Top WebMethods Interview Questions and Answers-(2024)

1 .

The webMethods is an enterprise software company it was founded by Phillip Merrick and Caren Merrick in 1996 and has later acquired by Software AG in 2007. WebMethods is an API management and integration platform that focuses on business process integration, internal A2A (Application to Application) integration, and B2B (Business to Business) partner integration.

Now that webMethods Integration Server 10.11 is available, you can automate everything you need by using integrations, APIs, and microservices. These updates make webMethods a unified platform that addresses the needs of the modern enterprise, including both your business and your partners, as well as your customers. It provides an easy-to-use graphical tool for generating flow services that map from any data format into another and connect different applications. There are many e-standards supported by WebMethods, including XML (Extensible Markup Language), Rosetta Net, EDI (Electronic data interchange), etc.

This company provides web services to connect software applications over the internet.

First Server : webMethods B2B Integration Server 3.1 – March 2000 (estimate)

2 .

What is Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)?

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is an integration framework that includes a collection of technologies and services. It is used to enable the integration of applications and systems across the enterprise. EAI allows sharing the business processes with multiple organizations.

3 .

List the tools of webMethods Integration

Below are the tools of webMethods integration.

* webMethods Integration Server

* webMethods Integration Platform

* webMethods Adapters

* webMethods Developer

* webMethods Broker

* webMethods Monitor

* webMethods eStandards Modules

* webMethods Optimize for Infrastructure

* webMethods Trading Networks

* webMethods EDI Module

* webMethods EDIINT

* webMethods PIM

4 .

What is the Role of a WebMethods Developer?

This is the Java-based IDE (Integrated development environment) that allows you to open sessions on WebMethods IS (Integration server) and develop your services. It is used to develop code on WebMethods IS. In addition, it also supports the development of integration applications in WebMethods Flow. Webmethod flow is a graphical programming language specially used to simplify and speed up the development of integration applications.

5 .

What is a Flow Service?

A flow service is a graphical programming language that runs in the webMethods Integration Server. It is designed to simplify the error-prone aspects of integration/ B2B activities. Flow service is written in webMethods flow language

6 .

Mention the list of modules in WebMethods Product Suite?

The webMethods Product Suite comprises four modules, as follows :

* Service-Oriented Architecture.

* Business Activity Monitoring.

* Business Process Management.
* Integration and B2B (Business to Business).

7 .

Explain the primary function of the built-in pub.flow:savePipeline service.

The pub.flow:savePipeline service is used to save the current pipeline to a specific location in memory on the Integration Server. Pipelines are stored in memory and can be retrieved later with the pub.flow:restorePipeline service. Pub.flow:restorePipeline service restores a pipeline that has previously been saved by pub.flow:savePipeline.

If that savePipeline is successfully invoked, a snapshot of pipeline fields will be saved under the key specified by $name. A pipeline is identified in memory by the string name "$name". If this value is not provided, an exception will be thrown.

8 .

Describe what happens when you invoke the pub.flow:tracePipeline service and pub.flow:clearPipeline.

When you invoke the pub.flow:tracePipeline service, the names, and values of all pipeline fields are written to the server log. When you invoke pub.flow:clearPipeline, all pipeline fields are removed or cleared. You can specify fields that shouldn't be removed/cleared using this service.

9 .

What is the FlowService in WebMethods?

webMethods.io Integration offers various features that enables you to automate tasks based on specific requirements. However, there are some scenarios where you want to create complex integrations that require advanced data transformation and custom logic implementation.

With FlowServices, you can encapsulate a sequence of services within a single service and manage the flow of data among them, create complex, advanced integration scenarios involving multiple application endpoints, and finally include the FlowService in a workflow.

10 .

What is Workflow in WebMethods? and How to create Workflow?

To get started with webMethods.io Integration, you first need to create a workflow. Workflow is a connection between two or more web apps or services. It’s like a set of steps required to perform a task. You define these steps once and webMethods.io Integration automates the execution for you, every time.

In simple words, creating a workflow is like defining your conditions : When an event occurs in ‘Service A’, do something in ‘Service B’, and (optionally) pass on the data to ‘Service C’, ‘Service D’, and ‘Service E.

webMethods.io Integration offers hundreds of web services for workflows. With the help of these, you can create custom workflows by defining triggers and actions, and automate almost every aspect of your work life.

Example : Let’s look at an example to understand it a little better.

* When a new note is created in my Evernote account, translate the note in Spanish (using Google Translate Text), and send the translated text to my Gmail account.

(or)

* When a new bug is created in Zoho Projects, create a new card in Trello, and send me a text message on my mobile phone.

Once you define this, webMethods.io Integration will take care of the rest.

Now that you know what webMethods.io Integration is, let’s learn how to create your first workflow.

11 .

What Is the Publish-and-Subscribe Model?

The publish-and-subscribe model is a specific type of message-based solution in which messages are exchanged anonymously through a message broker. Applications that produce information that needs to be shared will make this information available in specific types of recognizable documents that they publish to the message broker. Applications that require information subscribe to the document types they need.

At run time, the message broker receives documents from publishers and then distributes the documents to subscribers. The subscribing application processes or performs work using the document and may or may not send a response to the publishing application.

In a webMethods system, webMethods Integration Server or applications running on Integration Server publish documents to a messaging provider. You can use Universal Messagingand/or Broker as messaging providers. The messaging provider then routes the documents to subscribers (webMethods messaging trigger) located on other Integration Servers. The following sections provide more detail about these components.

12 .

What are webMethods components?

The webMethods Integration platform is made up of several diversified components that you use to design, execute and manage Integration solutions.

These components fall into three basic categories and I am trying to give a brief as per my knowledge.

1) Runtime components

2) Design-time components

3) Administrative components

1) Runtime components : Execute the Integration solution that you develop.

a) WebMethods Integration server: Is the platform runtime component and serves as an entry point for systems and applications that you want to integrate.

b) WebMethods Broker: This is a high-speed message router. It is an asynchronous message-based solution that are built a publish-subscribe model..

c) WebMethods trading networks and e standard: In a document-oriented exchange scenario.

d) Webmethods Adapters: Adapters run on the Integration Server. They connect backend resources in the enterprise to the integration platform.

e) webmethods workflow: A series of tasks performed by one or more people.

f) MywebMethods Server: As a major component of the webMethods Suite, it plays a critical role in providing the UI (User Interface) framework so that customers can develop Web, portlet, and BPM (Business process management) applications.

2) Design Time Components : Provide a tool for developing and testing an Integration solutions.

a) WebMethods workflow Designer : Develop and deploy Integration logic and related workflow.

b) WebMethods Developer : This is the IDE (Integrated development environment) that allows you to open sessions on IS (Integration server) and develop your services.

c) WebMethods Modeler : It is a graphical tool used for designing and implementing business processes.

3) Administritive Components : Configures the runtime environment and monitor the execution of Integration solution running on the Platform.

a) webMethods Administrator : The administrator installs, configures, and maintains the WebMethods IS (Integration Server).

b) WebMethods Monitor : This tool allows you to view information logged by webMethods IS and webMethods Optimize.

c) WebMethods manager.

13 .

Short descriptions of the basic components of WebMethods?

1. Integration server(IS) : webMethods Integration Server is one of the core application servers in the webMethods platform. It is a Java-based, multiplatform enterprise integration server. It supports the integration of diverse services, such as mapping data between formats and communication between systems. An integration server may also be known as the core of webMethods Enterprise Service Bus.

2. webMethods Broker : webMethods Broker is the core of the webMethods ESB, it is the hub of the ESB. It is the backbone of the webMethods ESB and supports synchronous and asynchronous message based integrations using Publish-Subscribe Model.

A webMethods Broker can be connected to multiple clients (Here client is an Integration Server), but an Integration Server can be connected to only one Broker.

3. Developer : webMethods Developer is the IDE through which you can open your session on IS and you can develop your services. You can open more than one session on webMethods developer, from webMethods version 8.2 Developer has been deprecated and Software AG focuses on using the Designer tool instead.

4. Designer : webMethods Designer is a customized eclipse based tools which can be used for multiple purposes from service development to CAF page design and coding as well as deploying it to My webMethods server. It is used for a variety of purposes let us list it all down.

a) Service Development (flow service, java service, web service, etc.)

b) BPM Development (BPM process design, deploying)

c) CAF page development

d) DSP page development

e) working with centrasite

For every specific work you do on Designer you have to select the corresponding perspective in Designer. For example, if you want to develop some flow service then you have to use the Service Development perspective in the designer.

5. MyWebMethods Server : It is basically a portal based server hosted on jetty. It is used for the administration and monitoring of Integration Server, Broker, Trading Network and other portal and portlet applications.

6. Trading Networks(TN) : Trading Networks is the component of the webMethods product suite which is used for B2B transactions. It is a component that runs on the webMethods Integration server(IS) and enables your enterprise to connect with external enterprises preferably call them as partners to your enterprise and marketplaces and etc. Trading Networks supports almost all standards of e-Business standards for communication such as EDI , RosettaNet , SWIFT , FIX , ebXML , aseXML etc .

14 .

What is the use of broker in webMethods?

webMethods Broker : The role of the Broker is to route documents between information producers(publishers) and information consumers (subscribers).

The Broker receives, queues, and delivers documents. It is a pub-sub model. Only one broker server can have multiple instances which can be connected to IS.

Broker uses – Messaging Protocols

* webMethods proprietary messaging protocol

* Java Message Service (JMS) protocol.

15 .

What is the process for changing the order of steps in a flow service?

The arrows connecting the flow steps in the Layout tab show how (sequence) the steps are executed. It is possible to change the order that steps are executed in a flow service by moving or relocating steps. Also, a step can be relocated as a child of another step in the flow service.

Changing the sequence of steps in a flow service on the Layout tab

* Click the Layout tab, then select the step whose execution order you wish to change.

* You can change the location of flow steps using the buttons, i.e., Cut, Copy, and Paste on the toolbar or in the context menu.

Changing the sequence of steps in a flow service on the editor panel

* You can change the steps by pressing the 'Shift Up' or 'Shift Down' buttons.

* By pressing the 'Shift Left' and 'Shift Right' buttons, you can move a service or branch in a sequence.

16 .

What is WebMethods Messaging Triggers?

Triggers, specifically webMethods messaging triggers, establish subscriptions to publishable document types. Triggers also specify the services that will process documents received by the subscription. Within a trigger, a condition associates one or more publishable document types with a service.

Prior to Integration Server 9.5 SP1, a webMethods messaging trigger was called a Broker/local trigger.

17 .

What is the purpose of web service connectors?

When Integration Server creates consumer web service descriptors, it creates web service connectors which is a flow service. The web service connector usually contains logic and information/data required to invoke an operation specified in a WSDL (Web Service Description Language) document used to create the consumer web service descriptor.

As Integration Server creates consumer web service descriptors based on WSDL documents, it creates web service connectors for each operation the portType contains in the WSDL document. If, for example, a WSDL document contains 2 portType declarations, each of which contains 3 operations, then Integration Server creates a total of 6 web service connectors.

18 .

What are the types of Loop operations?

There are two types of Loops. They are as follows:

Times Loop : It allows us to perform a certain action n number of times. Times Loop specifies the number of times the Loop block to be executed.

Each item : Each item is used to iterate each key in the given array. It allows us to perform certain actions for all the elements of a collection.

19 .

Mention some list of companies that provide EAI tools?

The following are the list of some companies that provide EAI tools:

* webMethods
* TIBCO

* Vitia

* iPlanet

* WebLogic (BEA)

* MQSeries (IBM)

* BizTalk (Microsoft) etc.

20 .

What are the major categories of EAI?

The following are the major categories of the EAI tool :

1. API Level Integration:

* Published API services can access data.

2. Data Level Integration:

* Batch data transfer

* On-line propagation of data updates.

3. Service Method Level Integration:

* Various applications share standard services.

4. User Interface Level Integration:

* Common user Interface for unifies access to various applications.

21 .

What are the advantages of EAI?

The following are the advantages of EAI :

* EAI maintains information integrity over multiple systems.

* It can streamline processes that include data from various software applications.

* It enables the flow of information between separate software programs within the company also from outside the organizational systems.

* The best EAI advantage is that it allows organizations to recognize and respond to opportunities more quickly.

22 .

What are the disadvantages of EAI?

The disadvantages of EAI are as follows:

* The nature of EAI requires dynamic project managers to manage their implementation

* EAI has many departments to conflict requirements; there should be clear accountability for the systems.

* Lack of EAI experts to resolve any technical issues.

* The lack of agreement on interface designs leads to more effort to map between various systems data needs.

23 .

Comparing Workflows and FlowServices in WebMethods.

Workflows and FlowServices enable you to automate and optimize monotonous tasks based on a set of predefined rules and business logic. These features give you the power to connect apps, devices, and on-premises systems with only clicks and zero code. Although Workflows and FlowServices help you to accomplish the same goal, there are significant differences between both the features.

Workflows	FlowServices
Designed for Citizen developers.	Designed for Integration specialists.
Offers a visual, drag and drop interface to create business use cases.	Offers steps and constructs from within the steps to create business use cases.
Offers in-built triggers to automatically trigger workflows when relevant events occur and actions to perform specific tasks.	Offers in-built applications and services to perform specific tasks.
Supports executing other FlowServices and workflows from within a workflow.	Supports executing other FlowServices from within a FlowService.
Ideal for scenarios where basic data transformation on application data is required. This means you can execute simple business use cases with Workflows.	Ideal for scenarios where complex integrations and advanced data transformation are required. This means you can execute simple as well as complex business use cases with FlowServices.

24 .

State difference between a drop and delete pipeline variable.

Dropping a variable from Pipeline In or Pipeline Out will remove it from the pipeline. If pipeline variables aren't being used by subsequent services, they can be dropped. By removing unneeded variables, you reduce the size of the pipeline at run time, as well as the complexity of the Pipeline In and Pipeline Out displays. This can make the Pipeline view much more usable when you are working with a complicated flow. The term "drop pipeline" implies an explicit cleanup.

Delete is a design-time operation that removes a variable from the current view. It is only useful if you create a variable by mistake. When you change the view in developer after you delete a variable that was previously in the pipeline, the variable will appear again.

25 .

How will you check memory usage?

Here are two methods to check memory usage:

Top command : It provides a dynamic, real-time view of the current state of the system. You can view system information and process information, including up-time, average load, running tasks, number of logged-in users, and RAM usage. Also, you can view the processes that your users are running/using on your server.

Free command : Top command, however, can sometimes be too much for your purposes. If all you need is to see how much memory is free and used on your system, you can use the free command.

26 .

Explain sequence operation in WebMethods?

Sequence operation is used to group the processing variations to support error handling. It helps to build a set of steps to treat as a group to execute one after another in order. By default, all the steps in aflow service, except the child branch are executed as the members of an implicit sequence step.

27 .

Explain data transformation.

In most cases, systems do not produce data in the exact format that other systems require, so you often need to build flow services that transform the data. When applications and systems exchange documents, data transformation resolves differences in data representations. In Designer, data transformations are accomplished through mapping. Among the types of transformation you can achieve via mapping are:

Name transformations : The purpose of this transformation is to correct naming differences. By performing name transformations, the value and position of a variable remain the same in the document structure, but the variable's name is altered.

Structural transformations : These types of transformations resolve differences in the data types or structures that represent an item. The value of the variable does not change when you perform structural transformations; only its data type or position in the Document structure changes.

Value transformations : These types of transformations resolve differences in how values are expressed. A value transformation changes the data contained in the variable, but the variable's name and position remain the same.

28 .

What effect does ACLs (Access Control List) have on locking?

The lock feature lets you control access at the user (individual) level, whereas ACLs let you control access by groups of users. ACLs provide authorization to specific user groups. By giving ACL access to the administrator, all admin group members included in the group will have access to the specific service.

29 .

Is there a way to see the Java code for the flow service?

Flow service is not curved or turned into Java code. It resides as XML on the disk on behalf of the flow operations. Afterwards, it parsed and transformed into a Java tree of operations. Although the flow operation is coded in Java, it is stored on a disk as XML.

30 .

What is the best way to change the logging date format for WebMethods Integration Server?

The date format to be used in log files is specified by the watt.server.dateStampFmt parameter. It is best to edit the watt.server.dateStampFmt in the server.cnf file to change the logging date format for WebMethods Integration Server. This parameter specifies the date format to be used in the server log file as well as in the Integration Server Administrator.