Running BIX on the cloud

The BIX product can be run on a Pega Cloud instance. There are three key differences between a customer running BIX on-site versus running BIX on a Pega Cloud instance:

• Output format options for extracted data are limited to either XML or CSV files. Writing extracted data directly to a database is not supported on the cloud.
• Direct access to the Pega Cloud server file system is not allowed, and BIX cannot be run from an external command-line process.
• Direct access to the Pega Cloud server file system is not allowed, and the extracted files must be transported to a customer FTP site. All extracted files from a BIX run are compressed and delivered as a single ZIP file whose name consists of classname, extractname and sequence number.

When a Pega Cloud instance is provisioned for a customer licensed to run BIX, a separate node is set up for running batch processes such as BIX. This node does not participate in the load-balancing of end-user sessions, which minimizes the impact of BIX processing on production performance.

Step 1: Define FTP related data instances

To prepare for BIX processing on a Pega Cloud instance:

1. Set up an FTP site in your domain (if one does not already exist).
2. Within Designer Studio, configure the FTP Server data instance BIXFTPServer on the Environment tab to point to your FTP site.
3. Configure the Authentication Profile data instance BIXFTPAuthProfile with the login credentials of the FTP Server and save the instance.
4. Click Test Connectivity in BIXFTPServer to verify the configuration and save this instance. See About FTP Server data instances..
5. Configure the Service Package data instance BIXFTPServicePackage with the operator’s access group and save the instance.
6. Open the File Listener BIXFTPListener, clear the Block Startup check box, and then save the instance.

Step 2: Define a BIX Extract rule

When running BIX on a Pega Cloud instance, only file output formats are supported for extracted data. The File Specification tab does not display because the extracted files are not directly accessible and are instead automatically transported to your FTP site following extraction.

Note: If you have completed “Step 1: Define FTP related data instances,” you are able to manually run an Extract rule form to test the BIX extraction process and verify successful receipt of the extract file at your FTP site. When running a manual test, define filter conditions in the Extract rule to ensure that only a small number of class instances are extracted.

See About Extract rules.

Step 3: Schedule the Extract rule

See Running a BIX extract in Designer Studio.

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