Installation overview for WebSphere ILOG JRules as a pricing rule engine with rule management

Before installing WebSphere ILOG JRules with WebSphere Commerce, you should be aware of the installation requirements, the required WebSphere ILOG JRules products, and how to install and deploy WebSphere ILOG JRules on different topologies.

Requirements for installing WebSphere ILOG JRules with WebSphere Commerce Version 7

WebSphere Commerce supports WebSphere ILOG JRules Version 7.1 or higher; older versions are not supported for the integration code and instructions provided.
You can co-deploy the WebSphere ILOG JRules Rule Execution Server to any WebSphere Commerce Version 7 system (Enterprise edition).

For a full list of installation requirements for the WebSphere ILOG JRules products, see the product documentation for the WebSphere ILOG JRules version you plan to use.

Required WebSphere ILOG JRules products

The WebSphere ILOG JRules product family includes a number of products, but only certain products are required for integration with WebSphere Commerce. You can decide whether to install optional products based on your business needs.


Product	Required for WebSphere Commerce integration?
IBM WebSphere ILOG JRules, which includes: Rule Execution Server: A robust, scalable and secure rule execution engine for rule-based applications, with a managed deployment and monitoring environment. Rule Execution Server includes the Execution Unit (XU). Rule Studio: A comprehensive development environment for rule-based applications that is built on the Eclipse IDE for developers, modelers, and architects.	Rule Execution Server is required for co-deployment with WebSphere Commerce. Rule Studio is required to import the WebSphere Commerce Execution Object Model (XOM) and Business Object Model (BOM) to support authoring business rules. Rule Studio can be co-deployed or installed on a separate system.
IBM WebSphere ILOG Rule Team Server – A rule management environment that extends rule projects for ongoing management to business users and policy managers. This enables collaboration between developers and business users, and offers improved rule governance.	If only developers manage pricing rules, Rule Team Server is optional. If business users must manage pricing rules, Rule Team Server is required. Rule Team Server is typically installed on a separate server.

Any additional products in the WebSphere ILOG JRules BRMS product family not listed in the previous table are optional. For information about additional products, see WebSphere ILOG JRules BRMS.

Installation and deployment guidelines for different topologies

You must install and deploy WebSphere ILOG JRules differently depending on whether your target server is:

A single-node topology or a development environment
A multiple-node topology (clustered environment). A cluster is a group of application servers that run the WebSphere Commerce application as if it were a single entity.

Single-node topology or development environment

As shown in the previous diagram:

1, 2: Deploy both the Execution Unit and the management and monitoring components of Rule Execution Server to the same WebSphere Application Server that is running the WebSphere Commerce application.
3: Create the database resources as an external repository that is not contained by the WebSphere Application Server.
4: Consider installing Rule Studio and Rule Team Server on a separate machine to reduce any impacts on performance.

Multiple-node topology

As shown in the previous diagram, install WebSphere ILOG JRules Rule Execution Server on the same servers that WebSphere Commerce is deployed on:

1: Deploy the Execution Unit component of Rule Execution Server to each WebSphere Application Server in the cluster node.
2: Deploy the management and monitoring components of Rule Execution Server to a stand-alone server in the WebSphere cell outside the cluster. Typically, this is the same server used for the WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment product that manages the cluster.
3: Create the database resources as an external repository that is not contained by the WebSphere Application Server.
4: Consider installing Rule Studio and Rule Team Server on a separate machine to reduce any impacts on performance.

Staging environment and staging propagation

To support a staging environment for external price rules, you must configure two separate Rule Execution Servers, one for the staging server and one for the production server. When the staging environment is set up, you can deploy new or changed rules to the Rule Execution Server for staging, to validate the rules. Then you can propagate the rule data to the Rule Execution Server for production. This process is illustrated here:

When configuring the staging server, you must set configuration properties required for connectivity to the Rule Execution Server for production (instructions are included in Configuring the registry and proxy for the WebSphere ILOG JRules rule engine.

To propagate the data, use the WebSphere Commerce stagingprop utility. The stagingprop utility supports the WebSphere ILOG JRules staging propagation illustrated here if you run the utility using a new parameter, -ILogConfigPath.

Where to get detailed information on installing and deploying WebSphere ILOG JRules

Follow the installation and deployment instructions provided with WebSphere ILOG JRules. The WebSphere Commerce Version 7 documentation only provides instructions for configuring WebSphere ILOG JRules to work with WebSphere Commerce after the product is installed and deployed.

Installation guidelines and tips

The performance of your WebSphere Commerce Server will decrease by about 10 percent if you enable the security feature shown in red the following screen capture:

You might be instructed to check this option when you follow the WebSphere ILOG JRules PDF installation guide. You can enable application security if required, but be aware of this performance impact.
WebSphere ILOG JRules can support both a database and the file repository; however, the file repository is more suited to a J2SE environment, not a J2EE environment like WebSphere Commerce. In addition, you might experience performance issues when using a file repository in multi-node (clustered) topology.