WSO2 Advances Microservices Integration
WSO2 is making it easier to analyze microservices in real time by making available a WSO2 stream processor that can be deployed on top of Kubernetes clusters running open source Apache Kafka streaming analytics software.
In addition, as part of a summer 2018 release of its core integration platform, WSO2 has added support for message tracing across microservices to track application delivery performance.
WSO2 has also made available MicroESB, a lightweight enterprise service bus (ESB) runtime designed to run in a containerized environment. WSO2 CTO Paul Fremantle says that option gives IT organizations the option of using a familiar ESB technology to integrate microservices. MicroESB is a subset of WSO2 Enterprise Integrator, which now supports Eclipse Oxygen, the latest version of the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE).
To make it easy to secure microservices, WSO2 has also added support for role-based access control (RBAC) and validation using Java Web Tokens (JWT) to the WSO2 Identity Server.
Finally, WSO2 is making it possible to employ its WSO2 API Microgateway as a dedicated proxy for a microservice. That proxy can run as a sidecar for a microservice running on the same host, or on an API hub that proxies one or more microservices. The WSO2 API Microgateway is managed by the WS02 API Publisher application.
The company also is making available technical account managers (TAM) that are available during working hours in a customer’s time zone, or can be embedded onsite, to help simplify the WS02 approach to integration.
WS02 is also making it easy to consume its integration software within the context of a microservice architecture. The company has added a WSO2 Platform License for WSO2 Subscription, WSO2’s commercial offering. WSO2 Subscription provides access to WSO2 Update for continuous delivery of bug fixes, security updates and performance enhancements, along with WSO2 Support for 24×7 support. Now, with the WSO2 Platform License, customers can purchase a simple single subscription tiered to the number of CPUs being employed, says Fremantle.
Fremantle notes the problem with any centralized approach to integration is that it creates another silo in the organization—developers wind up making requests of some centralized authority in integrate applications. The WSO2 approach is designed to enable developers to embed integration capabilities directly within their applications, he says, adding developers are under more pressure than ever to become agile, so creating a “center of excellence” for integration becomes counterproductive.
In the age of monolithic applications, there are already centers of integration. The rise of microservices architectures is likely to force many organizations to reconsider that approach, especially as they take on digital business process transformations that have pressing deadlines, Fremantle says.
In fact, as application development becomes more decentralized in the age of DevOps, the days when applications revolved around a single point of integration appear to be coming to a close.
