IBM provides a subscription, usage-based pricing model for many of the company’s products, including Integration Server. The IBM webMethods Metering utility uses a local IBM webMethods Metering Agent installed with a product to collect data based on the IBM webMethods product usage. The utility then sends the data to the IBM webMethods Metering Server which handles the billing aspect of the product usage. The criteria for transaction metrics to be reported to IBM webMethods Metering include being on one of the supported versions, applying the most recent fixes, and having a license key installed that is associated with a transaction-based contract.

The IBM webMethods Metering Agent reports transaction metrics for each top-level service invocation. A top-level service invocation includes, but is not limited to, invocations that occur via an http request, triggers, email, or the scheduler. The transaction count for a service invocation is time-based. That is, the duration of the service execution determines the number of transactions the IBM webMethods Metering Agent counts for that service invocation. Your license key determines what the IBM webMethods Metering Agent considers to be a transaction duration. Specifically, the TxnTimer value in the license key contains the transaction duration. A common defined transaction time is 3 seconds. In this case, a top-level service invocation that takes 3 seconds or less to complete counts as 1 transaction. A service invocation that takes more than 3 seconds to complete is counted as an additional transaction for each additional 3 seconds (or part thereof). For example, a service execution that takes 4 seconds counts as 2 transactions. A service execution that takes 7 seconds counts as 3 transactions.

The IBM webMethods Metering Agent does not count top-level invocation of services in WmPublic and WmRoot as metered transactions. Additionally, invocation of a service residing on an on-premises Integration Server by Integration does not count as a metered transaction despite it being a top-level service invocation.

Integration Server regularly checks the status of the local IBM webMethods Metering Agent. During start up, Integration Server checks the license to see if it is transaction-based. If so, Integration Server gathers status about the following:

If any of the above status checks fail, Integration Server writes an error message to the error log and server log. Integration Server Administrator displays a notification about the failed status check. Integration Server writes successful status check messages to the server log when the 0176 Metering server log facility is set to Trace.

After completing the local IBM webMethods Metering Agent status checks during start up, Integration Server performs a "dry run" of sending data to the IBM webMethods Metering Server. During a dry run, Integration Server simulates a connection to the IBM webMethods Metering Server. If the dry run fails, Integration Server writes error message to the error log and server log. Integration Server Administrator displays a notification about the failed dry run. If the dry run succeeds, Integration Server writes success messages to the server log when the 0176 Metering server log facility is set to Trace.

After the initial dry run executes during start up, Integration Server executes the system task Metering Agent Diagnostic Log at the interval determined by the watt.server.meteringAgent.logInterval. The default interval between dry runs is 60 minutes.

For more information on IBM webMethods Metering, consult the IBM webMethods Infrastructure Administrator's Guide.