IBM Sterling Integrator - Server system requirements

In the Server System Requirements, you can find the hardware and software requirements for the database, application, and other servers that are required for Sterling B2B Integrator.

Before you start installing, ensure that your operating system and hardware meet the published system requirements, and any requirements specific to your customized implementation

To approximate your system requirements, determine the processes, components, and transaction volume required for your implementation. IBM® Services personnel are available to assist you in this effort.

Detailed System Requirements

See the Software Product Compatibility Reports for detailed system requirements of Sterling B2B Integrator.

				
					Important: Sterling B2B Integrator supports more platforms than Global Mailbox. If you want to install and use Global Mailbox along with Sterling B2B Integrator, you can only use platforms that are supported by both Sterling B2B Integrator and Global Mailbox. Refer to the Server System Requirements Global Mailbox.

				
			

Size Requirements

System size is the volume of activity your system can support. The size is computed based on processing speed, RAM (random access memory), CPUs (central processing units), and amount of free disk space available.

When planning your implementation, remember that although the published minimum size requirements support the Sterling B2B Integrator, they may not support for any increase in capability required by the particulars of your implementation, such as the number of transactions processed and the amount of data transferred.

Your implementation may include one or more test environments in addition to the production environment. Running a test environment is recommended because Sterling B2B Integrator enables you to bundle the work from the test environment and migrate it to the production environment when you are ready.

Host system requirements

Database sizing and capacity planning

Database sizing is designed to give you estimates of the database growth and to help you plan the disk requirements.

There are many factors to consider when you are estimating the amount of disk space that is required for Sterling B2B Integrator. As a result, trying to consider all growth factors is impractical because the user might not know the answers to many questions that are required to do a detailed forecast. Over the years the cost of disks has dramatically decreased, and the capacity and speed of disks has increased. The method of how information system managers order disk capacity also has changed, from purchasing disk arrays that are dedicated to a particular database server and project, to the concept of SANS (storage area networks).

Consider the confidence that you have in your data estimates when you are making the final purchase decision and adjust accordingly. After the initial purchase and production deployment, disk growth should be tracked for future purchase forecasts.

You should track your actual database storage usage and the number of database records regularly. Correlating these two metrics enabled you to plan your future disk requirements. Moreover, determining the average amount of space used for each order line or shipment line, enables you to accurately predict your future growth requirements.

IBM® Sterling B2B Integrator supports only IBM MQ (formerly IBM Websphere MQ) as a messaging queue.

A messaging queue is required for Sterling B2B Integrator if you are using adapter containers.

IBM MQ version 9.0.0.4 or higher is supported.

Upgrading from previous versions
  • From v6.0 onwards, ActiveMQ is no longer bundled and installed with Sterling B2B Integrator. You must install and use IBM MQ as the messaging queue.
  • If your current setup has adapter containers, you must install IBM MQ and set the required properties for IBM MQ before you upgrade.
  • If you are using the bundled ActiveMQ for any messaging purpose, you must migrate to IBM MQ or configure external ActiveMQ.
  • External ActiveMQ is still supported for JMS adapter. If you are already using External ActiveMQ for JMS adapter, you can continue to use it.
  • For more information, see Considerations for upgrading from version 5.2.6.x.

For all databases that are supported by Sterling B2B Integrator, use the JDBC driver recommended by the database vendor for your database version.

For Oracle
For Microsoft SQL Server
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2019 - Use SQL Server JDBC Driver 8.4.1.jre8
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2016 - Use SQL Server JDBC Driver 6.4.0.jre8
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2014 - Use SQL Server JDBC Driver 6.4.0.jre8
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 - Use SQL Server JDBC Driver 6.4.0.jre8
  • Regardless of the Microsoft SQL Server version, if you are using the Lightweight JDBC Adapter, use SQL Server JDBC Driver 6.4.0.jre8.

To obtain the driver, go to the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/default.aspx and search for the required SQL Server JDBC driver version.

For DB2

For DB2, see http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21363866 for information.

During installation or an upgrade, you must specify the initial port number for Sterling B2B Integrator.

To specify an initial port number, follow these guidelines:

  • Sterling B2B Integrator requires a range of 200 consecutive open ports between 1025 and 65535.
     
    Note: Because of RMI, on occasion, a port number outside the range may be assigned.
     
  • The initial port number represents the beginning port number in the range.
  • Make sure that port numbers in the port range are not used by any other applications on your system.

For example, if you specify 10100 as the initial port number, then you need to make sure that 10100 through 10199 are not used by any other applications on your system.

During the upgrade, about 50 default ports are pre-assigned for different services. For example, if you do not want xxx32 (10132) to be a default port, you could assign another number within the port range.

After your installation or upgrade, refer to the following file for all of the port assignments.

  • For Windows: \<install_dir>\properties\sandbox.cfg
  • For Unix/Linux: /<install_dir>/properties/sandbox.cfg

An increased market demand for the enhanced Internet Protocol (IP) has lowered the worldwide supply of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses. The Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) expands the IP address space from 32 bits to 128 bits, providing an increased supply of IP addresses.

Sterling B2B Integrator is enabled for IPv6 support, providing a dual IPv4 and IPv6 stack, tunneling, proxying, and translation between the two IP address versions.

Sterling B2B Integrator interoperates with various related products, many of which do not yet support IPv6 addresses. Therefore, in Sterling B2B Integrator, a limited set of configurations use IPv6 addresses. The dual stack approach permits interoperability between Sterling B2B Integrator and a mixed set of IPv4 and IPv6 enabled services and adapters wherever feasible.

However, if you choose to implement an IPv6 installation, limitations exist in the Sterling B2B Integrator system requirements and the selected services and adapters. Consider the limitations before you attempt to install Sterling B2B Integrator with IPv6 addresses.

Important: You must install with a host name and not an IPv6 address. Otherwise the Lightweight JDBC adapter and Graphical Process Modeler (GPM) do not work.
 

IPv6 supported combinations

The following table lists the IPv6 configuration combinations supported by Sterling B2B Integrator

Table 1. IPv6 supported combinations
Database
AIX®
Windows
Linux® (see note)
DB2®YesNoYes
MSSQLNoNoYes
OracleNoNoYes
MySQLNoNoYes
Important: Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM® System z® only supports DB2.
Note: IBM Consulting Services can help you implement Sterling B2B Integrator in an IPv6-compliant environment by using transition technologies. Check the IPv6 compliance of any third-party tools (such as web servers, FTP clients, and MQ servers) that you use with Sterling B2B Integrator.
 
IPv6 supported combinations with limitations

The following Sterling B2B Integrator components provide IPv6 compliance with some limitations.

Attention: The status of each component will be updated as more of IBM's technology partners offer IPv6 compliance.
Table 2. IPv6 supported combinations with limitations
Component
IPv6 compliance
Limitations
HTTP Client/Server adapterFull-
HTTP GET/POST serviceFull-
HTTP Begin/End Session adapterFull-
FTP Client/Server adapterFull-
PGP Package/Unpackage serviceFull-
Command Line Adapter 2Full-
WebSphere MQ SuiteFull-
JMS adapterPartialThe URI does not accept IPv6 addresses as characters ‘[ ]' are not allowed. However, it works with a host name.
SFTP Client/Server adapterFull-
SMTP/POP3/MIMEFull-
FSAFull-
Lightweight JDBC adapterPartialSupports an IPv6 remote host only with a DB2 and AIX combination. However, if your Sterling B2B Integrator installation is under an IPv6 address, the Lightweight JDBC adapter can still be used with any other database currently supported by the adapter by using an IPv4 remote host.
Web servicesFull-
BEA Tuxedo adapterFull-
Zengin adapterFull-
ConnectDirectFullSupports IPv6 on C:D UNIX 4.0 and C:D Windows 4.4.00
E5Full-
TIBCO adapterFull-
SNMPFull-
Transora adapterFull-
OFTPFull-
SAP Suite adapterUnsupported-
JGroupsPartialDo not use IPV6 with JGroups on AIX

The use of IPv6 addresses in an installation of Sterling B2B Integrator requires certain guidelines.

Important: Sterling B2B Integrator does not support IPv6 installation on Windows.

Consider the following IPv6 address information when you plan the installation:

  • If you use an IPv6 address, use a fully qualified address that includes square brackets around the address, and a zero (0) between colons where there are no other numbers. For example, use [fe80:0:0:0:213:72ff:fe3c:21bf] instead of fe80::213:72ff:fe3c:21bf.
  • If you are installing with an IPv6 address, comment out the host name mapping to the IPv4 address and retain the mapping to the IPv6 address in the host file in the /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/hosts directory.
  • You must install with a host name, not an IPv6 address, otherwise the Lightweight JDBC adapter and Graphical Process Modeler (GPM) do not work.
  • If you are using an Oracle database, do not use an IPv6 address for the host name.
  • If you are using an IPv6 address and are going to configure Sterling B2B Integrator as a dual stack host, after you complete the installation, you need to add the IPv6 address (as the admin_host.3 property) to the noapp.properties_platform_ifcresources_ext .in file.
 

You can install and run perimeter servers in a UNIX, Linux or Windows Server environment.

Perimeter servers can be co-resident with Sterling B2B Integrator installations or can be installed on remote servers. To take full advantage of the security features of a perimeter server, it should be installed on a different computer than where Sterling B2B Integrator is installed.

Perimeter servers are supported on the same operating system and JDK combinations as Sterling B2B Integrator. The operating system and JDK version that the perimeter server uses do not need to match the operating system and JDK version of Sterling B2B Integrator.

Refer to the JDK instructions for the operating system on which you are installing the perimeter server.

In addition, each perimeter server requires the following minimum space and memory requirements:
  • 100 MB disk space
  • 1 GB memory

For more information about perimeter servers, see Installing and configuring perimeter servers.

The SWIFTNet7 adapter communicates to the SWIFTNet Network through the SWIFTNet MEFG Servers for SWIFTNet version 7. It responds to and accepts InterAct and FileAct messages that are sent by remote SWIFTNet correspondents.

IBM AIX

If you are using the SWIFTNet7 Adapter on the IBM AIX platform, you must patch your IBM XL C/C++ runtime library to July 2009 Runtime for IBM XL C++ for AIX. Additionally, you must upgrade your AIX operating system to Version 6.1 (or higher).

If you are using SSL, you must upgrade to the latest security fix of the OpenSSL library that corresponds to the MEFG Installation version, for example OpenSSL 1.0.1p or OpenSSL 1.0.2d. It is recommended that you continue to monitor and apply the latest security fixes to the OpenSSL library to apply fixes to the OpenSSL security defects.

Windows

If you are using the SWIFTNet7 Adapter on the Windows platform, you must upgrade your Windows operating system to at least Windows Server 2008 R2 (with all security patches).

If you are using SSL, you must upgrade to the latest security fix of the OpenSSL library that corresponds to the MEFG Installation version, for example OpenSSL 1.0.1p or OpenSSL 1.0.2d. It is recommended that you continue to monitor and apply the latest security fixes to the OpenSSL library to apply fixes to the OpenSSL security defects.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

To use the SWIFTNet7 Adapter on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform, you must be using Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Release 6.1 or higher x64, 64-bit Kernel, including any patches within 6.x. Supported kernel version: 2.6.18-164.2.1.el5 or higher within version 2.x.

Install the SWIFT Remote API for Linux before installing MEFG. The SWIFT Remote API download is available from SWIFT (http://www.swift.com), and shcould be a version compatable with MEFG and SWIFTNet Link.

If you are using SSL, you must also upgrade to the latest security fix of the OpenSSL library that corresponds to the MEFG Installation version. For example OpenSSL 1.0.1p or OpenSSL 1.0.2d. We recommend that you continue to monitor and continue to apply the latest security fixes to the OpenSSL library to apply fixes to OpenSSL security defects.

Integration with WebSphere Transformation Extender (WTX) on Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM System z requires WebSphere Transformation Extender version 8.4.0.3.14.

You can choose between different security certificates before you install Sterling B2B Integrator.

Before you begin the installation, you must decide which of the following security certificates to use:
  • The default self-signed SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate that is automatically generated by the installation.
  • A Certificate Authority-related certificate that you generate before you install the software.

If you install with the default SSL certificate, but you later want to switch to a CA-related certificate, you can change the certificate with the sslCert property in the noapp.properties_platform_ifcresources_ext.in file.

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