Figure 1 shows the connector components and their relationships to the WebSphere business integration system and to the TCP/IP network to which they are connected.
Figure 1. Architecture of the connector
There are industry specific message standards, such as the HL7 protocol in the health care industry, which allow data to be sent out directly over TCP/IP networks. The TCP/IP adapter provides a robust, highly scalable way to route such messages into or out of the WebSphere business integration system, regardless of the nature of the TCP application at the other end of the connection.
In event, or inbound, processing, the adapter's connector acts as a TCP server, listening on the designated socket, and setting up and managing the load on the socket once the connection with a client is established. The data goes from the connection management component to the message processing component, where some basic pre-processing is done, using a sub-component called the PIMO. After pre-processing is complete, the connector calls a pre-configured data handler to convert the message into the corresponding business object. Then the connector framework publishes that object to the integration broker. One TCP server can be configured per connector instance.
In request, or outbound, processing, the integration broker sends the connector a business object that represents the message it wishes to send to a pre-configured target host or application. A data handler converts the object into a message, which may also, if necessary, be sent for post-processing by the PIMO subcomponent. Then the connector, acting as a TCP client, contacts the appropriate server, establishes the connection, and manages sending the data out. If required, the connector also handles any responses that the target server may provide. Multiple TCP clients can be configured per connector instance.