Title: User Guide
Category: documentation

<a name="UserGuide-GettingStarted"></a>
## Getting Started

First of all, getting familiar with the [WS-BPEL 2.0](../ws-bpel-20.html) standard is a very good idea. To use ODE, you will need to write processes using the BPEL language. There are several examples in our [distributions](../getting-ode.html) that you can use to get started, but a decent understanding of the spec is assumed.

Then, you can optionally check out [ODE Schema](../ode-schema.html) page in order to install schema for your database. Please note that schemas from distribution sometimes contain errors, because of poor quality of ORM schema generators.

ODE can be deployed in three different environments:

* As a simple Web Service in Axis 2, ODE is bundled in a WAR than can be deployed in any application server and is invoked using plain SOAP/HTTP.
* As a JBI service assembly, ODE is bundled in a ZIP that can be deployed in any JBI container and is invoked using the NMR.
* SMX4 OSGi bundle


<a name="UserGuide-Installation"></a>
## Installation
1. [WAR Deployment](/war-deployment.html)
1. [Upgrading ODE](/upgrading-ode.html)

<a name="UserGuide-UsingOde"></a>
## Using ODE
1. [Creating a Process](/creating-a-process.html)
1. [Process Versioning](/process-versioning.html)
1. [Management API](/management-api.html)
1. [Instance Replayer](/instance-replayer.html)
1. [ODE Execution Events](/ode-execution-events.html)
1. [Endpoint References](/endpoint-references.html)
1. [WSDL 1.1 HTTP Binding Support](/wsdl-11-http-binding-support.html)
1. [WSDL 1.1 Extensions for REST](/extensions/wsdl-11-extensions-for-rest.html)
1. [BPEL Extensions](/extensions/)
1. [Instance Data Cleanup](/instance-data-cleanup.html)
1. [Direct Process-to-Process Communication](/direct-process-to-process-communication.html)
1. [Stateful Exchange Protocol](/developerguide/stateful-exchange-protocol.html)
1. [Activity Failure and Recovery](/extensions/activity-failure-and-recovery.html)
1. [XQuery Extensions](/extensions/xquery-extensions.html)
1. [Custom XPath functions](/custom-xpath-functions.html)
1. [Atomic Scopes Extension for BPEL](/developerguide/atomic-scopes-extension-for-bpel.html)

<a name="UserGuide-HowTo"></a>
## How To
1. [ODE JBI and Axis2 properties overview](/ode-jbi-and-axis2-properties-overview.html)
1. [Controlling ODE's Memory Footprint](/controlling-odes-memory-footprint.html)
1. [Endpoint Configuration](/endpoint-configuration.html)
1. [HTTP Authentication](/http-authentication.html)
1. [Using a JNDI DataSource under ServiceMix JBI](/using-a-jndi-datasource-under-servicemix-jbi.html)
1. [Writing BPEL Test Cases](/writing-bpel-test-cases.html)
1. [WS-Security in ODE](/ws-security-in-ode.html)
1. [Use Assign to build messages](/use-assign-to-build-messages.html)

<a name="UserGuide-EOL"></a>
## End of Life
1. [JBI Deployment](/jbi-deployment.html) (EOL from ODE 1.3.7)
1. [SMX4 OSGi Deployment](/smx4-osgi-deployment.html) (EOL from ODE 1.3.7)