Chapter 10. ESB implementation with Apache Synapse
This chapter covers
- Implementing a real-life case study
- Using multiple protocols with Synapse
- Advanced service mediation
In chapter 9 we introduced the enterprise service bus (ESB) and described its role in service-oriented architecture (SOA). While there is some debate as to exactly what constitutes an ESB, at its core it’s messaging middleware that provides such services as message routing, transformation, and connectivity/bridging for a variety of protocols. In the open source community, there are several outstanding ESB choices, including Mule, Apache ServiceMix, and OpenESB, among others. For our Open SOA Platform, we’ve selected Apache Synapse. Although you’ve seen a brief hands-on introduction to Synapse, we haven’t explored the specifics of using the product. We’ll cover those specifics in this chapter and place special emphasis on integrating Synapse with the other products making up our Open SOA Platform.
The documentation that comes with Synapse is fairly sparse, but a fairly comprehensive set of examples exists (70 examples, as of this writing). The examples are well documented and easy to try out.
Note
WSO2, the principal sponsor of Synapse, packages a Synapse-based product called WSO2 ESB and has set up a portal website called the ESB Site, located at http://esbsite.org. The site offers articles, code examples, blogs, custom mediators, and video tutorials on Synapse and WSO2’s ESB; it’s an excellent resource.