Application Connectivity Strategies1 - isg-inc.comisg-inc.com/Application Connectivity Strategies.pdf · Transport Layer (Sockets, RPC, MOM, RMI, SOAP, etc.) B 1 B 2 Legacy Application

© 2002 International Systems Group (ISG), Inc.www.isg-inc.com 1

Application Connectivity Strategies

Max DolgicerDirector of Technical [email protected]

International Systems Group (ISG), Inc32 Broadway, Suite 414New York, NY 10004http://www.isg-inc.comEmail: [email protected]: 212-489-0400Fax: 212-489-1125

Gerhard BayerSenior [email protected]


AgendaIntroduction to ISG, IncOverview of integration optionsDiscussion of application connectivity options

Custom adaptersProprietary adaptersJ2EE ConnectorsWeb service based integration

Application integration scenario 2004Application ServersMessage BrokersWhen to choose what


International Systems Group (ISG), Inc.Leading consulting company specializing in

Development of service and component-based Web applications;EAI solutions for both A2A and B2B integration

Based in NYC since 1990ISG differentiator:

ISG professionals average 15+ years of real experience in development and integration of enterprise applications using leading edge Middleware technologies

Real experience spansEnd-user corporations and software vendors


International Systems Group (ISG), Inc.Centers of Middleware Competence

TP Monitors, CORBAJ2EE Application ServersMicrosoft COM+/.NETMessage-Oriented MiddlewareMessage BrokersXML and Web services


A1

A2

Introduction To Integration Options

Transport Layer (Sockets, RPC, MOM, RMI, SOAP, etc.)

B1

B2

Legacy Application

A1

A2

Packaged Application

Transformation Routing Business Process

Management

Custom Adapter A

Platform Services (security, transactions, management, etc.)

Packaged Adapter AB1

B2

Standard Adapter B

Packaged Adapter B


Types of Connectivity OptionsHow different connectivity options are implemented

Custom: write your own codeProprietary: provided by vendor in non-standard formStandard: provided by vendor in standard form

StandardProprietaryStandardCustom orProprietary

Web Services

StandardProprietaryStandardCustom orProprietary

J2EE Connector

ProprietaryProprietaryProprietaryCustom orProprietary

Proprietary Adapter

CustomCustomCustomCustomCustom Adapter

B2B1A2A1


Custom AdaptersCustom code is developed to connect different applications by calling their APIs

Many legacy applications do not have callable APIsIn addition, custom code needs to be written to interface with a communication layer

TCP/IP socketsProprietary middleware

MOM, middleware bundled with packaged applications

Standards-based middleware RMI, SOAP

Still the predominant form of integration for most integration solutions that are in production today


Custom Adapters: Point-to-point Interfaces

Custom adapters are usually part of a point-to-point integration architecture:

AA BB CC

DD EE FF

Unresolved issues:More and more applications depend on each otherIf one application changes, unforeseen ripple effects occurMaintenance complexity increases exponentially with each system that joins the integration architecture


Dangers of Building Point-to-point InterfacesPublishing application team must

Learn two technologies for sending the same messageCode twice for the same message since there are two subscribersTest the publishing twiceMaintain all of the above

If a third subscriber comes along the team must do it again

Point to point interfaces are not viable long term

MQ Series

SAP RFC

Legacy Application

(Cobol CICS)

Packaged Application

(SAP)

Subscriber 1

Subscriber 2

New Application (C++ on NT)

Publisher 1


Custom AdaptersAdvantage

Initial cost can be kept lowCompare to high initial cost associated with Message Broker

Can be grown over timeCan focus on “local” project, don’t need to involve the enterprise (i.e. money, religion and politics)Incremental investment achieves incremental benefits

DisadvantagePoint-to-point solution

Becomes unmanageableLong term cost increase exponentially

No organized approach to integrationCan not scale to enterprise level

Doesn’t tie in with higher level toolsRouting, Transformation Business Process Management


Proprietary AdaptersProprietary adapters including packaged adapters are purchased from

Adapter vendorsiWay and others

Message Broker vendorsIBM, SeeBeyond, TIBCO, Vitria, WebMethods

Note: most vendors also provide standard adaptersTypically part of a Message Broker solutionAdapters use a proprietary interface to communicate with services that the Message Broker provides

Communication (synchronous, asynchronous )Routing, Transformation Business Process Management


Generic Message Broker Architecture

Process Flow

Message Store

Message Transformer

Message Dictionary

Management

Message Distribution

Application

Adapter

Application

Adapter

Application

Adapter

Application

Adapter

Application

Adapter

Application

Adapter


Message Broker Solution

Message Broker solution employs a (logical) hub and spoke architecture:

AABB

CC

DD

EE

FF

This approach has important advantages:

All applications connect to the hub rather than to each otherOvercomes the limitations of point-to-point interfaces


Proprietary AdaptersAdvantage

Substantial number of adapters are availableE.g. iWay provides 200+ adapters

“Smart” adapters, built to include Instrumentation for monitoring and management Security, transactions, name service registration

Organized approach to integration (if combined with a Message Broker)

EAI framework Avoids point-to-point solution

Ties in with higher level tools/servicesRoutingTransformation Business Process Management

Migration path from A2A into B2B


Proprietary AdaptersDisadvantage

High-cost and high-risk approachRequires large initial investmentROI can only be achieved if a significant number of (similar) integration projects reuse the EAI frameworkBUT: some vendors (e.g. iWay) offer a flexible solution that allows to minimize the initial investment and then add tools like transformation, BPM as needed.

EAI projects using Message Brokers suffer from skill shortage

Compare number of EAI specialist vs. Java programmers vs. Cobol/VB programmers

Message Broker are not standards basedUse proprietary architecture instead of J2EEBizTalk is not yet .NET based


Standard Adapters:J2EE Connector ArchitectureStandard architecture for integration between J2EE compliant Application Server and Enterprise Information System (EIS)Reduces the m-to-n problem

EIS vendors don’t have to build custom adapters for each application serverApplication server vendors don’t have to build custom code to integrate with different EIS

Standard based alternative for current proprietary solutions


Resource Adapters – Plug & Play Integration

Enterprise Information

System

Resource Adapters

Application Server

Enterprise Information

System

Application Server


Resource Adapter Architecture

Connection Manager

Security Manager

Pool Manager

Transaction Manager

Connection Factory

Connection

Application Server Resource Adapter

Event Listener

Managed Connection

FactoryManaged

ConnectionLocal

Transaction

Enterprise Information System

Application Component

XA Resource


What’s Missing In J2EE-CA?

A number of important features are not covered by the current standard, they are implemented by some vendors in a proprietary way:

Bi-directional, asynchronous communicationStandard client interface (CCI)Support for XMLSupport for retrieving meta-data about the EIS

Other features of the standard were included only in the final release and are not supported by all vendors:

SecurityTransactions


J2EE ConnectorsAdvantage

Standardized approach to integrationSingle platform for development of new applications and integration with legacy and packaged applications

Enterprise Java Beans (EJB)Security and transaction control Client integration (Servlets, Java Server Pages)

Integrated resource management (i.e. EIS connections)

DisadvantageCentralized architecture Immature, proprietary extensionsComplex specification


Web ServicesWeb services provide a standard for defining the interfaces of a service

Including operations, parameters, data types, etcWeb services rely on SOAP as a standard protocol (the “pipe”) for communicationWeb Service is a service-oriented encapsulation of business (application) logicWeb Services can be implemented in any programming language or object model

VB, C++, JavaCORBA, COM+/.NET, EJB

Web Services can be “implemented” by encapsulating legacy systems


Adapter

Adapter

Implementation of Web Services

Adapter

New components

(EJB)

New components (COM+/.NET)

Legacy Systems

UDDI WSDLSOAP

Web Server API

Application Server API

Message Broker API

Web service platform API

HTTP

JMS

other


Web ServicesAdvantage

Standardized approach for accessing business functions

Protocol, data format and interfacePackaged application vendors will provide Web services connectors

DisadvantageImmature

Standards are a moving targetMany vendors

Problems with interoperability Reliable messaging not part of the current standard

SOAP over HTTP vs. JMS?


Web ServicesDisadvantage

Represents only the tip of the integration iceberg –missing/evolving functionality includes

SecurityTransactionsTransformationRoutingOrchestration (BPM)

This functionality needs to be hosted by a server that provides

ScalabilityReliabilityMonitoring and management


Application Integration Scenario 2004

J2CA Proprietary Adapters

Web Services

Message Brokers

Application Servers


Application Servers And J2CAApplication servers support both J2CA and Web servicesJ2CA provides for more tightly coupled integration

SecurityTransactionsConnection management

J2CA imposes a centralized modelJ2CA adapter can only live within a container of the application server


Application Servers And Web Services

Message SOAP

Servlet (in)

Application Server

Message Driven EJB

Web Container

EJB Container

Message SOAP Servlet

(out)

JMS Destination

JMS Destination

SOAP Packets

Request

ResponseLegacy

Application

Web service 1

Web service 2


Message Brokers And Web ServicesWill Web Services replace Message Brokers?

Message Brokers will/are support both proprietary adapters and Web service based adaptersSome adapters will be based on Web services and become a commodityMore sophisticated adapters need proprietary functionality

Examples of such functionality: configuration, monitoring and management, transactions, security, Quality of Service (QoS) etc.This is not part of the current standardsStandards are always evolving


Message Brokers And Web ServicesMessage Brokers have already embraced technologies over the last couple of years that can easily evolve into supporting Web services

XMLAdapters convert data into XML format before it is processed by the Message Broker

XSLTXML formatted data allows standard transformation language (XSLT) to be applied

XPathA standard mechanism for accessing elements within a XML document


Message Brokers And Web Services

Proprietary, SNMP

Proprietary, J2EE

Proprietary, J2EE

XA, LU6.2

SSL, PKI, etc.

Proprietary, JMS

Proprietary

Proprietary

Proprietary, JNDI, LDAP

BPM Tools

Management

Reliability

Scalability

Transactions

Security

Transport

Adapters

Transformation

Registration & Discovery

Orchestration

?

?

?

BTP, etc.

WS-Security

SOAP

WSDL

XSLT, XPath

UDDI

WSFL, XLang, WSCI, BPML

1999 2004

Same issues – new approaches


What to Select in What Scenario?Today Web services represents only the tip of the integration iceberg Where possible/feasible encapsulate back-end applications/business processes as Web Services

There are a lot of tools on the market that do that This will be the first step toward a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), although Web services should not be used for everything

Buy adapters before you consider building themPackaged application adapters vs. custom application adapters

Today complex integration scenarios will require proprietary adaptersTCO is an important consideration when buying/building proprietary adapters

Documents

Application Connectivity Strategies1 - isg-inc.comisg-inc.com/Application Connectivity Strategies.pdf · Transport Layer (Sockets, RPC, MOM, RMI, SOAP, etc.) B 1 B 2 Legacy Application