Once a channel is complete and ready, it must be activated and deployed to start incoming messages processing.

Activate a channel

When a channel is complete, including testing, you can activate it. An activated channel will be put in production next time you deploy channels. Once it is in production, the channel will receive incoming messages and process them according to its configuration.

In a channel edit screen, click on Activate channel command to activate current channel. This command is only available if all required conditions are met (in and out gateways are configured, in and out messages and a transformation are specified and at least one test is ready).

If the channel is already active, click on Deactivate channel command to deactivate it. This command is useful if you want to replace current active channel or if you do not use it anymore in production.

Deploy channels

Once one or more channels have been changed, activated and/or deactivated, the correponding hub must be deployed for these changes to take effect in production, that is for channels to start processing incoming messages according to new settings. A deployment means that all hub active channels will be put in production while deactivated channels will be removed from production. From that time on, active channels will process incoming messages according to their specific configuration.

Channels are deployed using the Deploy Channels command available in the list of channels screen.

In this screen, the two rightmost columns summarize the channels status and the effects a deployment will have on these channels as illustrated hereunder:

The last 2 columns of List of Channels table displays the channel status:

Figure 2.6. Channel activation status