concept integration solution in category esb

This is an excerpt from Manning's book Open-Source ESBs in Action: Example Implementations in Mule and ServiceMix. Login to get full access to this book.

In this chapter, we look the different phases of an integration project, from analysis and design to the deployment of the integration solution. The main part missing from the technical foundation we’ve discussed so far is a decent design approach. Luckily, we don’t have to invent this, because a great foundational book about design patterns is available: Enterprise Integration Patterns by Gregor Hohpe and Bobby Woolf. We give you an overview of these integration design patterns and introduce a pattern-based design approach to help you in the design phase.

We use a case study about reserving restaurant tables at a large hotel to guide you through a typical integration project. We start with designing the integration solution using some of the Enterprise Integration patterns.

In addition to the project guidance we provide in this chapter, we show you some interesting functionality of Mule and ServiceMix. You’ll design the table-reservation solution and also implement an integration solution with both Mule and ServiceMix. We discuss useful functionality provided by both these tools, like the easy way to implement a publish-subscribe mechanism and the powerful routing rules available.

Figure 9.4. The message flow design diagram of the first part of the restaurant table application, using a number of Enterprise Integration patterns to visualize the integration solution

9.5.2. Deploying an integration solution to a production environment

You’ve fully tested the case study on your development environment, and a common next step is to test the message flow in an integration stage environment. This means the message flow is tested with all the involved applications in a real-life environment. This kind of testing is more functionally focused and is often performed by test professionals and end-user groups. Because we focus on the technical aspects of an integration solution in this book, we skip this phase and go forward with deploying the integration solution to the production environment.

In most business environments, this isn’t a task for the developer: it’s a task for the administrative department responsible for the maintenance of the integration environment. But the administrators who execute the deployment of the integration solution will need a number of artifacts from the development team. Figure 9.12 shows what the administrators need in order to deploy the case study.