Pipelines and Pipeline Services 

Pipelines

Pipeline is the term used to refer to all steps that are performed during the processing of a message.

A pipeline represents a fixed processing run for particular messages and differs from other pipelines depending on the configuration of the Integration Engine.

There are pipelines (SENDER and RECEIVER) for a local Integration Engine in sender or receiver systems, or for a central Integration Engine (CENTRAL) that is configured as the Integration Server.

There are also special pipelines for processing acknowledgment messages (BACK pipelines) and for messages sent using the Web service protocol.

The latter can be pipelines for messages that are sent or received by a business system (WS_SENDER or WS_RECEIVER) or pipelines for messages that are received or sent using the Web service inbound or outbound channel of the Integration Server (WS_IS_RECEIVER or WS_IS_SENDER).

If Web service communication takes place locally, the WS_SHORTCUT pipeline is used.

Pipeline Services

The individual processing steps of a pipeline that a message must pass through when it is processed are called pipeline elements. Each pipeline element calls exactly one pipeline service.

Pipeline services provide functions for processing messages. They read and can change inbound messages, for example, the mapping or routing. You can also call processing processes. The service type, number, and sequence are specified for each pipeline and cannot be changed.

The pipeline services are either part of the Integration Engine itself or originate from other areas of Process Integration. A pipeline service can be used by more than one pipeline element.