IBM InformationServer simplifiesthecreationofshared dataintegrationservices byenablingintegrationlogictobe usedbyanybusinessprocess.
Invoking service-readydataintegrationtasks ensuresthatbusinessprocessessuch asquotegeneration,orderentries, andprocurementrequestsreceivedatathatis correctlytransformed,standardized,andmatchedacrossapplications,partners, suppliers, andcustomers.
Manyorganizationsaredesigning theirnextgenerationofinfrastructureand applicationsasservices.Implementinga service-orientedarchitecture(SOA) offers these benefits:
Adaptability
Functionalcomponentscanbereassembled quicklyandinnew ways.
Consistency
Corerulesforhandlingdataand processesarereusedacrossprojects.
Reducedcost
Increased reuseanda singlepointofmaintenancespeedtimetovalue and reducedevelopment expense.
Federated ownership
Eachserviceisownedandmaintainedindependentlybyitsown group.
IBM InformationServer providesanSOAinfrastructurethatprovides these capabilitiesbyhelpingyoucreateshareddataintegrationservices.Acommon services layermanageshowservicesare deployedfromanyoftheproduct
modules. Cleansingandtransformationrulesorfederatedqueriescanbe published asshared servicesbyusinga consistentandintuitive graphicalinterface,and managedafterpublication usingthesameinterface.
Introduction to service-oriented integration in IBM Information Server
IBM InformationServer providesstandardservice-orientedinterfacesforenterprise dataintegration.Thebuilt-inintegrationlogicofIBMInformationServercaneasily be encapsulatedasserviceobjectsthatareembedded inuserapplications.
Theseserviceobjectshavethefollowingcharacteristics:
Alwayson
Theservices arealwaysrunning, waitingforrequests.Thisabilityremoves theoverheadofbatchstartupandshutdownand enablesservices to respondinstantaneouslytorequests.
Scalable
Theservices distributerequestprocessingand stopandstart jobsacross multiple WebSphereDataStageservers,enabling highperformancewith large,unpredictablevolumesofrequests.
Standards-based
Theservices arebasedonopenstandardsand caneasilybeinvokedby standards-basedtechnologiesincludingenterpriseapplication integration (EAI)andenterpriseservicebus(ESB)platforms,applications,and portals.
Flexible
Youcaninvoketheservicesbyusingmultiplemechanisms(bindings)and choose frommanyoptionsforusingtheservices.
Manageable
Monitoringservicescoordinate timelyreportingofsystem performance data.
Reliable andhighlyavailable
IfanyWebSphereDataStage serverbecomesunavailable,it routesservice requeststoa differentserverinthepool.
Reusable
Theservices publishtheirownmetadata, enablingthemtobefoundand calledacrossanynetwork.
Highperformance
Loadbalancing andtheunderlyingparallelprocessingcapabilitiesofIBM InformationServercreatehighperformance foranytype ofdatapayload.
Adataintegrationserviceiscreatedbydesigningthedataintegrationprocesslogic in IBMInformationServer andpublishing itasaservice.Theseservicescanthen be accessedbyexternal projectsandtechnologies.
WebSphereInformationServicesDirectorprovidesa foundationforinformation services byallowing youtoleveragetheothercomponentsofIBMInformation Server forunderstanding,cleansing,and transforminginformationanddeploying those integrationtasksasconsistentandreusable informationservices.
AsFigure16shows,service-readydataintegrationjobs canbeusedwith process-centrictechnologiessuchasEAI,businessProcessManagement(BPM), ESB,and applicationservers.
Figure16.Service-readyintegrationtasksworkwithbusinessprocesses
Scenarios for service-oriented integration
Thefollowingexamples showhow customershaveusedservice-oriented architecturesinIBMInformationServer.
Pharmaceuticalindustry:Improvingefficiency
Aleadingpharmaceuticalcompanyneededtoincludereal-time datafrom clinicallabs initsresearchanddevelopment reports.Thecompanyused WebSphereDataStagetodefineatransformationprocess forXML
documents fromlabs.Thisprocess usedSOAtoexposethetransformation asa Webservice,allowing labstosenddataand receivean immediate response.
Pre-clinicaldataisnowavailabletoscientific personnelearlier,allowing labscientiststoselectwhichdatatoanalyze.Now,onlythebestdatais chosen, greatlyimprovingscientists’efficiency.
Insurance:Validatingaddressesin realtime
An internationalinsurancedataservices companyusesIBMInformation Server tovalidateandenrichpropertyaddressesthroughWebservices.As insurance companiessubmitlistsofaddressesforunderwriting,services standardizetheaddressesbasedontheirrules,validate eachaddress, matchtheaddressestoalistofknown addresses,and enrichtheaddresses with additionalinformationthathelpswith underwritingdecisions.The companynowautomates80percentoftheprocessandeliminatedmostof theerrors.Theprojectwassimplified byusingtheSOAcapabilitiesofIBM InformationServerand thestandardization andmatchingcapabilitiesof WebSphereQualityStage.
Where SOA fits in a business context
By enablingintegrationtasks asservices,IBM InformationServer becomesacritical componentoftheapplicationdevelopment andintegrationenvironment.TheSOA infrastructureensures thatdataintegrationlogicthatisdevelopedinIBM
InformationServer canbe usedbyanybusinessprocess.
SOAallowsyoutousebothanalyticaland operationaldata.Thebestdatais available atalltimes,toallpeopleandtoall processes.Thefollowingcategories representcommonusesofSOAinabusinesscontext:
Real-time datawarehousing
Enables companiestopublishtheirexistingdataintegrationlogicas services thatcanbe calledinrealtimefromanyprocess.Thistype of warehousing enablesuserstoperformanalyticalprocessingandloadingof databased ontransactiontriggers,ensuringthattime-sensitivedatainthe warehouseiscompletelycurrent.
Matchingservices
Enables dataintegrationlogictobepackagedasa sharedservicethatcan be calledbyenterpriseapplicationintegrationplatforms.Thismethod allowsreference data(suchascustomer,inventory,andproductdata)tobe matched toandkeptcurrentwith amasterstorewith eachtransaction.
In-flight transformation
Enables enrichmentlogictobe packagedassharedservices sothat capabilitiessuchasproductnamestandardization,addressvalidation,or dataformattransformationscanbe sharedand reusedacrossprojects.
Enterprisedataservices
Enables thedataaccessfunctionsofmanyapplicationstobeaggregated and sharedina commonservicelayer.Insteadof eachapplicationcreating itsownaccesscode,theseservicescanbe reusedacrossprojects,
simplifying developmentandensuringahigher levelofconsistency.
AsFigure17shows,oneofthemajoradvantagesof usinganSOAapproachisthat youcancombinedataintegrationtasks withtheleadingenterprisemessaging, EnterpriseApplicationIntegration(EAI),and BusinessProcessManagement (BPM) productsbyusingbindingchoices.
SincemostmiddlewareproductssupportWebservices,thereareoftenmultiple optionsforhowthis isdone.For example,WebSphereintegrationproductssuchas WebSphereFederationServer orWebSphereBusiness IntegrationMessageBroker caninvokeIBM InformationServer servicestoaccessservice-readyjobs.
A closer look at service-oriented integration in IBM Information Server
IBM InformationServer providesa SOAinfrastructurethatusesdata transformation processesthatare createdfromneworexistingWebSphere
DataStage orWebSphereQualityStagejobsorfederated queriesthatarecreatedby WebSphereFederationServer andexposesthemasaset ofservicesandoperations.
Afteranintegrationservices isenabled,anyenterpriseapplication, .NetorJava™ developer, MicrosoftOfficeorintegrationsoftwarecaninvoketheservice byusing a bindingprotocolsuchasWebservices.
The followingfeaturesarecentral totheIBM InformationServer SOA infrastructure:
Common administrativeservices
Hostand publishservicemetadata,exposeachoiceofbindingsforeach
Figure17.IBMInformationServerusedwithWebSphereproducts
service,andprovideinfrastructureservices suchassecuritymanagement, session management,logging,andmonitoring.
Foundationcomponents fordevelopment
Providea singlesetof datatransformation rulesforanalyticaland
enterpriseapplications,businessactivitymonitoring,federateddataaccess, and businessprocessintegration.
Any-to-any connectivity
Provides technologyindependencefordatatransformation,
standardization,matching,and legacydataaccessbyusingWebservices (.NET andJava)or EnterpriseJavaBeans™(EJB)interfacebindings.
Service-ready integration
Aservice-readydataintegrationjobacceptsrequestsfromclientapplications, mappingrequestdatatoinputrowsandpassingthemtotheunderlyingjobs.A jobinstance caninclude databaselookups,transformations, datastandardization and matching,andotherdataintegrationtasksthataresupplied byIBM
InformationServer.
Figure18showsaWebSphereDataStagejobwith aserviceinputandservice output.
Thedesignof areal-timejobdetermineswhetherit isalways runningorrunsonce tocompletion.All jobsthatareexposedasservicesprocessrequestsona 24-hour basis.TheSOAinfrastructuresupportsthreejobtopologiesfordifferentloadand workstylerequirements:
Batch jobs
Topology Iusesneworexistingbatchjobsthatareexposedasservices.A batchjobstartsondemand.Eachservice requeststartsoneinstanceofthe jobthatrunstocompletion.Thisjobtypicallyinitiatesa batchprocessfrom a real-timeprocessthatdoesnotneeddirectfeedbackontheresults.This topology istailored forprocessingbulkdatasetsandiscapableof acceptingjobparametersasinputarguments.
Batch jobswitha ServiceOutputstage
Topology IIusesanexistingbatchjoband addsanoutputstage.The ServiceOutputstage istheexitpointfromthejob,returningoneormore rowstotheclientapplicationasa serviceresponse.AsFigure19onpage 34shows,thesejobs typicallyinitiatea batchprocessfroma real-time process thatrequiresfeedbackor datafromtheresults.Thistopology is designed toprocesslargedatasetsandcanacceptjobparametersasinput arguments.
JobswithaServiceInput stageandServiceOutputstage
InTopologyIII,jobs usebotha ServiceInputstageanda ServiceOutput stage.TheServiceInputstage istheentrypointtoa job,accepting oneor more rowsduring aservicerequest.Thesejobsare alwaysrunning.This topology istypicallyusedtoprocesshighvolumesofsmallertransactions where responsetimeisimportant. Itistailoredtoprocess manysmall requestsratherthana fewlargerequests.Figure20showsan exampleof this topology.
Service Output CustomerDB
D1Orders
Rows
ReturnedRows XML Output
Order_Transformation
Figure19.BatchjobswithaServiceOutputstage
Service Input
Service Output ODBC
DSLink1
DSLink2
DSLink3
DSLink4
DSLink5 XML Output
XML Input
Transformer
Figure20.AmorecomplexjobwithServiceInputstageandServiceOutputstage
SOA components in IBM Information Server
Therun-time componentsthatenableservice-orientedarchitecturesarecontained intherun-timeenvironment ofthecommon servicesofIBMInformationServer.
ThesecomponentsareJ2EEapplicationsthatdistributerequeststoWebSphere DataStage,WebSphereQualityStage,or WebSphereFederationServer basedon load-balancing algorithms.Commoncoreservicesinclude securityand logging.
Threshold-balanced parallelism
Therun-time environmentcombinesparallelprocessingwith loadbalancingand distribution toprovidehighperformancedataprocessing. Itbalancesservice requestsbyroutingthemtoWebSphereFederationServerorWebSphereDataStage servers,eachof whichtakes advantageofpipelinetechnologyfor parallel
execution.
Threshold-balancedparallelismenablesSOAplatformstoautomaticallyadjust resources basedonthresholdsthatyousetwhenyoudefineservices.Thecommon services startand stopjobsinresponsetoloadconditions.Thecombinationof these capabilitieswith parallelpipeliningisuniquetoIBMInformationServerand enablesIBMInformationServertoprocess dataintegrationtasksfasterthanany othertechnology.
Multiple binding support
Virtuallyanyprotocolcanbe madetoadheretoSOAprinciples.IBM Information Server supportsthisapproach,enablingthesameservicetosupportmultiple protocolbindings,all definedwithin theWSDLfile.
An SOAinterfaceshouldbe abletohandlemultiplemechanisms(bindings)for calling services.Thisimproves theutility ofservicesandthereforeincreasesthe likelihood ofreuseandadoptionacrosstheenterprise.
Projects forwhichWebservicesarenota viableoptionbecauseofperformance or architectural requirementscanstillleveragetheservices byusinganinterface better suitedtotheirrequirements.WebSphereInformationServicesDirector can publishthesameserviceusingdifferentbindings:
SimpleObjectAccessProtocol(SOAP) overHTTP(Web services)
Anyapplicationthatcomplies withXMLWebservicescaninvokea WebSphereFederationServer orWebSphereDataStageintegrationprocess asa Webservice.TheseWebservicessupport thegenerationofliteral document-styleand SOAPencodedRPC-styleWeb services.
EnterpriseJavaBeans(EJB)
For Java-centricdevelopment, WebSphereInformationServicesDirectorcan generatea J2EE-compliantEJB(statelesssession bean)where eachdata transformation serviceisinstantiated asa separatesynchronousEJB method call.
Thedesigndoesnotdependonthebindingchoice.AslogicisbuiltinWebSphere DataStage andWebSphereQualityStage,thedesignerdoesnotneed tobeawareof how itwillbeused.Aftertheserviceisdeployed,additionalbindingscaneasilybe implemented withoutchanging thelogic.
WebSphere Information Services Director tasks
WebSphereInformationServicesDirectorprovidesanintegratedenvironment for designing servicesthatenablesyoutorapidlydeployintegrationlogicasservices withoutassumingextensivedevelopmentskills.
With asimple,wizard-driveninterface, inafewminutesyoucanattachaspecific bindingand deployareusable integrationservice.WebSphereInformationServices Director alsoprovidesthese features:
v
Load-balancingandadministratorservicesfor catalogingand registeringservices v Sharedreportingandsecurityservices
v Ametadataservices layerthatpromotesreuse oftheinformationservices by actuallydefiningwhattheservicedoesandwhatinformationitdelivers.
Information providers
An informationprovider isboththeserverthatcontainsunits thatyoucanexposeas services andtheunitsthemselves,suchasWebSphereDataStageandWebSphere QualityStagejobs orfederatedSQLqueries.
Eachinformationprovidermust beenabled.Toenabletheseproviders,youuse WebSphereInformationServicesDirector.
YouusetheAddInformationProviderwindow toenableinformationproviders thatyouinstalledoutsideofIBMInformationServer,suchasWebSphereDataStage servers orfederatedservers.
Creating a project
Aprojectisacollaborativeenvironmentthatyouusetodesignapplications, services, andoperations.
All projectinformationthatyoucreatebyusingWebSphereInformationServices Director issavedinthecommonmetadatarepositorysothatitcaneasilybe shared amongotherIBM InformationServer components.
Youcanexportaprojecttobackupyour workorshare workwithotherIBM InformationServer users.Theexportfileincludesapplications,services,operations, and bindinginformation.
Creating an application
An applicationisacontainerfora setofservices andoperations.Anapplication contains oneormoreservicesthatyouwanttodeploy togetherasanEnterprise Archive(EAR)fileonanapplicationserver.
All design-timeactivity occursinthecontextof applications:
v Creatingservicesand operations
v Describinghow messagepayloadsandtransport protocolsareusedtoexposea service
v Attachinga referenceprovider, suchasaWebSphereDataStagejoboranSQL query,toanoperation
Creating anapplicationisasimple taskfromtheDevelopnavigatormenuofthe IBM InformationServer console.Youcanalso exportservicesfromanapplication before itisdeployedand importtheservicesintoanotherapplication.
Youcanchangethedefaultsettingsforoperationalpropertieswhenyoucreatean application orlater,asFigure21shows.
Creating a service
An informationserviceexposesresultsfromprocessingbyinformationproviders suchasDataStageserversand federatedservers.Adeployedservice runsonan application serverandprocessesrequestsfromserviceclientapplications.
An informationserviceisa collectionofoperations thatareselectedfromjobs, maps,federatedqueries,orotherinformationproviders.Youcangroup operations inthesameinformationserviceordesignthemin separateservices.
Youcreateaninformationservicefora setofoperations thatyouwanttodeploy together.Youselecta projectandanapplication withintheprojectintheSelecta Viewarea,asFigure22onpage38shows.
Figure21.Settingoperationalpropertiesforanapplication
Whenyoucreatea service,youspecifysuchoptionsasname,base packagename for theclassesthataregeneratedduring thedeploymentof theapplication,and optionallythehomeWebpageand contactinformationfortheservice.
Afteryoucreatetheservice,youattachabindingfortheservice:
SimpleObjectAccessProtocol(SOAP) overHTTP
ToexposeaninformationserviceasaWebservice,attachtheSOAPover HTTPbindingtotheinformationservice.
EnterpriseJavaBeans(EJB)interface
Ifyour serviceconsumerswanttoaccessaninformationservicethroughan EJB interface,attachtheEJB bindingtotheinformationservice.
Deploying applications and their services
Youdeployan applicationonWebSphereApplicationServer toenablethe informationservices thatarecontainedintheapplicationto receiveservice requests.
The DeployApplicationwindowinWebSphereInformationServicesDirector guides youthrough theprocess,asFigure23onpage39shows.
Figure22.Identifyingaserviceforanewapplication
Youcanexcludeoneormore services,bindings,andoperationsfromthe
deployment,changeruntimepropertiessuchasminimumnumberofjobinstances, or,forWebSphereDataStagejobs,setconstantvaluesforjobparameters.
WebSphereInformationServicesDirectordeploystheEnterpriseArchive(EAR)file ontheapplicationserver.
SOA and data integration
Enabling anIBMInformationServerjobasa Webserviceenablesthejobto participate invariousdataintegrationscenarios.
Data integrationenablesuserstofederateheterogeneousdataacrossseveraldata sources.SOAallowsWebSphereDataStagejobstoparticipateinfederatedqueries byusingWebSphereFederation Server.
Figure24onpage40showsabusinessscenarioinwhichacustomerservice manager needstointegrateinformationacrossmultipledatastorestoaddressnew customer complaints.Themanagerneedstolookattheactualinvoicetocompare recent shipmentdatainXMLformatplusthehistoricaldatainthewarehouseto ensurethatthedataisaccurate.
Figure23.Deployinganapplication
Intheexample,real-timeXMLdataispulledoutof amessagequeuebyusing WebSphereDataStage.TheWebSphereDataStagejobreusesthesame
transformation logicthatit usedtopopulatethewarehouse.WebSphere InformationIntegrator ContentEditionisinvokedtodisplayactualcustomer documents thatresideona documentmanagementsystem.
Figure25onpage41showshowthedatafromeachsourceiscombinedtopresent a virtualview ofthemostrecent salesinformation.Thefollowingsequenceis labeledinthediagram.
1. XMLdataispulledfromaqueuebyusinga Shipto_Numbertoidentifythe XMLfileswiththecorrectSales_order_number,quantityof Cases_shippedand Gross_sales.
2. AWebSphereDataStagejobthatisdeployed asaWebserviceprovides real-timetransformation offacttabledata.Lookupsareperformedtolocate valuesforBillto_keyandShipto_keysurrogatekeys.
3. KeysthatareacquiredfromtheWebSphereDataStagelookupare usedtoquery thedatawarehousetoobtaincompanynamesthatcorrespondtothekeys.
4. TheSales_order_numberisusedtoretrievetheURLsoftheappropriate customer invoicesfromthedocumentrepository.
Figure24.CombiningWebSphereInformationIntegrationproducts
Information resources for WebSphere Information Services Director
AvarietyofinformationresourcescanhelpyougetstartedwithWebSphere
AvarietyofinformationresourcescanhelpyougetstartedwithWebSphere