This glossary defines WebSphere® Event
Broker terms and abbreviations that
are used in this online information center.
The
migration
glossary lists differences in terminology between
WebSphere Event Broker Version 6.0 and previous versions of the
product.
A- access control list (ACL)
- In computer security, a list associated with an object that identifies
all the subjects that can access the object that it is associated
with. The list also defines their access rights. Subjects are principals that have explicit
permissions (to publish, to subscribe to, and to request persistent
delivery of, a publication message)
against a topic in the topic
tree. The ACLs define the implementation of topic-based security.
- ACL
- See access control list.
- AMI
- See Application Messaging Interface.
- Application Messaging Interface (AMI)
- The programming interface, provided by WebSphere MQ, that defines a high level
interface to message queuing services. See also Message Queue Interface (MQI) and Java™ Message
Service (JMS). Applications that use the AMI connect to the
broker using WebSphere MQ Enterprise
Transport.
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B- BAR file
- See broker archive file.
- bend point
- A point that is introduced in a connection between two message flow nodes at which the
line that represents the connection changes direction. A bend point
can be used to make node alignment and processing logic clearer and
more effectively displayed.
- binary large object (BLOB)
- A block of bytes of data (for example, the body of a message)
that has no discernible meaning, but is treated as one solid entity
that cannot be interpreted.
- BLOB
- See binary large object.
- broker
- A set of execution processes that host one or more message flows. Also known as message
broker.
- broker archive file
- The unit of deployment to
the broker; also known as
a BAR file. The broker archive file contains a number of different
files, including compiled message
flows (.cmf) and message sets (.dictionary and .xsdzip files),
that are used by the broker at run time. It can also contain additional
user-provided files that your message flows might need at run time,
provided that the file extension does not overlap with extensions
that are used by the broker.
- broker domain
- A collection of brokers that
share a common configuration, together with the Configuration
Manager that
controls them.
- broker schema
- A symbol space that defines the scope of uniqueness of the names
of resources (message flows) that are defined
within it.
- built-in node
- A message flow node that
is supplied by the product. Some of the supplied nodes provide basic
processing such as input and output.
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C- cmf
- See compiled message flow.
- collective
- A set of brokers that
are fully interconnected and form part of a multi-broker network for publish/subscribe applications.
- compiled message flow (cmf)
- A message flow that has
been compiled to prepare it for deployment to the broker. A cmf file
is sent to the broker within a BAR
file.
- component
- A set of runtime processes that perform a specific set of functions.
A component is a broker, a Configuration
Manager,
a Database Instance Manager,
or a User Name Server.
- component directory
- In z/OS®, the root directory
of the component's runtime
environment.
- component name
- The external name of a component.
Each component requires a name, which is used, for example, in the workbench and
in commands.
- component PDSE
- In a z/OS environment, a PDSE that contains jobs to define
resources to DB2, WebSphere MQ, and the WebSphere Event Broker started task. See partitioned data set.
- configuration
- In a broker domain, the brokers, execution groups, deployed message flows, and defined topics
and access control lists.
- Configuration Manager
- The component that provides an interface between the workbench
and a set of runtime brokers.
It provides brokers with their initial configuration, and updates
them with any subsequent changes. It maintains the broker domain configuration.
- Configuration Manager Proxy
- An application programming interface that your applications can
use to control broker domains through a remote interface to the Configuration
Manager.
- connection
- See message flow node connection.
For broker-to-broker connections, see publish/subscribe
topology.
- content-based filter
- In publish/subscribe, an expression that is included as part of
a subscription to determine
whether a publication message
is received based on its content. The expression can include wild cards.
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D- Database Instance Manager
- On Windows®, a network server
that supports the creation, maintenance, and deletion of databases
used by brokers in all installations on a single computer. Database
support is limited to Derby and DB2®. The Database Instance Manager
is associated with a Windows service.
- DataFlowEngine (DFE)
- See execution group.
- datagram
- A form of asynchronous messaging in which an application sends
a message, but does not want a response. Also known as send-and-forget.
Contrast with request/reply.
deploy
To place files or install software into an operational environment.The
process of transferring data to an execution
group on a broker so
that it can take effect in the broker
domain. For deploying message
flows and associated resources, the data is packaged in a broker archive (BAR) file before
being sent to the Configuration
Manager, from where it is unpackaged
and distributed appropriately.

- Derby
- The database based on the Apache Derby open source project from
Apache Software Foundation. Derby database support is embedded in
the broker component on Windows only.
- distribution list
- A list of WebSphere MQ queues to which a message can be
put with a single statement.
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E- editor area
- The area in the workbench window where files are
opened for editing.
- ESM
- See external security manager.
- execution group
- A named grouping of message flows that have been assigned to a
broker. The broker enforces a degree of isolation between message
flows in distinct execution groups by ensuring that they execute in
separate address spaces, or as unique processes.
An execution group
process is also known as a DataFlowEngine (DFE); this term is typically
used in problem determination scenarios (trace contents, diagnostic
messages, and so on). A DFE is created as an operating system process,
and has a one-to-one relationship with the named execution group.
If more than one message flow runs within an execution group, multiple
threads are created within the DFE process.
- Extensible Markup Language (XML)
- A standard metalanguage for defining markup languages that is
based on Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML).
- External Security Manager (ESM)
- In a z/OS environment, a
security product that performs security checking on users and resources. RACF® is an example of an ESM.
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G- graphical user interface (GUI)
- A type of computer interface that presents a visual metaphor of
a real-world scene, often of a desktop, by combining high-resolution
graphics, pointing devices, menu bars and other menus, overlapping
windows, icons, and the object-action relationship.
- GUI
- See graphical user interface.
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I- IBM® Runtime Environment
for Java
- A subset of the IBM Developer Kit for the Java Platform that contains the core
executable files and other files that constitute the standard Java platform. The IBM Runtime Environment includes the Java virtual machine (JVM), core classes, and
supporting files.
- IBM Software
Developer Kit for Java
- A software package that can be used to write, compile, debug,
and run Java applets and applications.
- input node
- A message flow node that
represents a source of messages for a message
flow or subflow.
See also output node.
install_dir
The location in the local file system in which product components
have been installed. For example, the default location for runtime
components on Windows XP is C:\Program Files\IBM\6.0.
- installation directory
- In a z/OS environment, a
file system into which all product data is installed, and from which
it is referenced and retrieved during the customization phase.
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J- Java Database
Connectivity (JDBC)
- An industry standard for database-independent connectivity between
the Java platform and a wide
range of databases. The JDBC interface provides a call-level API for
SQL-based and XQuery-based database access. See also Open Database Connectivity.
- Java Message
Service (JMS)
- An application programming interface that provides Java language functions for handling messages.
See also Application Messaging
Interface (AMI) and Message
Queue Interface (MQI). Applications using JMS connect to the
broker using either WebSphere MQ Real-time Transport or WebSphere MQ Multicast Transport.
- JCL
- See Job Control Language
- JDBC
- See Java Database Connectivity.
- JMS
- See Java Message Service.
- Job Control Language (JCL)
- Job Control Language (JCL) comprises a set of Job Control Statements
that are used to define work requests called jobs. JCL tells the operating
system what program to run, and defines its inputs and outputs.
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L- local error log
- A generic term that refers to the logs to which WebSphere Event Broker writes records on the
local system. Also known as the system log.
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M- message
- A communication that is sent from a person or program to another
person or program. In WebSphere Event Broker,
messages must have a structure and format which is agreed by the sending
and receiving applications.
- message broker
- See broker.
- Message Brokers Toolkit
- A component that integrates with Rational® Application Developer and is based
on the Eclipse platform. This component provides the workbench development environment.
- message flow
- A sequence of processing steps that run in the broker when an
input message is received. A message flow is created in the workbench by
including a number of message flow
nodes that each represents a set of actions that define a processing
step. The connections in the flow determine which processing steps
are carried out, in which order, and under which conditions. A message
flow must include an input node that
provides the source of the messages that are processed. Message flows
are then ready to deploy to
a broker for execution. See also subflow.
- message flow node
- A processing step in a message
flow, also called a message processing node. A message flow
node can be a built-in node,
a user-defined node, or
a subflow node.
- message flow node connection
- An entity that connects an output terminal of one message flow node to an input
terminal of another. A message flow node connection represents the
flow of control and data between two message flow nodes.
- message parser
- A program that interprets an incoming message and creates an internal
representation of the message in a tree structure, and that regenerates
a bit stream for an outgoing message from the internal representation.
- message processing node
- See message flow node.
- Message Queue Interface (MQI)
- The programming interface that is provided by WebSphere MQ queue managers. Application programs
use the programming interface to access message queuing services.
See also Application Messaging
Interface (AMI) and Java Message Service (JMS).
Applications that use the MQI, connect to the broker using WebSphere MQ Enterprise
Transport.
- metadata
- The data that describes the characteristic of stored data.
- MQI
- See Message Queue Interface.
- MQIsdp
- See SCADA device protocol.
- MQRFH
- An architected message header that is used to provide metadata for the processing of
a message. This header is supported by the WebSphere MQ (MQSeries®) Publish/Subscribe SupportPac™.
- MQRFH2
- An extended version of MQRFH,
providing enhanced function in message processing.
- multilevel wild card
- A wild card that can
be specified in subscriptions to match any number of levels in a topic.
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N- node
- An endpoint or junction used in a message flow. See message flow node.
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O- ODBC
- See Open Database Connectivity.
- Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
- A standard application programming interface (API) for accessing
data in both relational and non-relational database management systems.
Using this API, database applications can access data stored in database
management systems on a variety of computers even if each database
management system uses a different data storage format and programming
interface.
- output node
- A message flow node that
represents a point at which messages leave the message flow or subflow. See also input node.
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P- parser
- See message parser.
- partitioned data set (PDS, PDSE)
- In a z/OS environment, a
data set in direct-access storage that is divided into partitions,
which are called members. A partitioned data set (extended) (PDSE)
is an extension to a PDS that contains an indexed directory in addition
to the members.
- PDS, PDSE
- See partitioned data set.
- perspective
- A group of views that show various aspects of the resources in
the workbench. See also view.
- point-to-point
- A style of messaging application in which the sending application
knows the destination of the message. Contrast with publish/subscribe.
- principal
- An individual user ID (for example, a login ID) or a group. A
group can contain individual user IDs and other groups, to the level
of nesting that is supported by the underlying facility.
property
A characteristic of an object that describes the object. A property
can be changed or modified. Properties can describe an object's name,
type, value, or behavior, among other things.Resources that are
created and maintained in the workbench and components have properties;
for example, message flow nodes,
deployed message flows, and
brokers.

- publication
- A piece of information about a specified topic that is available to a broker in a publish/subscribe system.
- publication node
- An end point of a specific path through a message flow to which a client
application subscribes, identified to the client by its subscription point.
- publisher
- An application that makes information about a specified topic available to a broker in a publish/subscribe system.
- publish/subscribe
- A style of messaging application in which the providers of information
(publishers) are de-coupled
from the consumers of that information (subscribers) using a broker. See also topic. Contrast with point-to-point messaging.
- publish/subscribe topology
- The brokers, the collectives,
and the connections between them, that support publish/subscribe applications
in the broker domain.
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Q- queue
- A WebSphere MQ object to which
message queuing applications can put messages, and from which message
queuing applications can get messages.
- queue manager
- A system program that provides queuing services to applications.
A queue manager provides an application programming interface (the MQI) that enables programs to
access messages on the queues that
the queue manager owns.
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R- request/reply
- A type of messaging application in which a request message is
used to request a reply from another application. Contrast with datagram.
- resource
- The collective term for projects, folders, subfolders, and files
that can be manipulated in the Eclipse workbench.
- Resource Recovery Services (RRS)
- A z/OS facility that provides
two-phase sync point support by participating resource managers.
- retained publication
- A published message that is kept at the broker for propagation to clients
that subscribe in the future.
- RRS
- See Resource Recovery Services.
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S- SCADA
- See Supervisory, Control,
And Data Acquisition.
- SCADA device protocol (MQIsdp)
- A protocol that implements the WebSphere MQ Telemetry Transport to connect SCADA devices to the broker.
- send-and-forget
- See datagram.
- single-level wild card
- A wild card that can
be specified in subscriptions to match a single level in a topic.
- stream
- A method of topic partitioning
that is used by applications that connect to WebSphere MQ Publish/Subscribe brokers.
- subflow
- A sequence of processing steps, implemented by message flow nodes,
that is designed to be embedded in a message
flow or in another subflow. A subflow must include at least
one Input or Output node. A subflow can be started by a broker only
as part of the message flow in which it is embedded, and therefore
cannot be deployed.
- subflow node
- A message flow node that
represents a subflow.
- subscriber
- An application that requests information about a specified topic from a publish/subscribe broker.
- subscription
- A record that contains the information that a subscriber passes to its local broker to describe the publications that it wants to receive.
- subscription filter
- A predicate that specifies the subset of messages that are to
be delivered to a particular subscriber.
- subscription point
- The name that a subscriber uses
to request publications from
a particular set of publication
nodes. It is the property of a publication node that differentiates
that publication node from other publication nodes in the same message flow.
- Supervisory, Control, And Data Acquisition
(SCADA)
- A term used to describe any form of remote telemetry system that
is used to gather data from remote sensor devices (for example, flow
rate meters on an oil pipeline) and for the near real time control
of remote equipment (for example, pipeline valves). These devices
communicate with the broker using the SCADA
device protocol (MQIsdp).
- system log
- See local error log.
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T- terminal
- The point at which one node in
a message flow is connected
to another node. You can connect terminals to control the route that
a message takes, dependent on the outcome of the operation that is
performed on that message by the node.
- topic
- A character string that describes the nature of the data that
is published in a publish/subscribe system.
- topic based subscription
- A subscription specified
by a subscribing application that includes a topic that filters publications.
- topic security
- The application of ACLs to
one or more topics to control subscriber access to published
messages.
- topology
- See publish/subscribe topology.
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U- Unicode Transformation Format, 8-bit encoding
form (UTF-8)
- A transformation format that is designed for ease of use with
existing ASCII-based systems. UTF-8 is an encoding of Unicode character
strings that optimizes the encoding of ASCII characters in support
of text-based communication.
- uniform resource identifier (URI)
- An encoded address that represents any resource, such as an HTML
document, image, video clip, or program, on the Web; a URI is an abstract
superclass compared with a Uniform
resource locator or a Uniform
resource name, which are concrete entities.
- uniform resource locator (URL)
- A sequence of characters that represent information resources
on a computer or in a network such as the Internet. This sequence
of characters includes:
- The abbreviated name of the protocol that is used to access the
information resource
- The information that is used by the protocol to locate the information
resource
A Web server typically maps the request portion of the URL to
a path and file name. Also known as universal resource locator.
- uniform resource name (URN)
- A name that uniquely identifies a Web service to a client.
- URI
- See uniform resource identifier.
- URL
- See uniform resource locator.
- URN
- See uniform resource name.
- user-defined node
- An extension to the broker that provides a new message flow node in addition
to those that are supplied with the product. A
user-defined node cannot be developed in WebSphere Event Broker, but can be imported and
deployed.
- User Name Server
- A component that interfaces
with operating system facilities to determine valid users and groups.
- UTF-8
- See Unicode Transformation
Format.
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V- view
- In Eclipse-based user interfaces, a pane that is outside the editor
area, which can be used to look at or work with the resources in the workbench.
For example, you can view and edit your project files in the Broker
Development view (previously called the Resource Navigator view).
See also perspective.
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W- WebSphere MQ Enterprise
Transport
- A transport protocol supported by WebSphere Event Broker that enables WebSphere MQ application clients to
connect to brokers.
- WebSphere MQ Everyplace
- A generally available WebSphere MQ product
that provides proven WebSphere MQ reliability
and security for mobile and wireless devices. WebSphere MQ Everyplace® applications connect to the
broker using WebSphere MQ Mobile Transport.
- WebSphere MQ Mobile Transport
- A transport protocol supported by WebSphere Event Broker that enables WebSphere MQ Everyplace application
clients to connect to brokers.
- WebSphere MQ Multicast Transport
- A transport protocol supported by WebSphere Event Broker that enables dedicated JMS application clients to connect
to brokers. This protocol is optimized for high volume, one-to-many publish/subscribe topologies.
- WebSphere MQ Real-time Transport
- A transport protocol supported by WebSphere Event Broker that enables dedicated JMS application clients to connect
to brokers.
- WebSphere MQ Telemetry Transport
- A transport protocol supported by WebSphere Event Broker that enables SCADA devices to connect to
brokers. This protocol is a lightweight publish/subscribe protocol that
flows over TCP/IP that uses a subset of UTF-8.
- wild card
- A character that can be specified in subscriptions to match a
range of topics. See also multilevel
wild card and single-level
wild card.
- workbench
- The user interface and integrated development environment (IDE)
in Eclipse and Eclipse-based tools such as IBM Rational Application
Developer.
work_path
The location in the local file system in which the component stores
internal and working data. For example, the default location on Windows systems
is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\IBM\MQSI\.
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- An international industry consortium set up to develop common
protocols to promote the evolution and interoperability of the World
Wide Web.
- W3C
- See World Wide Web Consortium.
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X- XML
- See Extensible Markup Language.
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