Introduction to Apache Synapse
- 1. Introduction to Apache Synapse Hiranya Jayathilaka ([email protected])
- 2. What to Expect… • The problem and the solution – Integration problems in enterprise • Introducing Apache Synapse – Architecture and the functional components • Case Studies – Synapse in action • Finishing touches – Extension points and next steps
- 4. Software in Enterprise • Large enterprises have many software systems – Enterprise resource planning applications – Management information systems – Decision support systems – Executive support applications • The systems are often independent • But they are all parts of a larger business process
- 5. Need for Enterprise Integration • Individual software systems cannot achieve much • Systems should be integrated to work together – Enables free data flow across the firm – Each application becomes aware of the ‘big picture’ – Improves operational and management efficiency
- 6. Easier Said Than Done! • Integrating a multitude of complex applications is no child’s play • Systems are diverse (way too diverse) – Different platforms (OS and program runtime) – Different programming languages – Different messaging standards and protocols – Different QoS requirements
- 8. ESB to the Rescue! • A software architecture construct that provides fundamental services for complex architectures – Message routing – Message transformation – Protocol switching – Adding QoS to message flows – And everything else integration architects would ever need
- 9. ESB Explained! • An architectural style or an piece of software that resembles a physical data bus • Applications communicate via the bus, which acts as a message broker • Replaces direct contact between software – Reduces coupling • Based on industry standards
- 11. Introducing Apache Synapse
- 12. What is Apache Synapse? • A high performance ESB implementation – Fast – Lightweight – Low resource usage • Easy to configure and deploy • Developed as a middleware with many extension points • Very mature and stable code base
- 13. Key Features • Supports many messaging standards – SOAP 1.1/1.2 and WS* standards – REST/POX • A wide range of communication protocols – HTTP/S, JMS, Mail, VFS, FIX, AMQP • Load balancing and fail over support • Task scheduler and the eventing mode • JMX monitoring support
- 14. Architecture • Non blocking HTTP transport – Network IO do not hog server worker threads – Based on Apache HTTP Core NIO • Multithreaded mediation engine • Streaming model – The byte stream coming over the wire is ‘streamed’ through the mediation engine – Powered by Apache AXIOM
- 15. Functional Components • Responsible for processing messages inside the ESB and coordinating bus activities • Can be combined, mixed and matched to implement complex message flows and enterprise integration patterns • The task of configuring Synapse is most of the time putting the right set of functional components together
- 16. Mediators • The simplest functional component • Takes an input message, performs some action on it and outputs the processed message
- 17. Sequences • A cascading chain of mediators • Input messages are sent through all the child mediators of the sequence • Resembles an industrial pipeline
- 18. Endpoints • Defines an endpoint reference (EPR) to which messages can be sent/forwarded from Synapse • Various operational constraints can be enforced on endpoints – Timeout configuration – Message format (SOAP 1.1/1.2, POX) – QoS expectations (WSSecurity, WSRM)
- 19. Proxy Services • Acts like a virtual service that can accept requests from clients • Received client requests are processed and forwarded to an actual service implementation • Response from the backend service is processed and routed back to the clients
- 20. Other Components • Scheduled Tasks – Used to run a programmed activity periodically • Event sources – Enables Synapse to act as an event broker in an event driven architecture • Local entries – Used to store small configuration/data items • Registry – A metadata store for your SOA
- 21. Configuration Model • Synapse configuration language is used to define, configure and combine functional components • XML based • Very intuitive – Easy to learn, understand and remember • Entire configuration goes into the synapse.xml file
- 22. Case Studies
- 23. Case Study 01 • Problem: – How to expose an existing service over a different schema? • Solution: – All the incoming requests should be transformed into the format expected by the service – All the responses should be transformed to the format expected by the client
- 25. Demonstration
- 26. Case Study 02 • Problem: – How to expose an existing HTTP service over JMS? • Solution: – A new (virtual) service should be created to accept messages over JMS – The virtual service should forward the messages to the existing service over HTTP
- 28. Demonstration
- 29. Want to Try More? • Apache Synapse is shipped with a large number of sample configurations that you can try out of the box • Follow the samples guide included in the distribution or refer the online version of it: – http://synapse.apache.org/Synapse_Samples.html • Java and Apache ANT are required to try out the samples
- 31. Extension Points • Custom mediators • Custom tasks • Script mediator • POJO command mediator • Spring mediator • Transport receivers and senders • Load balance algorithms • Message formatters and builders
- 32. Feel Like Contributing? • Project website – http://synapse.apache.org • Code base – https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/synapse • Mailing lists – http://synapse.apache.org/maillists.html • JIRA Issue tracker – http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SYNAPSE
- 33. Questions?
- 34. Thank You!