1. Conversation Management Protocol in WebLogic Integration October 15, 2001 Sanjay Dalal BEA Systems, Inc.

2. Outline Business Transactions over the Web
Conversation Management Protocol of WebLogic Integration
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3. Supply Chain Business Transaction Example
Manufacturer
Supplier
Shipper
Check
product price
Send
product price
Place Order
Wait for order
Wait
for Invoice
Send
Invoice
Check
truck
schedule
Arrange
shipping
Time
Book order
Decline
customer
Commit
Reserve
shipping
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Business message

4. Characteristics of Business Transactions on the Web
Comprised of complex business processes
Span multiple enterprises (trading partners)
Modeled as agreed upon processes within the context of trading partner agreements
Long running (minutes, hours, days,…)
Consists of multiple business message exchanges
Uses unreliable communication channel: HTTP/S
Global business transaction is dependent on the outcome of many local transactions
Isolation is relaxed, compensation preferred over rollback
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5. Requirements for protocol
Management/coordination of long-running business transactions across business processes of different trading partners
Reliable business transaction management (coordination) protocol over the Web
Outcome is reliably conveyed to all participants
Survive network and node failures
Efficient protocol (less number of messages) over the web
->>>Conversation Management Protocol (CMP)
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6. Conversation Management
B2B stack
ebXML,
BPML
Collaboration
Conversation Management
CMP
ebXML TRP,
SOAP...
Messaging
Security
SSL, S2ML, PKCS #7
HTTP, SMTP/POP, FTP
Transport
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7. Conversation Lifecycle
Start a conversation
Send message in a conversation
Receive message in a conversation
Implicitly join a conversation
Leave conversation
Terminate a conversation
Success
Failure
Timeout
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8. Conversation Lifecycle
Initiator
Participant
Subordinate
Coordinator
Main
4: receive business message
5: enlist participant
10: Conversation terminated
3: send message
7: enlist subordinate
9: terminate conversation
11: Conversation terminated
coordinator
1: create conversation
2: send message
8: terminate conversation
12: Conversation terminated
6: register
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9. Roles Initiator Participant Coordinator Main coordinator
Initiator is a trading partner, who creates the conversation
Sends the first business message
Terminates the conversation
Participant
Participant is a trading partner who is enlisted in the conversation when it receives the first business message inside the conversation
Can leave the conversation
Coordinator
Main coordinator
Maintains a list of subordinate coordinators
Drives termination protocol
Subordinate coordinator
Maintains a list of participants
Participates in the termination protocol
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10. Summary Advantages Simple protocol
Less number of messages
Fewer roles
Suitable where single party dictates outcome of a transaction, e.g. public/private exchanges
Missing
Vote from participants
Explicit contracts
Implicit prepare
Implicit enlist/enrol
Initiator does not “see” status (in or out of transaction) of participant
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11. Status
Available in WebLogic Integration product (
Accepted by OASIS Business Transaction Committee ( on March 8, 2001 as proposal from BEA
Note: The name of the protocol was changed from “Conversation Management Protocol” to “Business Transaction Protocol” in the proposal.
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