Having worked with Websphere ESB, one can not help considering whether one ought to switch to IBM’s new strategic integration platform, the IBM Integration Bus (IIB). I had a look at the latest version of the Integration Toolkit for the Integration Bus and would like to share my insights. The two issues that I will address are, (1) the main differences when building mediation and service integration, and (2) how to migrate from Websphere ESB to Integration Bus.

 

The main differences:

Let’s start with what is basically the same:

  • Both tools are Eclipse based, though arranged a differently (server now moved to the left), also you see different artifacts,
  • Mapping has the same look & feel; both can use xpath.

What is totally different:

  • No assembly diagram in IIB,
  • Different palette, some different icons and many more primitives with the IIB’s toolkit,
  • The IIB has no fan out / fan in to build aggregations; instead, it has a RouteToLabel. For data aggregation scenarios when calling several services, one needs to install MQ since the aggregation would be using queues,
  • View of data flow when testing: how far you have come is shown in flow, so you can see better where you are (I like the new approach).

 

The how-to:

DEVELOPER TOOLKIT | Good news: the developer toolkit is available for free.

Below are links for download, terms and conditions.

https://developer.ibm.com/integration/blog/2015/05/06/ibm-integration-bus-get-started-in-ten-minutes/

There is an integrated conversion tool to migrate from WESB:
https://developer.ibm.com/integration/docs/ibm-integration-bus/wesb-conversion/

Check here to set-up MQ for IIB:

Installing WebSphere MQ for use with IBM Integration Bus for Developers

NOTE | Don’t forget to apply fixes, e.g.:

https://www-945.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/downloadFixes?product=ibm/WebSphere/WebSphere+MQ&release=All&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=8.0.0-WS-MQ-Windows-FP0008&includeRequisites=1&includeSupersedes=0&downloadMethod=http

HINT | Check out this lab (it helped me):

[iib10] Lab MQ: Build and run an integration solution that uses WebSphere MQ

 

My conclusions:

  1. The IIB is a very powerful platform,
  2. Converting complex mediation from WESB to IIB will take time,
  3. To be ready for the strategic platform, I suggest to start using it now for new applications, and see with that experience what you want to move from WESB to IIB.

Andreas Bühlmeier, PhD.

December 2017

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