Chapter 2. Configuring Mule
In this chapter
- Configuring Mule with XML files
- Elements of a configuration file
- Configuration files organization strategies
In this chapter, you’ll learn the fundamental principles of a Mule configuration file. Said differently, this chapter will give you the grammar of the configuration file, while the upcoming chapters will help you build your vocabulary. When you’re done reading it, you’ll be able to create new configuration files and set up the scene for your own services, which you’ll learn to create in the coming chapters.
In essence, configuring Mule consists of defining the services you want to be active in a particular instance of the ESB. As seen in the previous chapter, these services are composed of and rely on many different moving parts, which also need to be configured. Some of these moving parts are intrinsically shared across several services, such as connectors. Others can be locally defined or globally configured and shared, such as endpoints. As you can guess, supporting this flexibility and richness in a configuration mechanism is pretty hairy.
To achieve this, Mule uses configuration builders that can translate a human-authored configuration file into the complex graph of objects that constitutes a running node of this ESB. The main builders are of two kinds: a Spring-driven builder, which works with XML files, and a script builder, which can accept scripting language files.