DataPower Administration Tool (DPBuddy)

DataPower Buddy ("dpbuddy") is a free command-line tool for automating administration, management and deployment of IBM WebSphere DataPower appliances. The tool supports export/import, file transfer, backups and many other functions.

dpbuddy is implemented as a set of custom tasks for the popular build tool, Apache Ant.

Typically, DataPower administrators and developers rely on "curl" or a similar tool in order to run DataPower XML management commands (a.k.a. SOMA). However, "curl" is only sufficient for simple tasks since it deals with "raw" SOAP/XML. Administrators and developers have to manually prepare SOMA files to be run by "curl". For example, uploading multiple files to a device and creating necessary remote directories presents a difficult problem with "curl". Doing the same thing with dpbuddy is trivial:


<dp:copy cleanDirectories="true">
    <dpFileset prefix="/apps/services" 
               dir="services" includes="**/*.wsdl **/*.xsd"/>
</dp:copy>

This Ant task will remove remote directories if they exist, reproduce the local directory tree (all folders under "services") on the device and upload the necessary files based on the "includes" pattern.

This Ant build file provides a complete set of examples illustrating dpbuddy usage.

Here is the list of key features:

  • Support for export, import, checkpoints, backups, remote file upload, domain reset, log analysis, device status and many other functions.
  • Response from the device is presented in a human-readable form as opposed to raw SOAP/XML messages. dpbuddy makes it easy to understand error and status messages.
  • Powerful remote "copy" command that automatically reproduces local directory tree on the device.
  • Tight integration with Ant. Ant variables can be used inside deployment policies and configuration files.
  • Ability to remotely "tail" device logs. It is even possible to automatically get new log messages similarly to Unix "tail -f" command. "tail" task can also check for error patterns.
  • "Export" based on naming patterns. You don't need to know types ("classes") of DataPower objects; simply specify a regexp pattern and dpbuddy will export all objects matching this pattern.
  • Support for self-signed certificates. No need to add DataPower certificates to the JDK store.
  • Support for arbitrary SOMA requests. You can use Ant variables inside a request.
  • Parsing of all commands on the client. In case of XML errors, DataPower returns cryptic "internal error" message. The actual error then has to be extracted from the device logs. dpbuddy on the other hand validates management XML commands on the client and displays error messages right away.

Please refer to the User Guide to get started or browse dpbuddy-related posts.

dpbuddy is available free of charge under this freeware license.

It can be downloaded from this link.

MyArch, Inc. offers paid support for dpbuddy, including implementing custom enhancements. If you're interested, please contact us as info at myarch.com.

You can also post your question on DPBuddy Google group.