jBPM and multiple JVMs

[kwiggen]

I have an application that runs accross multiple JVMs (not clustered but actual independent JVMs). All the locking of resources is actually done at the database so that way the middle tier can not cache any information without locking the DB to prevent other middle tiers from acting on the same data (in most cases).

Can I run jBPM in this scenario? I would like to install it in every middle tier I have so that way any of the JVMs could make calls to the jBPM to move items through the workflow. I could have background threads only run on one tier (if necessary) but does jBPM have the appropriate type of DB locking (or some other mechanism) to allow for this?

Thanks

[tom.baeyens]

jbpm uses the exact same approach. use the db as a locking mechanism.

you can start developing with jbpm 3.1. all is in there. but we had some problems reported on the asynchronous stuff like timers and asynchronous continuations. therefor we redesigned the timers and messaging from scratch. in 3.2 (planned around newyear) optimistic locking is used to update the lockowner in a row. this has proven to work even with hypersonic (isolation level 0).