Using an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) model is recommended when there are multiple business applications, data repositories, and data consumers that need to talk to each other through a service layer containing rules and a common framework on how to communicate between those entities. By having this oriented architecture to communicate through service interfaces, teams can save time and stay on track.
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) models provide a seamless process of utilizing connections from the services layer to get the data from any application whenever and wherever it is needed to facilitate business functions. With a simple and scalable pluggable system, ESB service helps organizations to increase agility by alleviating time-to-market for fresh business initiatives.
In this blog, we’ll highlight details about Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) architecture, and challenges. and ways to have agile integration. We’ll also illustrate how Adpetia’s modern ESB integration approach can help companies overcome those challenges and drive value for their modern enterprises.
What Is an ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) System?
An Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is an architecture that has a set of rules and principles for integrating a plethora of applications. It enables companies to incorporate myriad applications by placing a communication bus between them. The connection is such that every application can talk to the bus. Eventually, this process decouples systems from each other, making them much faster.
How Can Businesses Leverage Enterprise Service Bus (ESB Systems) to Transform Faster?
Fundamentally, ESB is an approach to IT architecture. It is specially designed to integrate disparate applications over a bus-like infrastructure. Implementing ESB as the backbone of an IT structure can strengthen an organization’s communication and transformational capabilities.
In other words, ESB implementation helps companies communicate and do business with customers more easily and quickly.
Further, ESB service eliminates the need to implement point-to-point connections by providing a library of services that businesses can tap into to get the data from any application, whether it’s local or on the Cloud. With this, companies can increase the delight of their customers and enhance productivity.
A typical service has five elements:
- 1.Rules on how service gets triggered.
- 2.Connections to various systems to get data.
- 3.Rules on what data to gather based on the request.
- 4.Rules governing hold-offs or exceptions when retrieving data.
- 5.Completing the transaction and sending acknowledgments.
The above can be further analyzed to understand what an enterprise service bus is for proper SOA implementation strategy. Including but not limited to:
- What will trigger this service?
- What systems does ESB service need to interact with to get the correct data at the right time for that end-user or application?
- Are there any workflow or reports/documents the end-user needs to interact with as part of this service?
- What rules of engagement this service must follow from start to end to complete a transaction?
- Are any of these services re-usable across other processes or “operations”?
What Are the Common Challenges Businesses Face during Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Implementation?
Before investing in this system, it’s important to understand the challenges that may arise during ESB implementation.
1. Bus is Not Easy to Access
Is your ESB service easy to access from where your data lives, and does it smartly consider the road and traffic conditions to reduce delays as much as possible?
The foundational architecture of a solution should be simple and designed in a way that can support timely changes without redesigning and going through long test cycles. Creating any solution that is “business aware” is complicated, but understanding the business environment of your company and discussing your business roadmap will help.
A solution that provides flexibility in adding or obsoleting older services and allowing you to make these changes quickly should be the basic foundation of your ESB implementation.
2. Bus Takes Too Long to Get to Your Stop
Quite often, in an ESB implementation, developers build specific services that are meant for internal use and others for external use even though they are providing the same data points. Developing services based on which endpoint will consume the data leads to duplication. There may be multiple instances of the same data service with different rules on which application can call that service.
The traditional ESB applications have failed in enabling SOA because they are inherently code-based glorified Eclipse platforms that don’t have the features or the underlying architecture to support SOA. It’s just another code generation platform that does not provide the SOA features of reusability, governance, and a meta-driven framework for building rich services.
3. Bus Skips Your Stop
ESB must support long-running transactions that require waiting for application data to arrive before going to the next application “bus stop.” Supporting not only transactional APIs but human workflows in a business process is an integral part of the service bus implementation.
Waiting for a specific event before taking the next steps is critical in establishing a true ESB service model. Oftentimes an ESB is purely transactional. It does not consider the need to stop at a particular step in a business process before proceeding to the next stop.
It assumes the following and keeps the process going:
- Data is always correct.
- The response to the request is always synchronous.
- The data is tactical and is not “business aware.”
- It does not wait for more meaningful data to arrive.
- Neglects context.
- It is indifferent to additional inputs as it is purely key-value-centric.
Another aspect of the long-running transaction support is showing rich dashboards to the end-users to track what step the flow is waiting for and the current status. A significant flaw in the ESB products is that they don’t have a rich dashboard facility for business users.
4. Can You Turn Your Bus into a Hybrid?
Typical ESB implementations are local.
- They connect on-premise applications.
- Do not connect internal systems with cloud applications.
- They are primarily static connections with systems internal to an organization (within a company’s firewall).
Hybrid integration should be considered an important factor when designing an ESB for your company. There is a need to build a common service that works seamlessly with your organization’s needs.
5. Having a Static Service Bus
Similar to how a boat changes speed and direction when its sail catches a wind, your service bus should offer dynamic services that can behave differently based on the type of request sent by the client.
Current ESBs have a plethora of static services. For example, a service that provides a payload in one format will always deliver that data in that format. An invoice sent by Service A is in XML; what if tomorrow you want that invoice in EDI or JSON? What if you don’t want to build an intermediary step in your application to transform the data into your format? In such a situation, you want the service to provide you with the data in the format that you expect.
Having the ability to format your request in a way that allows the target application to understand and convert the data in accordance with your format is key to a dynamic service. In this scenario, the client defines what that service does and responds back in terms of data and its structure.
There are several examples of how Adeptia’s ESB solution is used as a dynamic service library. One of the examples is a data mapping service where the client sends a request consisting of what type of mapping transformation is required, schemas of the source and the target format, and where it wants to deliver the response payload. When called, the Mapping Service would send the result exactly how the client wants it into the location where it wants it.
Learn More about ESB & Other Business Solutions with Adeptia
If you’re considering integrating ESB solutions into your business, Adeptia can help. Our Adeptia Connect platform is a comprehensive software product that enables business users to integrate any application with any data at any location. It frees data integrators and other technical experts to devote their time to move high-value tasks. If you want to learn more, contact us today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an enterprise service bus?
An Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is a software architecture pattern used to facilitate communication and integration between various applications and services within an enterprise. It acts as a middleware solution that enables seamless data exchange and communication between different systems, regardless of their underlying technologies, protocols, or data formats. The ESB serves as a central communication hub in the enterprise, streamlining the flow of information and messages between applications.
Should my company use an enterprise service bus?
Deciding whether your company should use an ESB depends on various factors and the specific needs of your organization. Here are some considerations to help you make an informed decision:
- 1.Complexity of Integration: If your company’s IT landscape involves multiple applications, services, and systems that must communicate and exchange data, an ESB can simplify and streamline the integration process. It eliminates the need for point-to-point integrations, reducing complexity and maintenance efforts.
- 2.Scalability and Growth: If your company is experiencing growth and expects an increase in the number of applications and services, an ESB can facilitate seamless scalability. It provides a centralized hub for managing integrations, making it easier to add or replace components as your business expands.
- 3.Interoperability: If your applications and services use different technologies, protocols, or data formats, an ESB can promote interoperability. It acts as a mediator between systems, enabling them to communicate efficiently, irrespective of their underlying technologies.
- 4.Standardization and Governance: An ESB allows your company to enforce standards and governance in the integration process. It provides centralized control over message routing, transformation, and security policies, ensuring consistency across all integrations.
Conclusion
Adeptia’s modern ESB integration approach can help you overcome all challenges and future-proof your business with an adaptive, innovative integration approach. Adeptia delivers continuous enhancements aligned to the evolving integration landscape. Customers benefit from the latest capabilities while consolidating legacy systems into an agile, scalable platform designed for the future. By standardizing on Adeptia’s evergreen SaaS platform, enterprises gain a competitive advantage by leveraging cutting-edge, cloud-native integration capabilities.