Echoes of Imran

Rambling away…

About

BROWSE
WebSphere MQ Server with Posted by: imranadeel | July 17, 2010
Temenos T24: Part 2
Monthly Archives

16th July 2010.

Search

This is the second entry on MQ Server with T24. The previous entry can be found here.

If you read my last post, you would think that I am saying it’s OK to use T24 without LINKS
MQ Server. It’s not. I will shed light on various aspects of it as I go along.
WordPress.com
First off, MQ offers message persistence; not having which means that if you have a WordPress.org
server crash or your network goes down, the messages will be lost either at a host, or
in transmission. For instance, a teller clicked on the option to deposit cash in a SUBSCRIBE
customer’s account. The request came to the application server, and then went to T24
server. Now, the server processes it and responds with confirmation. On the way
back, the web server went down, or the network broke. Now the teller will not receive Entries (RSS)
anything except a timeout message (in case of a network failure), or nothing at all (if Comments (RSS)
the web server crashed). But the transaction has already been committed at T24. The
teller would try to re-login and post the transaction again. If the failed component is
up, the transaction would go through, and the teller would get a confirmation from
T24. So now T24 would have two transactions instead of one.

Message persistence could have been of help here, if implemented with some level of
clustering at the web (and application) server and MQ server levels. Like had there
been a web server crash, and there were two web servers clustered together, then the
other web server would have been able to receive the message – only if there had been
an MQ server, from where it could poll the incoming messages.

Assembly of servers and their interconnections

Similarly, if the T24 server goes out of business right when a teller sends a withdraw
request, MQ would hold it till T24 server is back. TC Server will pick the message from
the MQ’s “IN” queue and process it; all this without the teller actually knowing that
there was a problem. This, of course, assumes that the T24 server is back within a
time span not longer than long enough.

But therein lies another problem. You see, you configure timeout on every browser
channel. This is typically 180 seconds (3 minutes). If the web server doesn’t receive a
response from T24 (or MQ) within this time span, it will time out, and show the user
the error screen. The user can then only go to the login page, which the web server
hosts. So even if MQ is holding a message in its queue, and the other party/network is
not back within 3 minutes, the session is going to time out anyway, and the user will
not be able to use the same message. It will be “orphaned out” in MQ, as no party
would be interested in taking it. MQ server will wait till its timeout setting allows it,
and then remove this message from its main queue, and put it in the Dead Letter
Queue. So even if you have MQ server, if the transaction is delayed for 3 minutes (or
whatever is your timeout setting at the browser/TC Client and TC server levels), the Follow
session would expire anyway, thus essentially ignoring whether the transaction ever
went through or not.

My advise here is that the IT executives should tell their users in the T24 early
adoption/training sessions that if they face a timeout after posting a transaction, and
have to login again, they must first check whether the transaction they just posted
actually went through or not.

In my next post, I will explain the scenarios where MQ Server really comes into play as
an essential component in the core banking system. Your feedback and comments are
always welcome.

Imran.

Rate this:

2 Votes
Like
Be the first to like this.

Related

WebSphere MQ Possible Layouts of Challenges to the

Server with IBM WebSphere Core Banking
Temenos T24: Part 1 Products with Solutions
In "Financial Temenos T24 Implementation
Industry" In "Enterprise Projects - 1
Systems" In "Financial
Industry"

Posted in Enterprise Systems, Financial Industry, IT Related, System Integration | Tags:

clustering, dead letter, failover, HA, high availability, MQ, MQ Server, t24, TC Client, TC
Server, timeout, transactions

« WebSphere MQ Server with Temenos T24: Part 1

My Latest Psychedelic/Prog-Rock Discovery: Jane »

RESPONSES

Asalaam alequm, By: ISM on December

22, 2010
Imran, i read your aritcle and found it quite at 10:50 am
informative. I am an Information security
proffesional and is interested in understanding the Reply
Temenos architecture with repect to security prespective.

Is it possible for you to elloborate the low level system

flows within the temenos architecture i.e. protocols and
services which are being used. And could you please
highlight security issues which should be looked into.

Wa-alaikum Salam , By: imranadeel on

January 11, 2011
Thank you for appreciating the article. at 2:28 pm

I forgot to respond to your query because of two Reply

reasons: 1) I don’t know what type of work you are
involved with, and thus didn’t know what to answer;
and (2) I got busy with work. I got some time now,
so I can respond to the extent that I understand your
question.

Whatever T24 does internally, is completely internal.

You have two possible external ends of T24:

1. TC Server: the listener of T24 from the outside

world. It accepts connections from the browser
servlet (web application server) and responds back to
user requests from the same channels. It also
accepts connections from ADCs.
2. T24’s connection with the database: Generally, this
should be jBASE (which is native to T24) or Oracle.

You can secure these two interfaces so that your

stack is ok. For the TC Server bit, you can use secure
channel and configure that on the MQ server (if you
are using one). Do note that the browser servlet is a
web application (Java servlet based) therefore, it
accesses T24 on HTTP protocol.

I hope that helped.

Imran.

Thanks for your response. Can you guide me if By: ISM on January 18,
there are any specific threats which i one 2011
should look into for MQ server. at 3:01 pm

Thanks again, i really appreciated your support. Reply

Hi Imran, By: Pierre on

November 23, 2011
Perhaps you can help with a question on T24 at 12:53 pm
integration?
Reply
I am looking to integrate automated Forex trade
messages into T24 from an external system (without
manually inputting the deals in T24).

It it possible to connect our external system (where

Forex trades will be booked) to T24 TC Server using MQ?
How do we achieve this? Or do we have to use the
TCClient API?

Any further information on how to insert these trade

messages into T24 FOREX table would be much
appreciated.

thanks

Pierre

Pierre, By: imranadeel on

November 29, 2011
My apologies for the late response. I’ve at 4:27 pm
been stuck lately.
Reply
T24 has two mechanisms to connect: OFSXML, or
ISO:8583 (used for electronic transactions). If you
know the OFSXML of the messages you want to send,
and if you also know the format of the response XML
then you can communicate with T24. Otherwise, if
you want to use ISO:8583, then you will have to
engage the bank’s middleware vendor to provide you
the interface/message formats for your app to talk to
T24. Personally, I would go OFSXML route for this
task.

Now, I want to drive home another point: T24 front

end is a Java servlet application, which talks to T24
Application Server via a software called TCClient. TCC
converts all actions/requests from the browser end
into OFSXML and sends them to the identified MQ
queue. T24 Application Server has a corresponding
software, called TCServer, which reads OFSXML from
the IN queue, and passes the provided request to the
destination T24 sub-application with the required
parameters. Similarly, the response is transformed in
XML and sent back to TCC via MQ.

So you should ask your bank’s IT section, or their

T24 implementer about the message formats
(OFSXML) in which T24 would accept a similar
message. Once you know the message structures of
both, request and response messages, then you are
ready.

You can use MQ API to put your request messages in

the IN queue, and read from the OUT queue.

We have experienced T24 integration with external

apps via an ESB and ISO:8583, both. I particularly
liked the ease of Oracle Service Bus (OSB) 11, while
IBM MessageBroker also works. But remember: MQ
and ESBs only take care of the transport part. Giving
your requests the right format is up to you, your
client bank, and its T24 implementation partner.

Feel free to contact me if you need further

information.

Imran.

Thank you Imran. By: Pierre on

November 29, 2011
at 4:37 pm

Reply

Hi Imran, By: Pierre on

November 30, 2011
Some further questions that you can perhaps at 2:04 pm
answer:
Reply
Correct, we will be using OFSXML.

What we don’t know yet however is the “how” pertaining

to the MQ API and /or Temenos Connector Client
mentioned above, and whether that varies by
implementation, or is standardised as a rule.

· Does the TC Server and thus T24 use an inherent MQ

architecture “in itself” for messages, or is it a standalone
one?

· If it IS NOT inherent (which from the information on

OSB and IBM MB I assume is in fact the case) then use
of the TC Client would actually be redundant, correct?

· If it IS inherent, can it be addressable from an external

application without being used through standard TC
Client interfaces?

· If necessary, how do we obtain the .Net/COM/etc.

libraries for TC Client? Through Temenos directly?
Through an implementer? It is likely licensed, I would
assume?

Thanks very much!

Pierre, By: imranadeel on

November 30, 2011
While the message structures and fields of at 4:47 pm
each screen in T24 are the same in T24
Model Bank (which is shrink-wrapped T24, out of the Reply
box, burnt on a CD) for any particular release (like
R7, R8, R9, etc.) the message structure of your
transaction may vary in different implementations of
T24 due to two reasons:

1. T24 Release: Like if you develop your applications

for R8, while R9 or R10 have some fields
added/changed in their messages then you will have
to modify your application/messaging to
accommodate that.
2. While T24 message structure for a release would
remain the same, a bank may add custom fields to it.
In treasury, it is highly likely that the bank may have
added a number of fields of its own in the screens,
due to which the message structure may have to be
changed from one implementation to the other.

Now, I am not sure what you mean by the word

inherent, but from what I understand, I can tell you
that if you are putting a message directly in a queue,
then you don’t need to work with TCClient or
TCClient API. Your application can simply create a
message in the format that T24 recognizes, and put
that directly in IN queue using MQ API.

You can use IBM MB or OSB for transport purposes,

which would let you connect to an MQ queue in
minutes. But the flip side is that the client bank may
not want to spend another USD 60K to 80K just for
that.

Temenos does not have the best user and developer

documentation in the world. And they will not talk to
you unless you are a client bank or an
implementation partner. So you cannot get the
message formats on your own. As I mentioned
before, you need to engage your client bank, and/or
the implementer of the bank, to get it for you from
Temenos.

Let me know if you need further info.

Imran.

Hi Imran, By: Antonio on June

13, 2012
I really like your posts especially the ones on at 11:42 am
Temenos core banking and WebSphere MQ, I
am very interested in the 3rd part of that discussion Reply
which you have not posted yet as I want to see how MQ
can be leveraged with Temenos best.
I have a few remarks though on the automated Forex
Trade Messages using OFSXML and IBM Message Broker
V8 ESB. MB is an enrichment layer that leverages MQ
extensively as its transport layer and so it performs the
mediation, routing, conversions “protocols”,
transformations “data formats” and distribution of
events. In this context MB will can do more than just
transport as it can perform transformations from Eg
OFSXML to ISO 8583 or any other format as long as the
message model / map is used for the conversion. And so
a message producer can send the message to an MQ In
queue using MQ API and a broker message flow
implemented through broker compute nodes can be used
to read from this queue, transform this message using a
message model that can be built, imported, (pre built) or
purchased (WebSphere Transformation Extender) and
then written to an MQ out Queue where T24 (TC Server)
can access it from.
A similar flow can be implemented in the opposite
direction for T24 responses.
Also, IBM WebSphere Message Broker tool kit can be
used to invoke Visual Studio directly thereby allowing
you to use skills in inserting connectivity /
transformation logic etc in known language of C, C# etc

hello imran; By: imran on August

Rally good post from side, i would like to know 24, 2012
from where you are,i means from which at 1:26 am
country? i would like to know your email id ..i
want some training from you.. Reply

Thanks in advance

Hi Imran. I have a small issue with the last part By: antony gitonga on
about the ESBs “We have experienced T24 March 14, 2013
integration with external apps via an ESB and at 5:46 pm
ISO:8583, both. I particularly liked the ease of
Oracle Service Bus (OSB) 11, while IBM MessageBroker Reply
also works. But remember: MQ and ESBs only take care
of the transport part. Giving your requests the right
format is up to you, your client bank, and its T24
implementation partner.” Ideally anything that calls itself
an ESB should be able to do just more than transport
roles in the scenario. A general ESB definition should be
middle ware that performs data transformations,
protocol conversions, routing, complex event processing,
monitoring as well as be standards compliant.
In a typical scenario the ESB would take the request in
whatever format and protocol you give it eg ISO 8583
Over TCP IP, parse it and map it to OFS XML and output
in on MQ at a specified WMQ Queue in this case MQ IN
Queue where the TC Server can pick it up and send it to
the back end.
I have had the pleasure of implementing a WebSphere
Message Broker Work flow using WMB Tool kit which did
this exact same scenario above and has been
implemented successfully already …. We are integrating
Temenos R7 feeding it either OFSXML / ISO 8583 Data
via MQ protocol using IBM WebSphere Message Broker
V8.0.0.1.
Also gone ahead and doing caching which is now being
done out of the box by WMB V8.0.0.1
Therefore the ESB does a lot more than just transport
capabilities. With a good ESB you can integrate anything
to anything. All you need is a sample to get the data
structures needed so that the ESB can model them into a
logical representation.

Good fan of your blog by the way ! Great work By: antony gitonga on
! March 14, 2013
at 5:48 pm

Reply

Hi Imran, By: David phyo on

September 15, 2014
I have a problem when T24 Sign in the at 9:13 am
following message show “Error communicating
with the T24 server. “.But I can connected my database Reply
server using with terminal. Could you tell me how to
solve it.

Thank you very much.

David, By: imranadeel on

September 17, 2014
This means that you may need to check at 10:37 am
your BrowserParameter.xml or
Channels.xml files. They should have the right IP and Reply
server names, and the right queues mentioned in
them.

If you are using MQ or JMS at the moment, you can

try without it, and going straight via TCP/IP adapter.

Hope that helped.

Imran.

Hi Imran, By: koyal on January

2, 2015
I have one dought, (regarding to tcserver) in at 6:15 pm
war file i edited channel.xml,
BrowserParameter.xml and browserConnection.xml files. Reply
that war i deployed in websphere7. while login time i am
not able to login, may be my application not hitting the
tcserver. In websphere must i have to use MQ Listener or
by using this tcserver port, ip & channel name i can
connect to tcserver. if it is possible to connect tcserver by
using port, ip, channel name. please tell me the exact
path in websphere to connect.

Thank you

Hi, By: imranadeel on

January 14, 2015
Sorry for the late response. at 5:25 pm

You can connect to TC Server via MQ as well as Reply

TCP/IP. You put the browserparameter.xml in the
applications directory of WAS. Do you have the
formats of tcserver.xml and browerparameter.xml
files?

Imran.

LEAVE A REPLY

Enter your comment here...

CATEGORIES

Business Enterprise Systems Financial Industry

General Islamic Banking and IT Related
Finance
Music
Personal Stuff Project Management System Integration

Blog at WordPress.com.