SOA Governance and API Management : Working with CentraSite Business UI : Administering the Business UI : Managing Assets : Creating a New Asset in the Catalog : Adding an Asset to the Catalog
Adding an Asset to the Catalog
Some asset types, such as Application Servers, do not have importers. To add this type of asset to the catalog, you must define it from scratch, meaning that you must create the asset and set its attributes manually.
Note that CentraSite allows you to add any type of asset to the catalog manually, even those that you can create using importers. Be aware, however, that you might not be able to manually set all of the attributes for these types of assets. Certain attributes can only be set by an importer. For example, CentraSite allows you to add a web service to the catalog from scratch, but attributes such as the list of operations and the service endpoints cannot be specified manually. To set these attributes, you must attach the WSDL file to the catalog entry using the Attach Document command in the asset's actions menu. Similarly, CentraSite allows you to add a REST service or an XML service to the catalog from scratch, but attributes such as the HTTP methods, content type, and service endpoints cannot be specified manually. To set these attributes, you must specify the HTTP methods, content type and schema files to the catalog entry using the Add resource command in the asset's Technical Details profile.
Generally speaking, you should ensure that the following conditions are satisfied before you create a virtualized service:
*Ensure that the interface for the native service is completely implemented and that interface is reflected in the WSDL or schema file that is registered for the service in the CentraSite registry.
*An instance of the service is deployed and running at a known point in network.
*The metadata for the native service is valid and up-to-date. If the metadata for the native service has not been completely specified or is out-of-date, you should update it before you generate the virtual service so that you do not carry inaccurate/incomplete data into the virtualized service.
How to Add an Asset to the Catalog
Use the following procedure to add an asset to the CentraSite catalog from scratch:
To add an asset to the catalog
1. In CentraSite Business UI, click the Create Assets activity. This opens the Create Asset wizard.
2. In the Basic Information panel, specify the following attributes:
In this field...
Do the following...
Name
Mandatory. Enter a name for the asset. An asset name can contain any character (including spaces).
An asset name does not need to be unique within the catalog. However, to reduce ambiguity, you should avoid giving multiple assets of the same type the same name. As a best practice, we recommend that you adopt appropriate naming conventions to ensure that assets are distinctly named within an organization.
Type
Choose the type of asset that you want to add to the catalog. All top-level asset types are shown in the drop-down list. The asset types that are supported out-of-the-box are: Application, Web service, REST service, XML Service, BPEL Process, XML schema, virtualized services etc.)
CentraSite supports three types of virtualized services, all of which are predefined asset types that CentraSite supports out-of-the-box: Virtual Service, Virtual REST Service, and Virtual XML Service. This document uses the term virtualized service when referring to the three types of virtualized services in general.
For information about virtualized services, see Run-Time Governance with CentraSite.
Organization
Choose the organization to which the asset will be added. (The drop-down list will contain the list of organizations to which you are permitted to add assets.) If you select an organization other than your own organization, you will nevertheless be the owner of the asset.
Note:  
Choose the organization with care. You cannot change the organization assignment after the asset is added to the catalog. You can, however, export an asset from one organization and import it to another.
Initial Version
Optional. Enter an identifier for the initial version of the asset. This is the user-defined version, as opposed to the automatically assigned system version. You can enter any string in this field, that is, the version identifier does not need to be numeric. You can also leave the field blank. You can later create new versions of the asset (see Versioning an Asset).
If the versioning feature is disabled for this asset type, the field is nevertheless displayed, thus allowing you to assign an identifier for this first version.
If the import of the asset also causes other related objects to be imported (for example, if the WSDL definition for a web service includes references to other WSDL or schema definition files), the initial version is only assigned to the main asset identified in this dialog and the initial version of the other imported objects is not assigned.
Description
Optional. Enter a comment or descriptive information about the new asset.
URL or File
Specify whether the input file will be read from your local file system (the File option) or from a URL-addressable location on the network (the URL option).
If the file you are importing resides on the network, specify its URL.
If the file resides in your local file system, specify the file name. You can use the Browse button to navigate to the required folder.
3. Expand the Advanced Settings node. Enter the following information:
In this field...
Do the following...
Credentials
If you have specified a URL, and the site you want to access via the URL requires user authentication, enter a username and password for authentication at the URL site.
Resolution
Choose a resolution strategy, which will allow you to specify how an already existing imported/included file is handled. For each of the imported/included files you have one of these options:
*Overwrite the importing file with new content.
*Create a new version of the file with the new content (if, for example, you want to modify a WSDL file but want to retain its previous version).
4. Click Next.
If a name for the asset is not specified, the Next button will be disabled.
5. In Mandatory Information panel, specify the required attributes that make up the asset.
Important:  
During creation of an asset, CentraSite will not allow you to add the asset to the catalog unless you have specified all "required" attributes in the asset's type definition. The value for the required attribute must be specified in the asset's profiles.
Note:  
In the user interface, a required attribute is displayed with an asterisk (*) next to its name.
6. After you specify the value for required attributes, click Next.
You will not be allowed to move to the next panel unless all of its required parameters have been set.
7. In the Preview panel, verify that you have the specified values for all of the required attributes.
If necessary, you can click Previous to return to the Mandatory Information panel and change your specifications.
8. Click Finish to add the new asset to the catalog.
An asset instance is created in the specified organization and added to the CentraSite registry/repository. The details page for the asset that you just created is displayed.
9. Configure the asset's extended attributes as described in Editing the Properties of an Asset.
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