Creating a shared connection

Control instance

If you have a broken-down architecture, you need to specify the execution instances linked to the control instance and connect them. Transactional message templates are deployed to the execution instances. The connection between the control instance and the execution instances is created by configuring the Execution instance type external accounts. You need to create as many external accounts as there are execution instances.

To create an execution instance type external account, apply the following steps:

1. Go to the Administration > Platform > External accounts folder.

2. Select one of the execution instance type external accounts provided out-of-the-box with Adobe Campaign, right-click and choose Duplicate .

   

3. Change the label according to your needs.

   

4. Select the Enabled option to make the external account operational.

   

5. Specify the address of the server on which the execution instance is installed.

   

6. The account must match the Message Center Agent as defined in the operator folder. By default, the out-of-the-box account provided by Adobe Campaign is mc .

   

7. Enter the password of the account as defined in the operator folder.

   NOTE

   To avoid entering a password each time you log on to the instance, you can specify the IP address of the control instance in the execution instance. For more on this, refer to Execution instance.

8. Specify the recovery method to be used by the execution instance.

   The data to recover is forwarded to the control instance by the execution instance, to add to transactional message and event archives.

   

   Data collection occurs either via a Web service which uses HTTP/HTTPS access, or via the Federated Data Access (FDA) module.

   NOTE

   Please note that when using FDA over HTTP, only execution instances using a PostgreSQL database are supported. MSSQL or Oracle databases are not supported.

   The second method is recommended if the control instance has direct access to the database of the execution instances. If not, choose the Web service access. The FDA account to specify coincides with the connection to the databases of the various execution instances created on the control instance.

   

   For more information on Federated Data Access (FDA), refer to Accessing an external database.

9. Click Test the connection to make sure the control instance and the execution instance are linked up.

   

10. Each execution instance must be associated with an identifier. This identifier can be attributed on each execution instance either manually, by using the deployment wizard (refer to Identifying execution instances), or automatically, by clicking the Initialize connection button from the control instance.

    

Execution instance

In order for the control instance to be able to connect to the execution instance without having to giving a password, simply enter the IP address of the control instance in the Message Center access rights section. However, empty passwords are forbidden by default.

To use an empty password, go to the execution instances and define a security zone limited to the IP address of the information system that delivers the events. This security zone must allow empty passwords and accept <identifier> / <password> type connections. For more on this, refer to this section.

1. Go to the operator folder in the execution instance ( Administration > Access management > Operators ).

2. Select the Message Center agent.

   

3. Select the Edit tab, click Access rights , and then click the Edit the access parameters… link.

   

4. In the Access settings window, click the Add a trusted IP mask link and add the IP address of the control instance.

   

Using several control instances

You can share an execution cluster with various control instances. This type of architecture requires the following configuration.

For example if your company manages two brands, each with its own control instance: Control 1 and Control 2. Two execution instances are also used. You need to enter a different Message Center operator for each control instance: an mc1 operator for the Control 1 instance and an mc2 operator for the Control 2 instance.

In the tree of all the execution instances, create one folder per operator (Folder 1 and Folder 2), and restrict each operator’s data access to their folder.

Configuring control instances

1. In the Control 1 control instance, create one external account per execution instance, and enter the mc1 operator in each external account. The mc1 operator will thereafter be created on all the execution instances (refer to Configuring execution instances).

   

2. In the Control 2 control instance, create one external account per execution instance, and enter the mc2 operator in each external account. The mc2 operator will thereafter be created on all the execution instances (refer to Configuring execution instances).

   

   NOTE

   For more on configuring a control instance, refer to Control instance.

Configuring execution instances

In order to use several control instances, this configuration has to be performed on ALL execution instances.

1. Create one folder per operator in the Administration > Production > Message Center node: Folder 1 and Folder 2. For more on creating folders and views, refer to Platform.

   

2. Create the mc1 and mc2 operators by duplicating the Message Center operator provided by default (mc). For more on creating operators, refer to this section.

   

   NOTE

   mc1 and mc2 operators must have Message Center execution rights and they cannot have access to the Adobe Campaign client console. An operator must always be linked with a security zone. For more on this, refer to this section.

3. For each operator, check the Restrict to information found in sub-folders of box, and select the relevant folder (Folder 1 for the mc1 operator and Folder 2 for the mc2 operator).

   

4. Give each operator read and write permissions for their folder. To do this, right-click the folder and select Properties . Then select the Security tab and add the relevant operator (mc1 for Folder 1 and mc2 for Folder 2). Make sure that the Read/Write data boxes are checked.