JCA Resource Adapter

For using Apache ActiveMQ Artemis in a Java EE or Jakarta EE environment, you can use the JCA Resource Adapter.

A JCA-based JMS connection factory has 2 big advantages over a plain JMS connection factory:

• Pooled - Generally speaking, when a connection is "created" from a JCA-based JMS connection factory the underlying physical connection is taken out of a pool and when the connection is "closed" the underlying physical connection is returned to the pool. This eliminates the performance penalty of actually creating and destroying the physical connection which allows clients to be written in ways that would normally be considered an anti-pattern (e.g. "creating" and "closing" a connection for every sent message).
• Automatic enlistment into JTA transactions - Most of the time applications which consume JMS messages in a Java/Jakarta EE context do so via an MDB. By default, the consumption of the message in an MDB (i.e. the execution of onMessage) happens within a JTA transaction. If a JCA-based JMS connection factory is used in the course of the MDB's processing (e.g. to send a message) then the JCA logic will automatically enlist the session into the JTA transaction so that the consumption of the message and the sending of the message are an atomic operation (assuming that the JCA-based connection factory is XA capable). This is also true for operations involving other transactional resources (e.g. a database).

Versions

Pick the right version of the resource adapter depending on your environment.

Building the RA

To use the RA you have to build it. The simplest way to do this is with the examples is shipped with the distribution.

cd examples/features/sub-modules/{artemis-jakarta-ra-rar,artemis-ra-rar}
mvn clean install
cd target
mv artemis*.rar artemis.rar

Follow the manual of your application server to install the artemis.rar JCA RA archive.

Configuration

The configuration is split into two parts. First the config to send messages to a destination (outbound), and second the config to get messages consumed from a destination (inbound). Each can be configured separately or both can use the ResourceAdapter settings.

Here are a few options listed. If you want an overview of all configuration options, consider ConnectionFactoryProperties as a base and additionally the specific classes for your object.

Consider also the rar.xml file for options and explanations in your artemis.rar. There you can set the default options for your ResourceAdapter. With the configuration of the ResourceAdapter in your application server, you are overriding rar.xml defaults. With the configuration of the ConnectionFactory or the ActivationSpec, you can override the ResourceAdapter config.

ResourceAdapter

Config options ActiveMQRAProperties

• connectionParameters key value pairs, like host=localhost;port=61616,host=anotherHost;port=61617
• userName userName
• password password
• clientID clientID

ConnectionFactory

Config options for the outbound ManagedConnectionFactory: ActiveMQRAMCFProperties The connection for the ManagedConnectionFactory is specified by the RA.

Config options for the inbound ConnectionFactory ActiveMQConnectionFactory

• brokerUrl url to broker.
• cacheDestinations by the jms session

ConnectionManager

You can't configure any properties.

ActivationSpec

Config options ActiveMQActivationSpec

In the activation spec you can configure all the things you need to get messages consumed from ActiveMQ Artemis.

• useJndi true if you want lookup destinations via jndi.
• connectionFactoryLookup the jndiName of the connectionFactory, used by this activation spec. You can reference an existing ManagedConnectionFactory or specify another.
• jndiParams for the InitialContext. key value pairs, like a=b;c=d;e=f
• destination name or JNDI reference of the JMS destination
• destinationType javax/jakarta.jms.Queue or javax/jakarta.jms.Topic
• messageSelector JMS selector to filter messages to your MDB
• maxSession to consume messages in parallel from the broker

Only for topic message consumption

• subscriptionDurability Durable / NonDurable
• subscriptionName artemis hold all messages for this name if you use durable subscriptions

Logging

With the package org.apache.activemq.artemis.ra you catch all ResourceAdapter logging statements.