Which ESB?

[macross27]

Hallo forum!

This might be a bit odd question for a JBoss forum, but I'm getting quite confused lately.

Maybe let me introduce my scenario first. I'd like to integrate some legacy applications with a modern web platform in an educational context. The legacy app has no sophisticated interfaces which I can use. So I have to grab data from a database and use a old-school batch job for data import. The web platform has a JMS based ERP interface. So I need a JDBC and a JMS endpoint/gateway. Furthermore I need one which can save a text file to disk and call a external program for triggering the batch job. Furthermore I have to consider that the legacy app runs in a secured subnet with several firewalls in front of it where as the web platform is in another subnet (=> federated ESB?). This scenario is likely to be extended in the future, so other endpoints are needed as well.

I'm evaluating some ESB possibilities right now as an ESB seems as an ideal solution to me. I rely on transformation and the mulit protocol support (JMS, JDBC, ...). Now I'm quite confused with all the different products. I know of:
* JBoss ESB
* ServiceMix
* FUSE
* Open ESB
* MULE

Not to mention the commercial ones. I hope you can give me advice which things I have to consider when choosing a product. As this is a JBoss forum and I like and use other JBoss products, maybe you can tell me what the 'competetiv advantage' of JBoss ESB is. I really appreciate any advice you can give regarding my use case :-)

Best regards,
Sebastian

[marklittle]

I'm sorry, but the only one you'll get a recommendation for on this list is JBossESB.

[macross27]

Yeah I thought that. However, you might very well tell me what makes JBoss ESB stand out. Are there any features others don't have? Is there anything special planned?

[marklittle]

And you would expect a subjective answer to this ;-)?

[macross27]

Once a sales guy from Red Hat was at my university. He wasn't so shy. :-)

But joking aside. ESBs are a very complex topic and I don't have a clue what is important...

[jpechanec]

Hi,

I am definitely biased but from my point of view the biggest advantage over all buses mentioned, but Open ESB, is that you will get completely integrated solution with all components that makes real enterprise ESB out of box.
So you will get also integrated
- Business Process Orchestration
- Content Based Routing
- Rule Based Engine
- Incredibly (no I am not from sales, but look at Smooks project) flexible transformation service

[macross27]

Thank you for this answer. I'll download JBoss ESB and give it a try.

[tfennelly]

Sebastian, like you say, ESBs are complex and there are a few of them now. We try to keep track of what the other ESBs are offering, but it's quite difficult at this stage.

Probably the biggest thing from an enterprise level is simply the fact that it's a JBoss product. So if you're already using JBoss products etc etc - one stop shop - "one neck to choke" as Burr Sutter puts it.

From a purely features perspective, you'll definitely check a few more boxes on some of the other ESBs (at this moment in time - we're working on this), but that only gets you so far. How complete these are and how well they work individually and together for your environment is another story. I guess you really need to try each of them out!

We believe we are offering something more than the other ESBs, especially when the SOA Platform comes to life. The SOA platform will be a fully tested platform that integrates JBossESB, JBossRules, jBPM and many other JBoss products into a single coherent platform.

The ESB itself offers a number of interesting features in the areas of Content Based Routing, Clustering/Load-Balancing, Transformation, Registry, Multi-Protocol internal bus (not just JMS as with a number of the other ESBs).

Check out the wiki pages too.

Please give it a try and let us know what you think :-)

[macross27]

I'll do that. Thanks for this answers :-)

[marklittle]

We're also about to make some important announcements around the ESB and our forthcoming SOA Platform. As Tom says, on a pure check-list approach we'll have some things others don't have (e.g., close integration with jBPM, Smooks, Web Services transactions) and vice versa. You shouldn't really be buying an ESB based purely on a check-list *unless* those specific items are really important to you now.