What Can You Do With ePortal 7.1?

In the January 2017 issue of ClearPath Forward Connection, we detailed some of the key new features included in ClearPath Forward™ ePortal 7.1.

This time around, we’re digging a bit deeper into a few of these features and focusing on the specific things each can help you do.

Let’s get started…

Message Filters for Orchestration

Web, web services, and other message-oriented applications often require that some type of common functionality be applied to all messages that flow through a given system. This functionality, which encompasses things like user authorization, encryption, diagnostic and audit logging, and session control, is typically referred to as a “cross-cutting concern.”

Message Filters, a new activity added to the ePortal Orchestration feature, enable you to implement cross-cutting concerns in ePortal. With them, you can specify custom C# code to be executed for every message sent or received from the server.

The Message Filter activity is available in the Toolbox. The methods it uses to process messages are generated as stubs in a file called “OrchExtensions.cs,” which also allows you to apply custom logic when processing messages.

This new feature allows you to apply two message filters:

• ServerSendMessageFilter is the filter applied to all messages before they are sent to the server application
• ServerReceiveMessageFilter is the filter applied to all messages received from the server application

To implement these filters, locate the specified filter method definition in OrchExtensions.cs and add the required message-handling logic. You’ll then be able to process all messages sent or received between Orchestration and the host application.

Automating Application Build-Stage-Deploy Operations

With ePortal 7.1, you now have the ability to automate application build, stage, and deploy operations using command-line interface (CLI) tools that employ new methods included in the Management Web Service.

For instance, you can stage the presentation project by executing the “eportalstage” command-line utility. Once you do, you just need to run the “eportaldeploy” command-line utility to deploy the application.

The process is quite simple: All you have to do is supply the required parameters to these commands, and you’ll be able to automate these operations in a script or batch process. In addition, this feature introduces additional DevOps capabilities you can incorporate into your organization’s development and release processes.

Redundant Host Applications

With the new Redundant Host Applications feature in ePortal 7.1, you can configure multiple connections to a redundant host application on the same or different back-end system.

By building these connections, you’ll be able to eliminate single points of failure across back-end connections, applications, or systems. In addition, you’ll help to keep performance predictable by enabling your workloads to be distributed among a pool of back-end resources.

You can establish connections in either round-robin or active-standby configurations to help increase host resiliency. Four new attributes have been added to the Application Configuration Dialog to help you set up and govern application resiliency:

• Enable Redundant Connections: Enables the Redundant Connection feature.
• Redundant Connection List: Specifies redundant application connections in a string.
• Redundant Connection Load Balancing: Applies load balancing in either “round-robin” or “fail-over” configurations.
• Redundant Connection Retry Interval: Notes the number minutes before an unreachable connection is retried.

Updated ePortal Business and Enterprise Systems

With the updates added to the ClearPath ePortal Business and Enterprise systems, you’ll now be able to manage platform software maintenance, management operations, and diagnostics. In addition, you can also manage platform-specific operations, such as initiating Manager rebuilds, installing operating system updates, obtaining hardware diagnostics, and performing general platform operations like shutdown and restart.

The ePortal Enterprise system receives an additional NLB operation mode called “IGMP Multicast.” With it, you can avoid switch port flooding, helping you improve performance on dedicated front-end network configurations that use Multicast NLB.

Interested to see how you can put these features to use in your business? Contact your Unisys sales representative to learn more, review our technical documentation, or visit our web site to see everything ePortal can bring to MCP and OS 2200 environments.

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