XNAT Pipeline Engine Plugin
Introduction
In XNAT version 1.9 and onwards, the ability to administer and launch XNAT pipelines using the XNAT UI and REST API has been migrated into the XNAT Pipeline Engine plugin. This plugin includes only the UI and backend logic to administer and launch the pipelines.
In order to use the XNAT Pipeline Engine framework two components are now needed:
The XNAT Pipeline Engine Plugin
The XNAT container service is the preferred way to launch jobs.
Installing the Pipeline Engine Plugin
Download the latest version of the XNAT Pipeline Engine Plugin at https://bitbucket.org/xnatx/pipeline_engine_plugin/downloads/ , and follow the instructions here to install the plugin jar: Deploying Plugins in XNAT.
Configuring Pipeline Engine Settings
Settings for configuring the Pipeline Engine behavior, such as launching the AutoRun pipeline, have been moved to Administer > Plugin Settings > Pipeline Settings.
Pipelines in XNAT
Pipelines have the following major components:
the pipeline descriptor component, which contains XML definitions and scripts. This is deployed on the XNAT host at the pipeline engine installation path,
an optional pipeline specific webapp component, which will contain any template files, event handlers, or scripts to be used by the XNAT UI, as well as any data type definitions. This is deployed as a XNAT plugin,
the executable, which is the processing package that the pipeline will apply to your data. This is deployed on the host which will execute the pipeline.
Each of these components needs to be installed separately. See Installing Pipelines in XNAT
Configuring XNAT to use pipelines
XNAT Site Administrators can configure XNAT to use pipelines. This involves:
setting the processing URL which the XNAT Pipeline Engine would use to communicate with XNAT, as described here,
registering pipelines in XNAT,
deploying pipeline descriptor in the XNAT Pipeline Engine,
deploying optional pipeline specific webapp component,
installing required executables on the XNAT host.
Registering pipelines in XNAT
XNAT Site administrators can register pipelines to XNAT. Once pipelines are added to XNAT site, project owners can then add pipelines to their project and users with appropriate access to the project can launch the pipeline. See Registering Your Pipelines In the Pipeline Admin UI
Adding pipelines to XNAT project
Project owners can add pipelines to their project. More details here.
Running pipelines in XNAT
Pipelines can be launched by users with member level project access. More details here.
Monitoring and Troubleshooting Pipelines
There are a few ways to monitor and track pipeline processing in XNAT as described here.
XNAT Pipeline API
Pipelines can be launched using the Pipeline API. More details here.
Developer Resources
Version Compatibility
The Pipeline Engine Plugin v1.1.0 is only compatible with XNAT 1.9.0 and up.