This is done in the 'Specify Run Option' panel.

You'll see the following statement on the 'Record' run of the Assemblyline.

• CTGDIS256I AssemblyLine AssemblyLines/'AL_Name' is started, recording to: 'Sandbox_Database_Name'.
• You'll see the 'Database name' defined in the 'Sandbox Settings' panel appear as a directory in the Solution Directory.

Playback Mode:

Now set the Run Mode of the Assemblyline to 'Playback'.

Instead of the Assemblyline accessing the Active Directory as defined in the connector...the connector is simulated during playback.

The Active Directory system could be offline..or on a closed network....It just doesn't matter anymore..now we have a copy of the source and we can test this Assemblyline in any environment we want.

When the Assemblyline starts, you'll see the following line at the beginning of the ibmdi.log file.

• CTGDIS257I AssemblyLine AssemblyLines/'AL_Name' is started, playing back from: 'Sandbox_Database_Name'.

Portability of the Sandbox:

As on of the benefits of the Sandbox, you're able to hand a few resources to another person and they're be able to run the Assemblyline without any of the backend resources/repositories. To move the Sandbox, you need to

• Place a copy of the 'Sandbox' directory into the 'Solution_directory' on the other machine.
• Import a copy of the TDI Eclipse Project or TDI Config XML into the other machine.

FYI: The table/view created in the Derby database held in the Sandbox directory is tied to the name of the Assemblyline. I discovered this when renaming an Assemblyline. So don't rename the Assemblyline, unless you want to dig into the database and do some modifications.

• CTGDIS084I Initialization of ActiveDirectoryChangeDetectionConnector failed: java.lang.Exception: [ActiveDirectoryChangeDetectionConnector] CTGDIS025E Exception while loading configuration: java.lang.RuntimeException: CTGDIS593E Internal IDI proxy object exception: Table/View 'ASSEMBLYLINES_AD_DOMINOA_ACTIVEDIRECTORYCHANGEDETECTIONCONNECTOR' does not exist. ..

Syncing UserPhoto to jpegPhoto

A situation occurred when a customer wanted to know how they could pull a Domino RichText 'UserPhoto' field from Domino (names.nsf)...and sync that object to the 'jpegPhoto' attribute in the Domino Directory.

The main work here comes to convert from the RichText object to the byte stream we need for the jpegPhoto. In the example we did the conversation in an AttMap.

The AttMap had the following code to convert the UserPhoto object.

var someobj = work.getObject("UserPhoto");

if (someobj!=null) {

var objs = someobj.getEmbeddedObjects();

if ((objs != null) && (objs.size() > 0))

{

var em = objs.firstElement();

var fin=em.getInputStream();

var bytes = new byte[em.getFileSize()];

fin.read(bytes);

work.setAttribute( "jpegPhoto", bytes );

em.recycle();

}else{

task.logmsg("## NO UserPhoto for user: " +work.ShortName)

system.exitFlow()

}

}

Misunderstanding of Initial DeltaStore Load

While working with a colleague we found the initial load of the DeltaStore to behave different then I initially expected.

On the initial load of the DeltaStore, if an skipEntry() occurs in the flow of the Entry it was my impression that the Entry would be ignored when the commit process to the DeltaStore occurred. I found I was wrong.

The skipEntry() method only makes the processing of data move to the next Entry. So even though the Entry is skipped, the note of the Entry is made on each successful read of the Entry. The sequence ID will be committed as defined in the Delta configuration(After every db operation, On end of AL cycle, On Connector Close, no autocommit).

For those entries where we do skipEntry() and do NOT want the Entry recorded in the DeltaStore, then a rollback of the sequence ID will need to be performed before the skipEntry() call.

A simple test iterated 2 entries...

The first entry was null and was recorded to the DeltaStore. The second iteration is notnull and expected to be skipped. Without the .rollbackDeltaState() the entry would still be recorded in the DeltaStore.

if (done1 == null)

{

done1 = "notnull";

thisConnector.rollbackDeltaState();

system.skipEntry();

}

Server API inaccessible on SUSE

Through the process of working with TDI v7.1.0.3 and SUSE 10 today, I found that I had to enable the api.remote.bind.address= in the TDI's Solution.properties file.

By default the parameter is commented out. When commented out, the TDI CE wasn't able to connect to the TDI Server running on the SUSE 10 server.

Behavior seen between TDI and Domino

These's have been a few of the error messages I've come across using the Domino User Connector.

Error: CTGDKC065E Unable to execute Domino Action. NotesException occurred: ID=4,005, Error Text=Notes error: You are not allowed to update the certifier log (Smith)

Cause: 'REG_RegistrationServer' value is wrong

Error: CTGDKC065E Unable to execute Domino Action. NotesException occurred: ID=4,000, Error Text=Notes error: The prompt for password was aborted by user

Cause: 'REG_CertPassword' value is wrong

Error: CTGDKC002E Failed to execute the command. NotesException occurred: Notes error: Unable to find path to server. Check that your network connection is working. If you have a working connection, go to Preferences - Notes Ports and click Trace to discover where it breaks down. (adtdi/ibm!!mail\msmith.nsf)

Cause: 'REG_Server' value is wrong

Derby Access Denied Error - TDIv7.x

Solution:

1. Stop ALL running processes of the Derby instance associated with TDI. By default this instance runs on port 1527

ps -ef | grep 1527

kill -9

2. Locate the Directory Path specified in the 'com.ibm.di.store.database' parameter found in the solution.properties file.

Example: com.ibm.di.store.database=jdbc:derby://localhost:1527//opt/IBM/TDI/V7.1/TDISysStore;create=true

3. Modify the 'derby.properties' file found in the [TDI_InstallDir]/etc & [TDI_SolutionDir]/etc

Add the following parameter to the files.

derby.system.home=

Example: derby.system.home=/opt/IBM/TDI/V7.1

Can TDIv7.1 be Installed on Ubuntu?

I've recently come accross colleagues looking to install IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator v7.1 on Ubuntu. Ubuntu isn't in the list of supported platforms for this product, although I believe we should be able to make this work.

TDI v7.0 - Ubuntu 9.05

As a reference, here's my past experience with TDIv7.0 and Ubuntu 9.10

I started with a fresh installation of Ubuntu 9.10 with the latest patches.

1.) Log on as a normal user.

2.) Install the libstdc++5 dependency by running the following from a command prompt:

sudo dpkg -i libstdc++5_3.3.6-17ubuntu1_i386.deb

3.) Launch the TDI installer as the current user. Do not use sudo:

./install_tdiv71_linux_x86.bin

4.) Install to some location within the current users home directory such as /home/jamie/opt/IBM/TDI/V7.1

5.) Keep all other options as default in the installer.

6.) Fix the known issue with GTK by modifying ibmditk (Found in /home/jamie/opt/IBM/TDI/V7.1 on my system) and modify it as follows:

#

# CMDFINDER holds the command which is used to find other commands

# depending on the platform.

#

CMDFINDER=which

export GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS=1

UNAME_OS=`uname`

7.) Launch ibmditk and as the currently logged in user without using sudo and it should run fine.

TDI v7.1 - Ubuntu 10.10

1. I have a fresh copy of Ubuntu 10.10

2. Check to make sure Ubuntu has the latest patches applied.

3. Have to install an old library -- The original libstdc++5 package is no longer available with the Ubuntu 9.10 or 10.x repos. So for 32 bit system you would have to get it from Jaunty Repository.

a. Add the repository

`deb http://cz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty main universe` to the Repository list in Synaptic Package Manager.

b. At a terminal window run 'sudo apt-get install libstdc++5'

Note: If this package is not installed. The 'ibmdisrv -d' command will receive the following error in the ibmdi.log

"CTGDIS958E The system cannot find an enrolled product license."

If you've hit this error, you'll need to uninstall TDI, install the libstdc++5, then reinstall TDI.

c. You also need to run the following command, to rebuild the cache in order for the installer to find the library.

/sbin/ldconfig -v

4. Launch the TDI Installer (linux_x86/install_tdiv71_linux_x86.bin) as the current user. I am not installing with sudo. This installation is being done as a non-root user.

a. I selected a directory under my home directory for the install location.

b. I selected the Typical Install Set, whether then Custom

c. Pre-Installation Summary appeared.

d. The install completed successfully.