gRPC Support in Integration Server

Integration Server can receive and process messages for methods defined in a gRPC service definition. This support is provided by a gRPC server embedded within Integration Server and by Designer functionality that consumes a proto file describing one or more gRPC service definitions and generates the Integration Server artifacts that will be used to implement the logic of the gRPC methods. Designer represents the proto file as a gRPC descriptor with a collection of assets that correspond to the services, methods, and messages defined in the proto file.

Integration Server includes a predefined gRPC channel named GRPCDefault. A gRPC channel identifies the port for establishing a connection to the gRPC server running within Integration Server. The gRPC server embedded in Integration Server uses the channel to listen for requests for gRPC methods in the gRPC provider descriptor created for a gRPC service in a proto file.

Note:
The host to which the gRPC client needs to connect to when sending a request is the host name of the machine on which Integration Server resides. The host and gRPC channel port need to be provided to the client.

How Integration Server supports the development of solutions based on gRPC follows the pattern of other IS elements: use Designer to create the element and use Integration Server Administrator to configure and manage the connection to the element, specifically,

Use Designer to create the gRPC descriptor and build out the execution logic. For information about building a gRPC descriptor, see webMethods Service Development Help.

Use Integration Server Administrator to configure the gRPC channel, including configuring authentication, and enabling/disabling the channel. You also need to use Integration Server Administrator to configure TLS, import client certificates, and map client certificates to Integration Server users accounts.

Integration Server supports a subset of gRPC functionality. For a detailed list of supported and unsupported gRPC features, see webMethods Service Development Help.

Note:
The WmGRPC package must be installed and enabled to use the gRPC features in Integration Server and by Designer. Integration Server Administrator displays the gRPC pages only if the WmGRPC packages is installed and enabled.

Note:
gRPC uses HTTP/2 as an underlying protocol, however HTTP/2 support is only available for gRPC connections.